Three weeks after Two Dudes Seafood closed in Riverside, another operator is moving in.
One Bar & Lounge will open the first week of April in the space at 2665 Park St., the northeast corner of the King Street intersection. Signs for the new business are posted on the building’s windows.
Joe Gjergji is the owner of One Bar & Lounge. It will serve lunch, dinner and hookah, which starts at 4 p.m. It also will have a full bar with craft cocktails. Gjergji said the food would be a mix of Mediterranean and southern Italian cuisine.
The hookah pipes are custom made in Germany and can’t be found anywhere else in Jacksonville, he said. The pipes will use organic tobacco.
Gjergji also owns Trio Hookah Lounge at 8725 Old Kings Road S., and co-owned Toscana Little Italy in the Miramar Center at 4440 Hendricks Ave.
Gjergji said he took over the Two Dudes Seafood space on Feb. 9. He’d had his eye on the corner property for a while, but didn’t expect it to open up.
“Four other people made an offer but I guess I came on top with it,” he said. “I didn’t want to take a chance at losing it, so I jumped on it right away.”
Two Dudes opened in September 2018. It was the restaurant’s third Northeast Florida location. The Atlantic Beach and Ponte Vedra locations are open, although the Atlantic Beach restaurant relocated to 73 Sailfish Drive in February.
Before the building became Two Dudes, it was Il Desco Italian restaurant, Pele’s Wood Fire Grill and a drugstore.
Two Dudes owner Tom Corsano couldn’t be reached for comment Feb. 28.
