Two Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q stores are in review for construction.
The city is reviewing plans to rebuild the Bono’s at 10065 Skinner Lake Drive near St. Johns Town Center at an estimated $1 million construction cost.
The free-standing building is designed at 3,000 square feet on 1.03 acres. Design Cooperative LLC is the architect.
The previous store, with 3,900 square feet of interior space, was damaged by fire in March and then demolished.
Bono’s President Josh Martino said Oct. 26 that the restaurant will be the first free-standing location the chain has constructed in several years. “That building was built quite some time ago. The restaurant industry looked a lot different and worked a lot differently.”
Martino said recently the project has been taking longer than anticipated because of insurance, permitting, design and other factors.
He said the interior would be 3,000 square feet with a 1,000-square-foot front porch with dining and seating and a takeout window. The addition of the drive-thru means more extensive site work, including “starting from scratch” with the parking lot.
Inside, the area near the cashier will allow for easier third-party delivery service and online order pickups.
Five of Bono’s 20 restaurants have drive-thrus, he said.
He said the team was “crossing our fingers” for completion at the end of July.
Martino said in March that the location, built in 2000, was one of the chain’s best-performing locations.
“We know that store, we know that location, we knew that was something we were going to rebuild no matter what,” Martino said.
The city also has been reviewing plans to remodel the Bono’s at 705 Lane Ave. S. in West Jacksonville, but Martino said the company is considering a different direction.
The building was developed in 1979.
“We really intended to do an interior renovation and it was strictly back-of-the-house,” he said, referring to the kitchen, coolers, equipment and a new layout for the restrooms.
Now the company is thinking of building a new restaurant next to the existing one.
He said he is waiting to see how the nearby shopping center might be redeveloped.
“We are hopeful that area gets some new development to spruce it up,” Martino said.
“Lane Avenue is our No. 1 volume store and as long as that is going on, there is no real rush.”
