It has been seven years since two Jacksonville restaurateurs proposed opening The Roost bar and restaurant on Oak Street in Riverside and experienced a backlash from area residents.
It now looks like the restaurant and bar, this time as The Local, is moving closer to opening at the site, though opposition remains.
A proposed planned urban development description published May 1 by City Hall calls for rezoning 0.89 acre at 2220, 2242 and 2246 Oak St.
The buildings are the former Deluxe Laundry and Dry Cleaners De Luxe Launderette sites. They have been vacant for more than a decade.
Jacksonville City Council member Jimmy Peluso moderated a community meeting July 27 to discuss the regulatory steps restaurant owners J.C. Demetree and Ted Stein have cleared to establish The Local.
The meeting preceded Jacksonville Planning Commission meetings in August to review the project.
The Jacksonville Planning Commission deferred the project, Ordinance 2023-0365, that was on the Aug. 1 agenda.
The Council Land Use & Zoning Committee continued a public hearing to Sept. 6.
“Not much is changing in terms of the use, the operations, the high-quality of the establishment that’s going to go there,” said attorney Jason Gabriel, who is representing the owners.
The Roost
Demetree and Stein opened two restaurants since they planned to open The Roost in 2016: The Local in the Miramar area near San Marco, and in Neptune Beach.
Gabriel said the seating capacity will remain at 156, with 59 parking spaces.
The city Planned Unit Development application says hours start at 6:30 a.m. daily and the restaurant will close at 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and midnight Thursday through Saturday. Outside sales and service on the patio ends at 10 p.m. daily.
Demetree and Stein want to have televisions in the restaurant.
“It’s a beautiful home-grown vision for here in Jacksonville,” Gabriel said at the meeting.
The property was zoned for commercial use in 1927.
Demetree said he and Stein want The Local to fit in with the surroundings.
“We really want to see this building done correctly,” Demetree said. “We don’t have many of these buildings left and we’re really excited to see what we can do with it.”
Shannon Blankenship, executive director of Riverside Avondale Preservation, said the neighborhood advocacy group has managed to save the buildings.
“Riverside Avondale Preservation, in seeking to have this historic district, ... has been involved in this structure for a long time,” Blankenship said.
She said RAP has had discussions with Stein and Demetree about the property on Oak Street, which is a few blocks west of a shopping center anchored by Publix grocery store bordered on the north by Oak Street.
Resident concerns
Blankenship said residents concerned about the impact of The Local on the neighborhood “put forth a lot of the concessions and conditions that we see in the application even today. But more recently, I want to speak to the willingness of the applicants to sit down with us, discuss the plans, discuss the projects.”
About 75 people attended the July 27 meeting at Riverside Presbyterian Church. Many voiced opposition to the restaurant and bar.
Paul Smillie, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was concerned that Oak Street, which runs through much of Riverside, is becoming overloaded with traffic and no longer resembles a quaint neighborhood street. He said the addition of a restaurant and bar will not help.
“The traffic thing really does concern me, to be honest,” Smillie said.
Stein said they are encouraging bicycle use and the restaurant will have a bike rack. He said the general feel of the establishment will be family-oriented.
He said he understood concerns about traffic, but that The Local aims to be a neighborhood establishment and will not draw many customers from the Five Points area, which has a string of bars and restaurants about a quarter mile away.
Wayne Wood, RAP founder and a community activist, opposed the proposed restaurant and bar.
Wood led much of the opposition to The Roost in 2016.
He said The Local as proposed doesn’t meet community standards.
“So many people want to see this great neighborhood, want to come in and get a piece of it. Part of the trouble is … they want to milk every nickel out of every dollar out of every square foot they can,” Wood said.
“My feeling is The Roost site that you campaigned for (seven) years ago and your proposal now for The Local is just too big and too out of scale for this neighborhood,” Wood said.
Wood said he would prefer a restaurant to vacant buildings at the Oak Street location, but The Local plans as presented would draw too many people. He suggested scaling back the plans to handle 120 customers, eliminate liquor sales and offer beer and wine sales only.
Stein said those reductions would not make the restoration of the building and restaurant and bar feasible.
Vickie Mangin, who lives on St. Johns Avenue a few blocks from the site, said resistance to the project is misplaced.
“This is an urban area. In an urban area, you are going to have restaurants and you are going to have stores and things. I think it’s awesome for Jacksonville and I think it’s amazing for Riverside,” Mangin said.
“There are beautiful homes in this neighborhood and people are doing fabulous things with their homes. Bringing something like this is great. It is wonderful and … it raises property values and let me tell you, that’s important,” she said.