Corner Lot expects to demolish the closed Beach Road Fish House & Chicken Dinners building starting this month after final permitting and scheduling.
And it wants to sell the sign now on the property.
It says “Beach Road Fish House” and “Chicken Dinners.”
Jacksonville-based Corner Lot intends to develop apartments at the more than 7-acre site at 4132 Atlantic Blvd. at Atlantic Boulevard and Art Museum Drive.
The restaurant was best known as Beach Road Chicken Dinners, its name for decades. The name was changed in 2021 under new ownership and the new sign was put up that now is for sale.
“We do want to get creative in integrating a nod to the history of Beach Road Chicken Dinners into our upcoming project,” said Corner Lot Senior Project Manager Erich Geisler on Oct. 9.
“We have a few ideas in mind once we get to naming and signage for the apartments.”
The name and final details of the project are being determined, he said.
Corner Lot wants to sell the sign on the site and Geisler invites anyone interested to call him at 904-551-2540.
“We’d like to see it go to a good home,” he said.
The city issued a permit Oct. 6 for demolition of Beach Road Fish House and Chicken Dinners, a closed Jacksonville landmark restaurant that opened 84 years ago.
J.B. Coxwell Contracting Inc. will demolish the restaurant at a cost of $79,300. Geisler expects it to take three to four weeks.
The city also is reviewing a permit for J.B. Coxwell to demolish a 1,370-square-foot single-family house for Corner Lot, through St. Nicholas MF Partners LLC, at 4066 Atlantic Blvd.
Geisler said the timeline for development starts with demolition this month, with engineering and architectural design submitted for civil approvals.
He expects it to take two to three months for civil and site permitting and finalizing architectural design and direction.
When the site is cleared, it will take 22 to 24 months for construction, he said.
Connelly & Wicker Inc. is the civil engineer.
The restaurant started in 1939 as Beach Road Chicken Dinners and served its last fried chicken and fish in February.
The Duval County Clerk of Courts recorded a notice of commencement Sept. 20 for J.B. Coxwell to demolish and remove the almost 4,500-square-foot building and parking lot sign and perform general cleanup.
City Council approved legislation Nov. 9, 2022, rezoning the property to planned unit development.
The city issued a mobility fee calculation certificate July 25, 2023, for development of 253 apartments on 7.22 acres. It calculated a fee of $144,941 to mitigate the project’s traffic impact.
Through St. Nicholas MF Partners LLC of Jacksonville, Corner Lot bought the property Feb. 27 for $1.9 million.
Restaurant owners and spouses Nathan Stuart and Margo Klar sold the restaurant through Fish House Holdings LLC.
St. Nicholas MF Partners paid almost $2.8 million among four sales to assemble more than 7 acres for the project.
Stuart and Klar took over Beach Road Chicken Dinners in 2019, leasing the property from owners Ken and Tena Ferger.
The couple bought 1.43 acres of the almost 4-acre parcel from the Fergers in October 2021. Fish House Holdings LLC bought the restaurant site, while the Fergers kept the remaining undeveloped property and sold it to Corner Lot.
Two other property owners also sold their land for the development.
Corner Lot is an active apartment and residential developer in Jacksonville with apartment, housing, hotel and mixed-use projects.