ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — People living along a stretch of Lillian Highway say they’ve had enough of a dilapidated building in their neighborhood — but the county says demolition isn’t on the table just yet.
The former Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant, abandoned for roughly 12 years according to neighbors, has become what one nearby resident calls an eyesore that’s dragging down the whole street.
“It’s just really a dump unfortunately,” said neighbor Mike Schumacher.
Rotting Wood, Broken Glass, and Open Windows
Schumacher says the building is visibly falling apart, with rotting wood, stray construction nails, broken glass, and code-violating open windows — and, most recently, a homeless presence moving in.
“That leads inside, and this window is against code,” Schumacher said. “It’s supposed to be closed in. You can’t have an open window.”
“The ceiling is falling down,” he said. “The nails and everything exposed. So when we get storms, what happened last time is we had a bad storm and this collapsed.”
He says the property’s condition is more than a cosmetic problem for the neighborhood.
“And it brings down property values as well,” Schumacher said. “It doesn’t look good for the community, especially if you’re in a market to buy a home in the neighborhood.”
A First Impression at the State Line
The restaurant sits right near the Florida-Alabama border, making it one of the first properties visitors see after crossing the Lillian Bridge — a detail neighbors say makes the blight especially frustrating for a gateway corridor into Escambia County.
Schumacher and his neighbors want the building demolished outright. But Tim Day, natural resources deputy director for Escambia County, says that’s not an option right now — because the owners have plans to bring it back.
“In talking with the owners today, they’re still working with some engineers to finalize some structural engineering that they need to do to get the permits to be able to hopefully start renovating the site in hopefully 60 to 90 days,” Day said.
Owners Plan a Revival — If It Happens
According to Day, the property owners intend to revamp the site by expanding the parking lot and reopening it as a “Pedro’s” Mexican restaurant. But he acknowledged they haven’t made much progress so far.
“What we’re doing now is we’re going to go ahead and re-notice them just because there seems to be ongoing issues,” Day said. “And it’s kind of dragging out just a little bit. But as long as the ownership is able to keep moving forward in a predictable fashion, I wouldn’t expect those code enforcement proceedings to continue to elevate.”
In other words: as long as the owners keep moving, the county will hold off on escalating enforcement — but if the promised renovation stalls again, the case could climb toward tougher action.
Whether the owners actually break ground on the revival remains to be seen. For now, neighbors along Lillian Highway say they’ll keep watching — and pushing — until something changes at the gateway property they see every day.