Fast-food slider chain White Castle plans to enter the Northeast Florida market with a proposed location in St. Augustine, documents filed in St. Johns County show.
The 2,764-square-foot restaurant with a 270-square-foot outdoor seating area and dual drive-thru is slated for an outparcel in a Walmart Supercenter under construction at World Commerce Center off International Golf Parkway and Florida 16, just south of Tocoi Creek High School.
The supercenter, at 3405 International Golf Parkway, is about 2 miles west of Bass Pro Shops, Buc-ee’s and Costco at World Commerce Center.
Columbus, Ohio-based archall architects is the White Castle architect. Gatlin Development Co., through IGP WCC Project LLC, is the property owner, according to the county property appraiser website. Steinemann & Co. is the developer.
A project cost will be assigned when the county issues a building permit. The county Development Review Committee will discuss the project May 6.
Florida has three White Castles, in Clermont, Kissimmee and Orlando, with a fourth scheduled to open this summer in Daytona Beach, according to a news release.
Founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, by Billy Ingram, White Castle owns and operates 341 restaurants, its website says. In addition, the company operates a retail division to sell branded food nationally in grocery stores, as well as meat-processing plants, bakeries and frozen-slider retail facilities.
Time magazine named White Castle’s Original Slider the most influential burger of all time in 2014.
Elsewhere in St. Johns County, another slider concept is planned 6 miles north of White Castle.
Smalls Sliders, a Louisiana-based chain that includes former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees among its investors, received a build-out permit Feb. 18 from St. Johns County for the restaurant planned off County Road 210 east of Interstate 95 across from mixed-use development The Fountains at St. Johns. An opening date has not been announced.
Other tenants announced for World Commerce Center include Chase Bank, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Panda Express and Wells Fargo.
Walmart also plans to add a fueling station.