Jacksonville is looking for more night restaurants in downtown Laura Street

deleciousfood | April 16, 2025 | Restaurents | No Comments

The Downtown Investment Authority (DIA) of Jacksonville plans to invest millions to revitalize Laura Street by adding restaurants and cultural attractions.
DIA aims to create a dynamic corridor along Laura Street, connecting James Weldon Johnson Park to Riverfront Plaza.
Several restaurants are planned for the region, including Pizza Dynamo, for Taproom and Oak Steakhouse, as well as the potential redevelopment of historical buildings like Snyder Memorial Church and Juliette Balcony.

Laura Street in downtown Jacksonville can boast of being the most accessible street on foot in Jacksonville – if only there were more night destinations that brought people up and down.

In a desire to activate Laura Street in the heart of the Urban Core, the Downtown Investment Authority moves to book $ 4.5 million for the historic Snyder Memorial church and $ 12 million for a 15 -story offered tower with apartments, hotel rooms and restaurants in Riverfront Plaza.

As different as these two developments are, they have in common that the two are in a corridor with five houses in rue Laura where the extra-haut-bassiel sidewalks of the slope of James Weldon Johnson to the St. Johns river.

Funding from Snyder Memorial Church would include $ 1 million before for the design of a new restaurant next to the St. Johns river in Riverfront Plaza. The concept of the city building the restaurant, then renting a space to a restaurateur was faced with skepticism by the members of the municipal council who said that the DIA should return a second time before spending the money.

Although this plan takes place on the back and other restaurants are in preparation.

“The idea is that you can activate from James Weldon Johnson Park, the town hall, the mocc and the library to Riverfront Plaza, so it is strewn with restaurants and cultural institutions and the whole street is this dynamic corridor,” said the CEO of Dia Lori Boyer.

Bill Delaney, who is the mayor of the mayor Donna Deegan with the municipal council, said that the challenge is that the buildings are “very old and that many of them are not in great shape, so it is more expensive to do them”.

“But the impact, if we are able to take off, will be much more books for a book than some of these major projects,” he said.

The ultimate plan is for more restaurants along rue Laura and Hogan Street, creating a loop of choice. Boyer said that unlike the elbow entertainment district anchored by Florida Theater, Laura and Hogan streets would be intended to eat outside.

The five -pâté de laura Street houses currently has a Jimmy Johns Shop sandwich, Chamblin’s Uptown Cafe, a green salad shop and a Cafe mocc, which are mainly aimed at daytime meals. The shopping area of rue Laura where the Mag’s cafe and the Bread & Board worked in the past are dark.

But Vystar builds space in the ground floor of its downtown garage facing Laura Street for Pizza Dynamo and the tapest room which will be open at night as well as during the day. The OAK Steakhouse has announced its intention to open a high -end restaurant on the first floor of the Greenleaf & Crosby building, a centenary, vacant by Jacob’s jewelers.

The Oak Steakhouse would be in the same block as the Snyder Memorial church belonging to the city. Boyer said the church could lend itself to a range of uses such as a restaurant or a music room that opens the building to the public, including night. The church dates back to 1903 and was a meeting place during the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

“We want to make sure that this respects both the historical nature and the events that happened there,” said Boyer. “There must therefore be recognition and a tribute to this subject.”

Snyder is through Laura Street of another vacant historic building called Juliette Balcony which could be converted into restaurants and retail sale at the street level with eight studio apartments in the three -story structure. This building was from 1904 as a board pension. The addition of brick veneer in 1923 gave him the appearance he has now.

The legislation pending before the municipal council would provide $ 2.56 million in financial incentives for Juliette’s balcony, which is located between Chamblin’s Uptown and the empty space where the Mag coffee has worked. The owner of Juliette Balcony also bought the Mag’s Cafe Building.

If all these restaurants and retail possibilities materialize, they would add to other restaurants half a block from rue Laura which are open for a dinner such as Bellwether and Gili’s Kitchen.

The only block of Laura Street without any current proposal for restaurants is the place where the trio on rue Laura has come for decades. Previous plans for these buildings included restaurants at the street as part of a larger redevelopment for hotel rooms and apartments.

Riverfront Plaza, where the dead ends on rue Laura in a roundabout, could also add restoration options, even after the Dia fell its plan for a restaurant by the river. The park built in Riverfront Plaza will have a coffee without an appointment at the bottom of the elevated playground structure, and the second phase would add an outdoor coffee.

Gateway Jax offered a 17 -storey tower on an angle plot of an acre next to the main street bridge which would contain hotel rooms built according to standards “four stars or luxury” as well as residences and a 5000 square foot terrace at the opening of the public. The terrace would have a view of the St. Johns river with restaurants along it.

Gateway Jax and Downtown Investment Authority staff worked on a redevelopment agreement. Gateway Jax said that taxpayers’ incentives would involve up to a completion subsidy of $ 20 million plus land tax discounts after construction.

The members of the municipal council have raised financial concerns concerning the city adding greater commitments for the completion subsidies paid from the General Fund of the City, which supports a multitude of city services. Boyer said the Dia planned to use its own financial resources to reserve money for the completion subsidy, starting with $ 12 million in next year’s budget and adding it in the years to come if necessary.

“Rather than seeing the downtown project stand on a large scale, what do we prioritize?” Said Boyer.

Any redevelopment agreement of the Riverfront Plaza plot would require the approval of the municipal council. At this stage, it depends on what the Council decides to exchange the land of the Plaza for Property Gateway that Jax owns in another part of the city center which would be part of the Upper Campus of the University of Florida near the Osborn Convention Center Prime.

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