A new breakfast and lunch option may be on the way to LaVilla after a July 2 action by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority board.
On a 4-0 vote with three members absent, the board authorized JTA staff to negotiate a lease agreement with Grounds of Grace/Cinotti’s Bakery to open a cafe on the first floor of Jacksonville Regional Transportation Center at LaVilla.
Cleveland Ferguson III, JTA’s executive Vice President and chief administrative officer, told board members that the cafe would be in the space vacated by Crazy Beans Coffee when it closed last year.
According to information presented to the board, Grounds of Grace and Cinotti’s are interested in a three-year agreement with an optional three-year renewal to operate in the JTA center, at 100 LaVilla Center Drive.
The new establishment’s menu would include breakfast and bakery items, lunch items, a full espresso bar and smoothies. Ferguson said hours will be negotiated, but the cafe will be open no later than 6 p.m.
The cafe will be open to the public as well as JTA employees.
According to a Colliers online listing, the space comprises 1,000 square feet of retail and a 271-square-foot storage room. The listing says building traffic includes 150 JTA employees and “hundreds more bus and Skyway travelers.”
The board’s vote comes amid move-ins to Johnson Commons, a partially finished, 91-unit town home development immediately north of the JTA’s LaVilla center. Developers of the town homes, JWB Real Estate Capital LLC and Corner Lot Development Group, are targeting total completion in the fourth quarter of 2025.
In addition, the Emerald Trail Model Mile and Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park have opened in 2024. Both are near the LaVilla center.
Cinotti’s Bakery operates at 1523 Penman Road in Jacksonville Beach. Grounds of Grace, which began as a coffee bus, has a storefront location at 1633 University Blvd. N. in Arlington.
The coffee shop is part of the nonprofit Sponsored by GRACE, which states its goal as helping children living in low-income or high-crime areas gain work experience and engage with their community.