Waffle House Inc. is moving toward clearing land and building a 24-hour restaurant along Southside Boulevard and Touchton Road in South Jacksonville at a combined estimated project cost of $876,000 - and almost $1.5 million counting the land purchase.
The city is reviewing permits for Norcross, Georgia-based Waffle House to build a 34-seat, 1,840-square-foot restaurant on 1.06 acres at 4319 Deerwood Lake Parkway.
The site is along Touchton Road, between Copeland’s of New Orleans and the Deerwood Lake Commons shopping center anchored by Publix Super Markets Inc.
Waffle House Inc. bought the 1.23-acre site Sept. 13, 2024, for $595,000 from Sonny Joseph of Orlando.
No contractor is identified.
Mark A. Pavey Architect of Gulf Shores, Alabama, is the architect. Civil engineer Contineo Group LLC of Decatur, Georgia, submitted civil engineering plans to the city July 15, 2024.
City utility JEA issued a service availability letter June 24, 2024, to Contineo Group outlining the service connection points.
The utility plan shows a proposed 34-seat, roughly 1,842-square-foot Waffle House with 32 parking space at southwest Southside Boulevard and Touchton Road. The site is on the west side of Southside Boulevard while the Tinseltown area is on the east side.
More specifically, it is along Deerwood Lake Parkway, which runs behind Copeland’s and in front of the Publix shopping center.
Plans indicate access to the restaurant will be from Deerwood Lake Parkway.
A search on the Waffle House website shows 14 of the 24-hour diners in Jacksonville and one in Jacksonville Beach, where Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence received a standing ovation when he walked into the late-night breakfast spot after a 31-30 comeback win in January 2023 over the Los Angeles Chargers from a 27-0 deficit, sending the Jaguars into the divisional playoffs for the first time since 2017.
That November, Lawrence catered Waffle House for the Jaguars front office after the team’s win over the Tennessee Titans.
The Waffle House taglines are “A Unique American Phenomenon” and “America’s Place to Eat, America’s Place to Work.”