With the permit issued by the city Feb. 11, the 1928 Cuban Bistro is coming to San Marco East Plaza.
Lighthouse Construction of North Florida LLC is the contractor for the $72,875 project to renovate 2,712 square feet in the 51,052-square-foot in Building A at 3563 Philips Highway.
San Marco East Plaza is at northeast Philips Highway and Emerson Street, off Interstate 95, in South Jacksonville.
The site is the seventh location for the Jacksonville-based restaurant group.
“It’s going to be something special,” owner Rebecca Gonzalez said in January.
The space will be a restaurant, catering-prep kitchen, catering storage and corporate office.
Gonzalez said the restaurant will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday with a smaller, more focused menu than at the first six locations.
“On the weekends, we plan to use the kitchen for prepping our large catering orders, which have really taken off over the last couple of years,” she said.
“Plus, this space will double as our corporate office for the upper management team and a storage area for our catering supplies,” she said.
“We can’t wait to have a dedicated spot for our catering business and are looking forward to all the possibilities it will bring.”
San Marco East Plaza, developed as a shopping center in 1960, is an eight-building campus with green space, walkways and courtyards.
The 470,000-square-foot campus includes Baptist Health, RF-Smart and, most visible along I-95, the Community First Igloo, home of the Jacksonville Icemen professional hockey team.
Prescott Group bought the 38-acre property in 2019.
San Marco East is the mile-long corridor of Philips Highway from San Marco to Emerson Street that property owners want to revitalize. They formed the San Marco East Business Association.
1928 Cuban Bistro has six restaurants in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties comprising locations in Baymeadows, Ortega, Jacksonville Beach, Saint Johns, Fernandina Beach and Fleming Island.
1928 Cuban Bistro’s menu includes breakfast all day, lunch and, depending on the location, dinner. The first six are open daily.
Sandwiches include The Cuban, Pan con Lechon and more; wraps; salads; empanadas; plates; sides; soup; pastries; and desserts such as flan, churros and bunuelos.
There also are Cuban coffees, tea and other drinks. The menu is at 1928bistro.com/menu.
The 1928Bistro.com site shows that the six restaurants open at 8 a.m. daily. Closing hours vary by location and day, from 4 p.m., 6 p.m. or 8 p.m.
In 2019, Gonzalez created the first 1928 Cuban Bistro restaurant at 3928 Baymeadows Road and has added locations since then.
1928 Cuban Bistro honors her grandparents, Mario and Pura Alvarado. Her grandfather, a Cuban immigrant born in 1928, left Cuba in 1961 to escape communism.