Kanine Social owner and founder Daniel Moffatt can move to the next phase of The Block Jax in Southside Quarter with a construction permit issued Aug. 23 at a project cost of almost $3.32 million.
With the tagline “Food. Family. Fun.,” The Block Jax involves an outdoor food hall, live music venue and play park for children, next to a new Kanine Social dog care facility.
Jacksonville-based Equity Builders LLC is the contractor for the project at 7520 Quarter Mill Road at southeast Gate Parkway and Village Crossing Drive.
The site is in Southside Quarter at southwest Interstate 295 and Butler Boulevard, south of St. Johns Town Center.
The city previously issued a site-clearing permit for the 2.5-acre property at a cost of $43,250.
Moffatt said May 14 the land is cleared. He expects a 10-month construction project for completion in early 2025.
Moffatt plans a Kanine Social kennel, day care, boarding and play yard facility along with an outdoor entertainment park on the site.
The website is theblockjax.com.
Permit for pavilion
The permit is for a 6,660-square-foot pavilion. It is designed to cover smaller buildings that include a dog boarding facility, restrooms, coffee and deli areas, a kitchen, a golf simulator and more. There also is an outdoor multipurpose space and a stage.
The permit says gas heat will be used for cooking equipment.
The application said there would be 10,720 square feet of unenclosed space.
Moffatt estimated in December it will be an $8.5 million project.
The project team – all local – comprises Equity Builders of Florida; Halff Inc., which is providing land planning landscape architecture and civil engineering; Design Cooperative LLC is the architect; and Community First Credit Union is the lender.
Community First Credit Union of Florida made a mortgage and Florida First Capital arranged a Small Business Administration loan.
Moffatt owns the property through Containerland RE Holdings LLC, which bought the land for $2.25 million in November 2023 from S-15 Land Holdings LLC, part of the Hines privately owned global real estate investment, development and management firm.
Moffatt, the creator and founder of Kanine Social, Jacksonville’s first dog park and bar in the Brooklyn area of Downtown, announced plans for the Southside Quarter project in December 2023.
“We had a lot of customers who were young and they only had dogs and then a couple of years later, they end up having kids and they no longer could come to Kanine Social because you can’t have kids running around in a dog park. It just doesn’t work,” Moffatt said in announcing The Block Jax.
He said he and partners, including his wife, Megan, are developing The Block Jax with a plan “to be a little bit different than your typical playground.”
The Moffatts have three young children.
Food hall
Moffatt said The Block Jax will comprise a covered outdoor food hall with eight vendors, a craft beer bar, a fenced-in children’s play area called Kids on the Block, a 30-foot-wide LED video wall for football games and movies, and other amenities, including a stage, lawn and arcade games and a golf simulator. Admission will be free.
The website lists the food vendor varieties as breakfast sandwiches, barbecue, pizza, acai bowls, tacos, Asian street food/Thai, ice cream and coffee.
Moffatt thinks the project could generate up to 75 full- and part-time jobs when including those by the food vendors.
Moffatt envisions The Block Jax opening at 9 a.m. daily and closing about 10 p.m., depending on events, such as NFL and college football games carried on the video screen.
Dog park
Next to The Block Jax will be Moffatt’s second Kanine Social dog park, day care and boarding center.
The website says dogs must remain on leash in all areas, but may play unleashed at Kanine Social’s private dog park. The site directs customers to check out Kanine Social’s website, kaninesocial.com, for more information on its facilities and services.
Moffatt said the new Kanine Social’s day will be similar to the first one, with drop-off for day care and boarding at 7 a.m. and pickup by 7 p.m.
Moffatt registered Kanine Social Gate Parkway LLC and Containerland RE Holdings LLC with the state Jan. 30, 2023, and The Block Jacksonville LLC on Aug. 18, 2023.
Civil engineering plans were submitted to the city Dec. 12, 2023. Community First Credit Union of Florida made a mortgage to Containerland for $4.25 million.
Moffatt said Florida First Capital arranged a Small Business Administration 504 loan, which provides long-term, fixed-rate financing up to $5 million for major fixed assets.
Moffatt leads the ownership group for Block Jacksonville LLC.
He said in December 2023 that Ryan Irish will be a minority owner and the operating partner for both of Kanine Social’s Jacksonville locations as well as The Block Jax.
Along with the Moffatts and Irish as active investors, Moffatt’s father and brother-in-law are passive minority investors.
Moffatt opened the original Kanine Social in August 2018 at 580 College St. in the Brooklyn-Riverside area to provide dog day care services along with an indoor/outdoor dog park where owners can drink beer, wine and coffee and socialize while their dogs play.
He bought the 15,884-square-foot building in 2017.