Panera Bread is ready to demolish a closed Baymeadows restaurant and build a shell building for a new cafe at a project cost topping $1.25 million.
The city issued permits Aug. 9 for Skyline Construction Inc. to demolish the closed 5th 4,561-square-foot 5th Element Indian Restaurant at 9485 Baymeadows Road and build a 3,831-square-foot building for a new Panera Bread.
The demolition cost is $15,000 and the new structure is $1.25 million.
Tenant build-out will be in a separate permit that the city is reviewing at an estimated project cost of $750,000.
Plans show a patio and drive-thru in addition to interior dining.
The 1.36-acre site is on the north side of Baymeadows Road between Old Baymeadows Road and Baymeadows Circle East, west of Southside Boulevard.
The landowner is Realty Income Corp. of San Diego. GBT Realty Corp. of Brentwood, Tennessee, is the client.
MJM Architects inc. of Nashville is the architect. Goodson Bergen & Associates Consulting Engineers Inc. is the civil engineer.
Built in 1991, the existing restaurant was a former Applebee’s and more recently 5th Element Indian Restaurant.
Panera now leases a 4,360-square-foot space nearby at 9810 Baymeadows Road in Baymeadows Village.
There are at least 14 Panera Bread locations in Northeast Florida.
Panera has been opening stand-alone restaurants with drive-thrus as it leaves its in-line locations in strip shopping centers.
The 5th Element owners bought a closed St. Johns Town Center area property at 10208 Buckhead Branch Drive and relocated there.