Panera Bread continues to prepare a new location in Baymeadows as property ownership seeks a permit to raze the former 5th Element Taste of India restaurant at 9485 Baymeadows Road.
The 5th Element restaurant relocated to Town Center.
Skyline Construction Inc. is the contractor for the estimated $15,000 project to tear down the more than 4,500-square-foot building on 1.36 acres.
The fast-casual Panera bakery-cafe proposes to build a $1.25 million shell restaurant at the site and build it out at an estimated $750,000.
The new 3,831-square-foot cafe shell and interior projects total $2 million.
The site is on the north side of Baymeadows Road between Old Baymeadows Road and Baymeadows Circle East, west of Southside Boulevard.
Plans show a patio and a single-lane drive-thru in addition to interior dining.
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.
City utility JEA issued a service availability letter June 26, 2023, for demolition of the Baymeadows Road restaurant and construction of a 100-seat Panera Bread.
Goodson Bergen & Associates Consulting Engineers Inc. is the civil engineer.
Built in 1991, the 4,561-square-foot restaurant was an Applebee’s before it was 5th Element Indian Restaurant.
There are at least 14 Panera Bread locations in Northeast Florida.
Panera now leases a 4,360-square-foot space nearby at 9810 Baymeadows Road in Baymeadows Village.
Panera has been opening stand-alone restaurants with drive-thrus as it leaves its in-line locations in strip shopping centers.