A fourth upscale steakhouse plans to open in n Downtown Jacksonville in late 2025.
Indigo Road Hospitality Group announced Nov. 26 that Oak Steakhouse will operate on the first floor in the Greenleaf & Crosby Building at 204 N. Laura St., where Jacobs Jewelers closed in early 2023 after 96 years in the historic property at Laura and Adams streets.
Indigo Road Hospitality Group, founded by Steve Palmer in 2009, owns and operates the Oak Steakhouse chain. It is based in North Charleston, South Carolina.
It will join seven locations in Alexandria, Virginia; Atlanta; Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, Highlands and Raleigh, North Carolina; and Nashville, Tennessee.
“I know the Palmer folks put a lot of work when selecting locations, so I take this as good news in general for Downtown,” Tony Allegretti, a Downtown advocate and business owner, said in a text.
The historic Greenleaf & Crosby Building, developed in 1927, is on the block with the city-owned historic Snyder Memorial Methodist Church, no longer used for religious services, at 226 N. Laura St.
“I would love for it to bolster the chances of someone saving the historic Snyder Memorial next door,” Allegretti said.
Ruth’s Chris Steak House started the upscale trend in 1997 when it opened in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Jacksonville Riverfront at 1201 Riverplace Blvd. on the Southbank of the St. Johns River.
It was the first national high-end steakhouse brand to fire up Downtown.
Morton’s The Steakhouse followed in 1999 nearby at 1510 Riverplace Blvd. After closing in 2012 as part of new corporate ownership, it opened in 2017 in the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront at 225 E. Coastline Drive on the Jacksonville Northbank.
Jacksonville ownership then entered the market. The Cowford Chophouse, owned by a group led by Jacksonville businessman Jacques Klempf, opened in 2017 in the historic Bostwick Building at 101 E. Bay St. that was the First Guaranty Bank & Trust Building.
Klempf bought the historic Bostwick Building in 2014 and invested more than $8 million to redevelop it, almost brick by brick, restoring the dilapidated structure.
He opened it as Cowford on Oct. 26, 2017. It offered some of the first rooftop dining Downtown.
“I think that another high-end restaurant only helps to put downtown Jacksonville on the map as a dining destination,” Kerri Stewart, vice president of Downtown Vision Inc. and a board member of Build Up Downtown, said in a text.
“I believe other options and concepts will follow. In addition to the restaurant opening, there will be several hundred apartments and townhouses coming in Brooklyn, LaVilla, Springfield, and on the Southbank.”
Sustaining an increasing number of high-end restaurants could be a challenge, said Sam Taylor, former publisher of Folio magazine and current publisher of Liberty Life Media.
“Obviously, the base population is growing but a lot of the base population is in the market for fast-casual not full-service,” Taylor said.
“If it was a fast-casual restaurant, it would harvest all the new heads in beds in the Downtown footprint,” he said.
High-end steakhouses generally depend on business customers.
The four steakhouses can expect company.
The expected opening in 2026 of the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Jacksonville, under construction along the Downtown Northbank will likely bring another upscale restaurant Downtown.