Players Grille is expected to open this summer in Jacksonville’s Brooklyn neighborhood in time for the kickoff of the 2024 NFL season.
The restaurant and sports bar is inside the Home2 Suites by Hilton Downtown Jacksonville at 600 Park St.
The extended-stay hotel opened in April.
The 4,500-square-foot restaurant will have indoor and outdoor seating for about 160 customers.
It will be the fourth Players Grille in Northeast Florida and the first newly built space for owners Phil and Megan Visali.
AVS Builders of St. Augustine is the contractor.
The Visalis and CFO Dominic Raices see the new Players Grille as a possible model for future franchises, they said May 7 in an interview at the ribbon-cutting for the Home2 Suites.
Players Grille Group LLC also plans to launch a new restaurant, bar and event space concept later this year at 1430 Prudential Drive on the Downtown Southbank.
“We’re gonna see how this evolves before we make the decision which Players (design) is the most marketable concept,” Phil Visali said.
The ownership group bought the original Players Grille at 4456 Hendricks Ave. in 2022. It has since opened locations at 10140 San Jose Blvd. and at 1075 Oakleaf Plantation Parkway near Orange Park.
Players Grille is leasing the space in Brooklyn. It is not a part of the hotel, however, Hilton will have to approve the design, Visali said.
The Visalis come from the franchise world. Before buying the restaurants, they owned and franchised about 250 offices of We Insure insurance companies in 30 states. They sold the business in 2021.
Expanding Players Grille around the nation is their plan.
“We were a franchiser in a previous life,” Vasali said, and hope to apply that knowledge to the growth of restaurants.
“As long as we perfect all the processes and we know this is marketable, this can be in every NFL city,” he said.
The Brooklyn location will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and provide hotel room service.
It will serve an expanded menu that will include specialty burgers, sliders, tacos as well as an old-time favorite.
“We are bringing back the Sloppy Joe,” Raices said.
Kelco Management and Development Inc. and Corner Lot own the hotel. Kelco has two hotels in the Miami area and one in Tallahassee. Visali wants to continue the partnership with Kelco and place Players Grilles in those hotels and future Kelco endeavors.
“We know how to do this. But we don’t want to jump the gun. We want to do it right,” Visali said.
The new concept is the Prudential Club at 1430 Prudential Drive. It is a 12,000-square-foot event space that will have a full restaurant and bar as well as a ballroom that will hold about 500 people, Visali said.
It is the former We Insurance Jacksonville headquarters and offices for the Jacksonville branch of the American Cancer Society.
When Visali sold the insurance business, he kept the building.
The bar and restaurant will be open daily separate from the event space.
It will serve specialty cocktails, have a garden space and its own liquor store, 904 Liquors.