The city approved a permit for V Steakhouse - now named 14 Prime - and V Pizza, with Sidecar Jax lounge between them, to build-out at 7510 Gate Parkway in The Palms at Gate Parkway.
Owner Paul Scott said 14 Prime stands for the 14th restaurant in the group, which will have 13 V Pizza locations upon the expected Oct. 1 opening of the steakhouse.
"It's dead center" among the pizza locations in Northeast Florida, Scott said March 19.
The city issued a permit March 18 for the conjoined concepts in The Palms at Gate Parkway.
Bravo Zulu Group of Jacksonville Beach is the contractor for the $1 million project at 7510 Gate Parkway.
It’s the first steakhouse for Jacksonville-based V Pizza, which launched its initial restaurant in 2014 in San Marco.
Scott said he wants to open the steakhouse Oct. 1, while V Pizza and Sidecar might open before then.
The Gate Parkway investment is several million dollars, he said.
V Pizza has 12 restaurants, with the 13th at Gate Parkway.
The location is central to seven V Pizza locations in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
He said previously that future steakhouses will be developed central to where V Pizza has five or more locations.
Northeast Florida is the first area with that density of V Pizzas.
The location is in a new building at northwest Gate Parkway and Burnt Mill Road. That area is at southwest Interstate 295 and Butler Boulevard, south of St. Johns Town Center and about a half-mile north of Ikea.
The 12,296-square-foot project for the conjoined V Pizza, V Steakhouse and Sidecar Jax spaces is on the ground floor of the two-story Building 3.
The permit indicates the three concepts will take most of the ground floor in the 33,360-square-foot building.
However, 14 Prime, V Pizza and Sidecar will have separate entrances.
The only interior connection will be inside access between V Pizza and Sidecar Jax, Scott said.
Each restaurant has a dining room and patio seating.
V Pizza has dining and an open kitchen.
The 14 Prime steakhouse has an exhibition kitchen, dining, wine room and private dining as well as a bar.
Plans show a combined 520 seats for the three concepts comprising 231 dining room seats, 67 lounge seats, 98 bar seats and 124 patio seats.
Scott said March 19 that 14 Prime will have about 40 employees and another 40 will be hired for V Pizza and Sidecar. He said it would take more time to train employees for the new steakhouse concept.
Connors Design Group LLC of Ponte Vedra Beach is the architect. Codes-ABC Inc. of Orange Park handled code compliance.
The landlord is Jacksonville-based Ash Properties, which is developing the three-building Palms at Gate Parkway.
The Palms at Gate Parkway comprises three office, retail and restaurant buildings totaling 119,362 square feet. Buildings 1 and 3 are 33,360 square feet each and Building 2 is 52,386 square feet.
Scott said in February 2023 that a previous attempt to open the first V Steakhouse at the former Lulu’s Waterfront Grille in Ponte Vedra Beach did not work out because the company couldn’t come to terms with the property owners.
He said then that the V Steak concept was not being abandoned.
“We are actively looking but nothing solid.”
Plans show V Steaks LLC as the project owner.
Owners registered the business name V Steaks LLC with the state in April 2021. It is led by David Villmow of Jacksonville and KNP Veloce LLC and PNK Veloce LLC, both of Ponte Vedra Beach.
KNP Veloce and PNK Veloce are led by Scott, Villmow, Kris Williams and Jonathan Mark Turner.
The V Pizza restaurant chain, which features pizza cooked in wood-burning ovens, operates 12 locations, according to vpizza.com
The site shows seven in Northeast Florida and one each in Gainesville, Orlando and St. Simons, Georgia, and two in North Carolina.
The Northeast Florida sites are in San Marco, Mandarin, Jacksonville Beach, Palm Valley, St. Augustine, Fleming Island and Fernandina Beach.
Gate Parkway will be the eighth.
V Pizza launched its concept at the San Marco location at 1406 Hendricks Ave. in spring 2014.
In November 2021, as the lease expiration was coming up in about two years, a V Pizza executive said it planned to lease the former Knights of Columbus building at 1509 Hendricks Ave., a larger space.
Scott said Dec. 18 he negotiated a 20-year lease on the current V Pizza and Sidecar Jax and is renovating the space, including new flooring and exterior painting, for completion in January.
The V Steaks owners also own Jacksonville-based V Pizza Franchising LLC. Scott said the two North Carolina locations are franchised but the others, and all future locations, will be corporate-owned.
“Although it is rumored that V stands for Very, Very good Pizza the truth is V stands for Veloce, which means ‘fast’ in Italian. Our 900° ovens cook your pizzas in as little as 90 seconds — now that’s fast,” says vpizza.com.