Backwater Tavern & Eatery
Ft. Lauderdale, Floridaa
1978
The site was on a very natural wooded section of a river in the middle of Ft. Lauderdale. It was to be constructed of heavy timber, exposed concrete, brick and a galvanized metal roof. The client was a newly formed restaurant company, Creative Restaurants, Inc., of which I was a partner. A permit was acquired and foundations were complete when an opportunity came to do a restaurant at an entrance location in a very successful mall in south Miami.
The Backwater project was put on hold while Raffle's Bar and Grill was designed, built and opened. It was an immediate success and cost a quarter of the projected cost of the free standing building and land. The decision was made to abandon the Backwater project and concentrate on the Raffle's leasehold concept in major malls. In the next seven years we did eight more Raffle's.