A closed 77-year-old building in the Oak Haven area that once housed a Cedar River Seafood restaurant is identified for conversion into the Espresso Cafe.
The city issued a permit Feb. 14 for Savior Homes Inc. to build-out the 2,040-square-foot building on a 0.9-acre site at 5747 Atlantic Blvd. at a project cost of $120,000.
Plans show a drive-thru window and inside seating for 32 customers.
Seven Gates Design LLC of Jacksonville is the designer. VEB Holdings LLC of Jacksonville bought the property in 2016.
VEB is led by Vasiliy Bratulin and Olga Bratulin. They registered the name with the state in 2016.
Olga Bratulin registered Espresso Cafe LLC, at 5747 Atlantic Blvd., in February 2024.
State records show the Bratulins lead several holdings and other businesses, including Vasiliy’s Constructions LLC, based at 8810 Corporate Square Court, Suite 107.
In mid-2022, the city issued a mobility fee calculation certificate, showing a $35,876 fee for a 1,200-square-foot coffee shop and drive-thru proposed on the site, which is near River Bank Court and across from the Publix at Arlington River. MAI Engineering Services Inc. of St. Augustine was the civil engineer.
The property, which has been fenced, is west of University Boulevard North.
The site has had several uses.
In 2019, The Florida Times-Union Call Box feature answered a reader’s question about the property.
The question asked about a seafood restaurant at the site in the 1980s and when it closed.
Call Box writer Sandy Strickland responded March 8, 2019, that the restaurant was Cedar River Seafood, one of several in Northeast Florida.
“On some occasions there was a line of people waiting to get into the small interior of the one at 5747 Atlantic Blvd. with its porthole-style windows flanking the front door,” Strickland wrote.
She reported that it opened in 1982 or 1983 and was listed in city directories through the 1980s.
“This wasn’t the first restaurant to occupy the site. In the 1960s, there was Uncle Joe’s Drive-In which was known for its foot-long hot dogs that cost 25 cents. It had curb service in the back where its dim lighting made it a hang-out spot,” she wrote.
As of the date of the feature, Strickland said the building most recently had housed Comfort Plumbing Service.
The CedarRiverSeafood.com site shows that Cedar River Seafood now operates five family-owned locations in Florida, with the closest in Callahan and Keystone Heights. The others are in Crystal River, Inverness and Starke.