WINTER PARK, Fla. — A beloved local coffee shop is looking to the community for advice on its future.

Austin’s Coffee and Film is hosting a forum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday at the shop in response to the city of Winter Park buying the land where the store has been located for more than two decades.

City leaders say they plan to use the land as part of a bigger project to ease traffic congestion.

Now, Austin’s employees seek to learn more about what the future holds for them.

Austin’s Assistant Manager Bob Barnett loves a good cup of joe, whether he’s drinking it, or making one for someone else. He’s served thousands of cups over the years.

“People have their own personality that has to do with their coffee,” Barnett said. “I’ll often make the something special for people.”

Many of the shop's customers are regulars, coming out for the art events for which Austin’s is known.

“Sunday night is comedy night, Monday night is hip hop night, Tuesday night has singers and songwriters,” he said.

But now, Barnett is worried about the future of their store, the walls of which the art community has literally made its own.

“It’s like having a knife over the neck of your business that's run for so long,” Barnett said.

In November, Winter Park commissioners unanimously passed a motion to purchase the one-acre property on West Fairbanks Avenue where Austin’s has sat for the past 21 years.

According to the city, acquiring the property was in its 1999 Community Redevelopment Agency plan with the possibility of using it to improve traffic flow by constructing a left-turn lane in both directions and expanding Martin Luther King Jr. Park for beautification and mitigating flooding.

“I haven't seen any communication with the city about what they intend to do with the lease after October. They kind of just left us up in the air, in limbo,” Barnett said.

That is why Austin’s is hosting the forum, so the community can discuss this issue.

“There’s kind of a clamor right now," Barnett said. "You know, what's gonna happen to our favorite place?”

Barnett said he seeks advice on how to move forward.

“I am hoping that we can all get together tomorrow and then, you know, talk about how to address the situation, basically with the city," he said.

The city sent a statement to Spectrum News 13, reading, in part: “… some of the leases expire in the next two years, and others could be extended to as far out as 2035. Even with the leases in effect, the city believes it could dedicate enough right-of-way to accommodate the additional lane by possibly re-orientating the entrances to the buildings to the side or rear of the property, facing the park.”

Discussions about the leased properties would take place after the due-diligence period, a city spokesperson said.

Barnett said he hopes to get a big turnout Friday to show the city that the store should be allowed to stay.

“We're hoping that they will make some concessions and leave this business here for the community that wants it,” Barnett said.

A Winter Park spokesperson sent a statement to explain why no city leaders plan to be there:

“They scheduled their meeting on the very same evening as the Winter on the Avenue Christmas tree lighting event that the city holds every year on the first Friday of December," the statement said. "All of our city officials will be in attendance at this holiday event that is reserved for this annual tradition."