Regency Centers Corp. has fully leased the East San Marco shopping center with the addition of Anejo Cocina Mexicana.
The restaurant will occupy 3,599 square feet next to St. Johns Eye Associates facing Atlantic Boulevard.
It is separated by outdoor dining space from Gemma Fish + Oyster at the corner of Hendricks Avenue and Atlantic Boulevard.
Foxtail Coffee Co. is adjacent to Gemma along Hendricks Avenue.
East San Marco at 2039 Hendricks Ave. opened in August starting with the 39,209-square-foot Publix Super Markets Inc. store and the 1,400-square-foot Publix Liquors.
The remaining tenants comprise Orangetheory Fitness and Crumbl Cookies along with St. Johns Eye Associates, Anejo, Gemma and Foxtail Coffee.
Those are being built-out and are not open.
Anejo Cocina Mexicana’s website lists five locations, with three open in Northeast Florida and two in Daytona and Winter Park.
Anejo’s menu includes tacos, burritos, chimichangas, enchiladas and fajitas as well as desserts such as churros, tres leches and fried ice cream.
It has a full bar.
Nocatee residents Jesus and Blanca Valencia own Anejo Cocina.
Publix and Publix Liquors opened Aug. 11 in East San Marco.
Eric Davidson, Regency Centers senior manager of communications, said the rest of the tenants likely will start opening within eight months, given the scale of build-outs.
He said the dates are up to the tenants’ schedules, but that Regency Centers looks forward to seeing “the public walk through the doors.”
Jacksonville-based Regency Centers ceremonially broke ground on the site Feb. 16, 2021.
Initial discussions surfaced in 2002 about a Publix and mixed-use development on the property.
In 2006, Regency Centers and The St. Joe Co. announced the project, including Publix and condominiums.
The project was delayed by several factors, including the recession and a residential development partner that pulled out of the deal in 2017.
In 2018, Regency Centers Chairman and CEO Martin E. “Hap” Stein Jr. said the project would continue but with just the shopping center.
In October 2019, Regency Centers unveiled plans for East San Marco that included the area’s first and, so far, only two-level Publix building.
Regency Centers then applied for construction permits totaling 59,052 square feet of retail space, comprising a two-story building of 76,588 square feet, with a 39,000-square-foot Publix on the top floor and parking on the bottom; a two-story retail building totaling 8,665 square feet; a one-story retail building of 9,951 square feet; and a 1,436-square-foot Publix Liquors store.
The city issued the horizontal work permit in December 2020 for the 3.25-acre site and construction permits starting in February 2021.
The residential land was sold for town homes. Toll Brothers is developing those, called the Terraces at San Marco.
Stein was succeeded as CEO in 2020 by Regency Centers President Lisa Palmer, who led the groundbreaking.