Pending development prompts longtime Windmill Cafe owner’s retirement as she prepares to put business up for sale

After 16 years of running the Windmill Cafe, doing everything from baking to growing the fruit for the cafe’s homemade jams and serving her cast of regulars, owner Mary Apra still wasn’t sure she was ready for retirement.

A major development planned for the Live Oak property that’s home to the East Cliff Drive restaurant has accelerated her decision, however, and now she’s putting the business up for sale, with hope that a new owner can continue with her vision. The $139,000 price tag includes all furnishings and a fully equipped commercial kitchen; rent for the building (which Apra doesn’t own) would be separate. 

Two years ago, new owners purchased the property the Windmill Cafe sits on, and have since filed plans with Santa Cruz County to redevelop it to include two three-story residential units. The two units will include six apartments, with parking underneath at least one of the buildings. 

The project has received initial approval from county planning officials, but the developers haven’t yet obtained building permits, according to county spokesperson Tiffany Martinez. That’s the next step before construction can begin. Steven Wang of California Golden Properties in Livermore is listed as the owner in the plans filed with the county. Wang did not return calls or emails from Lookout over the past week.

The new residences will be built adjacent to the windmill-shaped building that houses the cafe. As the building is a designated historic property dating to the late 1920s, there are limits to any kind of alteration and development, save for minor physical repairs. The approved development plans maintain its existing use as a cafe. 

Originally home to a flower bulb farm, the windmill later housed Buckhart’s Candies from 1936 until that business moved to Capitola, according to historical records. At one point, it even served as a combination coffeehouse and bikeshop. It’s a unique building, a throwback to a different era of Santa Cruz County.

With the new development, many of the property’s trees will need to be removed, and the Windmill Cafe’s parking lot will lose a few spots. For Apra, who also lives on the property, remaining there with her business during the development wasn’t feasible. Not only will the construction cause noise and more activity, but she also fears rising rents. Those factors have pushed her to retire a couple of years earlier than she’d planned.

“I’m leaving reluctantly,” said Apra, who also plans to move out of the area. “I just won’t be able to be here during that.”

Apra had been working as the director of food services at Staff of Life Market in 2009 when she decided to embark on her own venture. She found a listing on Craigslist for a small coffee shop in the historic Lincoln’s Windmill building on East Cliff Drive and knew she could make it into something special of her own. Armed with a loan from Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, she took what she calls a leap of faith and bought the business. 

“It was just a very simple thing but I could see the potential in the building, in its charm,” she said.

Over the years, she’s established a comfortable, community-oriented cafe that serves breakfast and lunch, attracting regulars and tourists alike. She’s seen many out-of-towners return regularly, lured by Apra’s gluten-free specialties. Being able to provide customers unable to eat gluten with a safe place to dine with their families has been something Apra feels strongly about. 

As a self-described “mom shop, not mom-and-pop shop,” Apra has put her heart and soul into the business. She employs seven or eight people at any given time, but does much of the baking, shopping, serving,and cooking herself. She even grows some of the ingredients she uses in her garden. For instance, a plum tree outside the restaurant that Apra planted years ago now provides fruit for hundreds of jams that Apra makes and uses in her cafe. 

The sale marks a period of reflection for Apra, who has spent almost two decades creating a welcoming restaurant with a sunny outdoor patio and cozy interior, filled with art and color and a cloud-painted ceiling. Community has always been key at the Windmill, and Apra even got rid of WiFi service to help encourage conversation.

“It used to be a place where people would just sit with a cup of coffee for hours on their laptop, but I did away with the internet and now people sit and chat and play cards,” she said. “It’s very much a community space – we get a lot of regulars who are not just living in the neighborhood but from all over the community.”

There are aspects of retirement she’s looking forward to, like spending more time gardening, traveling and visiting with her family, including her daughter, who grew up at the Windmill Cafe. 

Once the development is done, it will be nice for the new tenants, because it will be all fixed up, she said: “It’s with a heavy heart that I leave.” She’s hopeful that someone will come along and see the same potential she saw in the cafe and keep it going.

“I really want it to be the right person, someone who can take this over and keep it going as the Windmill Cafe. That would be my wish,” Apra said. “And I think my customers would agree with that.” 

That new business owner will also need to work with the property owner to negotiate lease terms, a process that Apra’s broker, Bassam Elmughrabi, said he’ll be able to help with. 

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