The Mai-Kai restaurant on stage entertainment on December 21, 2006. The Mai-Kai was established in 1956 and is known for it's Polynesian entertainment during dinner. (robert duyos/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The dark and rummy Molokai bar sits empty, the kitchen is missing equipment, and the tropical landscaping is far from finished, but the hotly anticipated facelift of South Florida’s favorite tiki time capsule — The Mai-Kai Restaurant and Polynesian Show — is finally taking shape.
Eighteen months after the Mai-Kai put its iconic building and land up for sale, its new owners have replaced the flood-damaged roof, which caused a cave-in and unexpectedly shut the restaurant in October 2020.
The rear parking lot of the redesigned Mai-Kai will include a new traffic circle to prevent drivers from bottlenecking on Federal Highway as they turn into the restaurant. (Kravit Architectural Associates / Courtesy)
New artistic renderings sent to the South Florida Sun Sentinel reveal a sneak peek at the $8.5 million revival of the 65-year-old Oakland Park landmark, which would include the following sweeping upgrades:
This architectural rendering, depicting the new front entrance to the Mai-Kai Restaurant from North Federal Highway, shows lush new landscaping, tiki torches and a wider wooden bridge leading to the restaurant. (Kravit Architectural Associates / Courtesy)
Developers have already replaced the 18,000-square-foot roof and air-conditioning system — and a new state-of-the-art kitchen is coming soon. Inside the dining room, the Mai-Kai’s old lamps have been retrofitted with LED lights, and seating booths and Polynesian columns have been repainted, reupholstered and restored to recapture the restaurant’s traditional look.
Bill Fuller, a commercial developer whose Mad Room Hospitality (Ball & Chain, Blackbird Ordinary) bought the building and land with investors, says the Mai-Kai is now on track to reopen by late fall 2022.
“If you look at old Mai-Kai postcards, you felt like you were coming off a boat in Bora Bora or Tahiti and wandering into this beachside paradise,” Fuller told the Sun Sentinel. “That’s what we’re creating here again. That’s the way [original owners] Bob and Jack Thornton wanted it.”
So far, the Mai-Kai’s makeover is about halfway finished, Fuller says. Although the city of Oakland Park has already greenlit the project, some construction work must “start in 60 to 90 days” because two design elements need approval from the city’s Historic Preservation Board. These include a new traffic circle in the rear Mai-Kai parking lot and a rebuilt A-frame roof over the future banquet hall, he says.
“Because both designs impact the exterior of the property, and this is a historic building, we need special approval for that,” Fuller explains. (The Mai-Kai was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.)
In order to widen the Mai-Kai Restaurant's new front entrance on North Federal Highway, developers will demolish the old Bora Bora building on the property's north side, which had been abandoned since sustaining damage from Hurricane Wilma in 2005. (Kravit Architectural Associates / Courtesy)
Fuller’s Barlington Group, a Miami-based commercial developer, leads the team behind the big transformation, which came together under a partnership with the Mai-Kai’s Thornton family. The restaurant also partnered with Oakland Park’s American National Bank and investors Richard Oneslager, Jeff Roschman and Mark Macek.
Property records show the Mai-Kai building and land are worth at least $3.5 million. When finished, Fuller says the property, its antique decor, furnishings and intellectual property would be valued at as much as $16 million.
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Crucial to these upgrades is keeping the Mai-Kai’s design as close as possible to the original 1956 blueprint, adds Kern Mattei, a general manager and cousin of the Thornton family. After the kitchen roof cave-in, the restaurant faced millions in costly repairs that the family could ill afford, and they put up the restaurant for sale in January 2021. Wealthy developers instantly came knocking, some eager to tear it down, but only one — Fuller’s group — suggested they preserve the Mai-Kai exactly as it was.
“We want everyone to feel like this is the old Mai-Kai people remember and love,” Mattei says. “The new banquet room and the roundabout are my favorite new features. I can’t wait. It’s full immersion once you turn off Federal, a perfect oasis for the guests.”
Next up, Fuller and company will show off the Mai-Kai’s new renderings during a presentation at the Hukilau, the restaurant’s annual rum-soaked Polynesian party. The festival will return June 9-12 to the Beachcomber Resort & Club, 1200 S. Ocean Blvd., in Pompano Beach. Tickets cost $129 to $569 via TheHukilau.com.
The front doors to the revamped Mai-Kai Restaurant will be framed by a new waiting area and patio seating attached to the Molokai bar. (Kravit Architectural Associates / Courtesy)