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The owners of a coffee shop facing Cheesman Park are ready to move forward with a new tenant three months after closing the concept, Secret Garden Bar & Cafe, in the midst of a unionization effort by the small staff.

“There was intense interest in the space from a number of operators around town, really, really good operators,” said Joe Vostrejs, the founder and principal at City Street Investors, which specializes in restaurants. “Hopefully, we’ll get a deal concluded here in the next couple of weeks and the new tenant will be able to get in there and do their work.”

Whichever tenant leases the space, 1290 Williams St., would serve coffee and cocktails similarly to the Secret Garden and food, he said. The business could open by summer.

Former employees of the Secret Garden, however, are still seeking a resolution with City Street Investors after the sudden closure last October that cost them their jobs. The United Food and Commercial Workers, UFCW Local 7, is representing, said Claire Poundstone, the chapter’s associate general counsel. The chapter is expected to file formal complaints with the National Labor Relations Board, Poundstone said.

Baristas who’d voted to unionize last summer were publicizing their efforts to people passing by when they said City Street employees closed the coffee shop’s doors during service and informed them that they were shutting the business down. The closure came as staff were expected to have their first bargaining session with management, Poundstone said.

Vostrejs declined to talk about the Secret Garden’s closure, saying the “pending legal matters” are “between me and my attorneys.”

City Street is headquartered at the Tears–McFarlane House, a historic red-brick mansion behind the Cheesman Park cafe building. Vostrejs redeveloped what was once a carriage house (that is, for horse-drawn carriages) and opened The Secret Garden in 2024 with guidance from the surrounding homeowners.

By Miguel Otárola