Two buildings three blocks apart lost restaurants within about a year of each other, and neither one sat empty for long. The Bearded Pig closed its doors at 1700 Third Street the spring before Grouper Shack opened. Jekyll Brewing closed all five of its locations in May 2025, an abrupt announcement that drew national coverage. By the end of this past summer, both addresses were serving food again, and in both cases the operator moving in already had a restaurant running somewhere else in Jacksonville before they touched the lease.
That's the part worth knowing if you live here. In both cases, the restaurant that replaced a closed business was already operating elsewhere in Northeast Florida before taking over the beach location.
The Seafood Market That Replaced a Barbecue Joint
Grouper Shack opened December 20 at 1700 Third Street, in the space The Bearded Pig left behind. It's co-owner Nathan Stuart's second Northeast Florida location, run with his wife, Margo Klar, and while the restaurant spent its first month training a staff of 50 through a soft opening, the buildout behind it wasn't modest. The $1 million renovation rebuilt the kitchen, redid the bar and surfaces, and added an outdoor dining area. Stuart isn't stopping here either. He's already building two more restaurants, Cleo's in Crescent Beach and Snappers in Vilano Beach.
Stuart runs the seafood counter the way a commercial fisherman would, because that's what he is. His captain fishes a 43-foot catamaran under a commercial license, and the daily catch board behind the counter lists whatever came in that morning, wahoo some weeks, sheepshead others, caught by his own boat or another local crew. The attached Marketplace sells the same fish portioned for home cooking, along with oysters, crab legs, spices, and shucking gear. The Jacksonville Daily Record reports that Stuart describes the concept as volume over occasion, the kind of place where a Tuesday family dinner doesn't run $200. Grouper Shack is open 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Jekyll Brewing's Closure Made Headlines. Its Replacement Was Already Next Door.
Jekyll Brewing's closure across all five locations came abruptly and drew national coverage. A little over a year later, Alder & Oak opened in the same building at 131 First Avenue North, and the new tenant wasn't new to the block. Alder & Oak sits next to its sister restaurant, Oaxaca Club, both under Mark Janasik's Restaurant & Hospitality Investment Group, which was already running Southern Grounds coffee shops and Blueberry Artisan Bakery in the area before either restaurant opened.
The Jacksonville Beach location is Alder & Oak's second, following the original that opened in January at The Hub on Riverside Avenue in Jacksonville's Brooklyn neighborhood. A friends-and-family preview the night before the July 15 opening drew more than 700 people, and operations partner Eddy Escriba has said the menu carries over from the downtown location almost entirely, with four sushi additions and two crudo dishes unique to the beach. The kitchen works a Turkish, Greek, and Italian meze menu built around olive oil and in-house preparation, with dishes like tzatziki, baba ganoush, roasted cauliflower, and burrata running $8 to $26. Upstairs, beverage director Corey Tighe runs the rooftop bar Zorbas, the newest ocean-adjacent option for an evening drink on that stretch. Between the restaurant and the rooftop, the operation employs 40 people. Hours run 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.
Not Every Reopening Moves This Fast
Compare that pace to what's happening two blocks over at 803 Third Street North, where Maggie McIlroy is building Maggie's Coffeehouse. It isn't open yet, and it won't be until summer 2027 at the earliest. The building's second floor, once an apartment, is being converted into an open mezzanine seating area, a renovation substantial enough that architecture firm AE7 Design and contractor LAY Construction are both attached to the project. McIlroy has also filed a Request for Verification of Exemption with the St. Johns River Water Management District, the paperwork that determines whether a small redevelopment can skip a full Environmental Resource Permit. The coffee itself will come from La Prima Espresso Co., a Pittsburgh roaster founded in 1988.
Maggie's isn't an exception to what happened at the old Bearded Pig and Jekyll Brewing buildings. It's the slower half of the same story. Grouper Shack and Alder & Oak moved into existing restaurant shells and staffed them within weeks. Both operators had run restaurants elsewhere in Northeast Florida before opening these locations. A ground-up buildout with a mezzanine and a water management filing takes longer no matter who's behind it.
Weekend Markets and Events at the Beach
The beach has a regular schedule of public events. Latham Plaza and the Seawalk Pavilion, at 11 1st Street North, host a rotating set of weekend markets, according to the city's own calendar. The Beaches Green Market sets up at Penman Park most Saturday mornings, and the Jax Beach Arts Market runs the same day at Latham Plaza and the Pavilion. A 904 Pop-up market follows on Sunday. The Loggerhead Surf Classic took over the beach just south of the Pier on September 25. The Community First Seawalk Music Festival also returned to the oceanfront pavilion for its 14th year this past February.
These events are part of the beach's calendar. The former restaurant spaces at 1700 Third and 131 First now have new tenants.
Martin Williams keeps track of which buildings on the beach change hands and who moves in next, the same way he tracks which blocks hold up over time. If you want to know what's opening on Third Street before it shows up in your feed, Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
