Downtown West Palm Beach news: “Clematis Street’s The Alchemist closes, citing changing area, homeless problem”

“It was heartbreaking. We had a good concept. But the type of clientele we were counting on was coming downtown less and less.”

—Mr. Craig Steel, general manager, partner of Daiza Restaurant Group quoted in The Palm Beach Post.



This news was reported by long-time reporter Leslie Gray Streeter in late July. To read the entire article click on this link; one more excerpt:


     Although “in the last two years, we were still getting the traffic, still making money,” he [Craig Steel] says that the partners felt that “the area is in a bit of a decline.” Specifically, over the last year or so, he cited an increasing problem with downtown West Palm Beach’s homeless population “getting out of control. They were even coming into the restaurant and harrassing people.” [emphasis added] He cited the March stabbing of a woman dining outside of Sushi Yama, west of The Alchemist.
     Steel says that he let his staff of about 25 know on Sunday that the place was closing, in personalized handwritten letters.