At the September 16 Downtown Investment Authority meeting, board member Patrick Krechowski held up a $71,310 incentive vote over a sandwich. The staff report on European Street Cafe's plan for Riverfront Plaza didn't list the Blue Max, so he asked owner Andrew Zarka whether the pastrami-and-corned-beef Reuben would be on the menu. Zarka said it would. Krechowski then moved for approval, and the board voted 8-0.
It was a joke, but the vote behind it shows how the downtown waterfront is being built now. The city puts up and owns the riverfront buildings. Then it picks an operator through a competitive process and helps pay for the build-out. That's why you can get dinner on the river at the Shipyards this fall while the park pieces around it still run on 2027 and 2028 timelines.
The city owns the buildings
The pavilion European Street will move into is a city-owned building at 2 W. Independent Drive, inside Riverfront Plaza. Mayor Donna Deegan's office announced on July 6 that the cafe had won the space through a competitive request for proposals.
The larger seafood restaurant planned for the southwest corner of the same park follows the same model at a much bigger scale. Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group would build a shell that the city owns, then finish it and lease it back. Met Park Marina, which opened in August, also follows it. The city paid for the $2 million rebuild and leases the marina to the Shipyards developer.
The terms vary widely, and they show what the city is buying in each case:
Project | Status as of early October 2026 | Public money | What the operator pays or spends |
|---|---|---|---|
Asado Life, 5 Tower Court | Open since August 25 | Shipyards project, developed by Iguana Investments | Restaurant operator in the marina support building |
Met Park Marina | Open since August 12 | $2 million rebuild, city-funded | $15,000 a year to lease the marina, minus events lawn maintenance fees |
European Street Cafe, Riverfront Plaza pavilion | Incentive approved September 16; late-fall opening expected | $71,310 forgivable loan | $412,058 total build-out |
Atlas seafood restaurant, Riverfront Plaza | Term sheet approved July 15; more approvals needed | $8 million reimbursement for design and construction | $4 million build-out, then $560,000 base rent a year with 3% annual increases |
The Atlas lease also has a revenue switch. If the restaurant reaches $11.2 million in annual revenue, rent changes to 5% of revenue. Atlas would also cover maintenance and insurance. The city is paying to build a landmark restaurant on the site of the demolished Jacksonville Landing, and it expects real rent back.
What's actually open on the water
The completed list is longer than it was a year ago. At the marina ribbon-cutting, Jacksonville's parks director Daryl Joseph listed what his department has finished on the downtown riverfront over the past two years: the renovated Friendship Fountain at $8 million, Riverfront Plaza's first phase at $38 million, RiversEdge at $35 million, and the Riverfront Music Garden at about $7 million.
"This is great because it's a lot more fun cutting ribbons vs. unveiling renderings, and here we have promises that were made, and now they're being kept, and they're being delivered." Mark Lamping, president of the Jacksonville Jaguars, at the Met Park Marina opening
Asado Life is the only new riverfront restaurant confirmed open downtown since July. It sits at 5 Tower Court in the Shipyards marina support building, near the Four Seasons Hotel & Residences and EverBank Stadium. It seats about 140 people indoors and on a patio over the St. Johns River. It opened August 25 for lunch. The Times-Union reported that dinner would start September 18. The restaurant's own menu now lists lunch Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., social hour from 3 to 6 p.m., and dinner from 5 to 8:30 p.m. It's closed Mondays.
The operator has a St. Augustine story. Nick and Christie Carrera started Urban Asado as a live-fire grill business out of their garage in 2014. They opened the brick-and-mortar flagship at 173 Asado Way in St. Augustine in 2022. Within weeks of the downtown opening, they signed a lease for a third location at Nocatee Town Center.
Met Park Marina opened next door on August 12 with 78 slips, behind the Four Seasons and the One Tower Court office building. F3 Marina, a Wisconsin company opening its first Jacksonville marina, runs it with Shanna Collective. Boaters who want to tie up for a meal can dock and dine for $5 an hour, for up to four hours. The city lists power, water, pump-out, marine gas and diesel, Wi-Fi, and a ship shop with boating supplies, grab-and-go food and drinks.
Farther west, the Northbank Riverwalk reopened in May as a continuous route from the Riverside Arts Market to the Hyatt, including the McCoys Creek pedestrian bridge. The Riverfront Music Garden beside the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts opened the same month. It has a playable keyboard built into the ground and a Walk of Fame.
What's approved but not open yet
European Street will be the chain's fourth Duval County location, after Jacksonville Beach, Riverside and San Marco. The 2,377-square-foot cafe plans indoor service plus outdoor cafe seating overlooking the park. Listed hours are 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends, with possible later hours during special events. That's a breakfast-through-early-evening schedule built around park traffic.
The mayor's office expects it to open by late fall 2026. The agreement itself allows more time, though. Build-out must start within three months of the effective date and be substantially complete nine months after that, and the business must open within a year. Late fall is the target, and the contract sets the outer limit.
The Atlas restaurant is further back. In April, a DIA committee scored Atlas's proposal above one from St. Augustine-based PK Hospitality Group. The board accepted that recommendation in May. The plan calls for 6,000 square feet inside, a 1,500-square-foot patio and a rooftop bar. Inside would be a waterfront raw bar and casual dining area, a full-service seafood-and-steak dining room, and a rooftop lounge. Atlas runs more than 50 restaurants in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington, D.C., several of them on the water. DIA CEO Colin Tarbert still has to negotiate the lease and construction documents, and those need further DIA board and City Council approval. No Jacksonville name or opening date has been announced.
Three other downtown projects are still waiting on confirmation as of early October:
- Riverwalk behind the Four Seasons. The city's tracker set August 30, 2026 as the target for substantial completion of this segment but hasn't confirmed it opened.
- Shipyards West Park. In July, the city was reviewing a permit for a two-story, 36,000-square-foot events pavilion at 750 E. Bay St. Plans include a beach, a pedal-boat cove, a fishing pier and a flex lawn.
- Metropolitan Park. The city expected construction funding to be available in fall 2026, with 12 to 18 months of work after that. Its Riverwalk rebuild is expected in 2028.
How construction affects the walk to the river
The connection that ties Riverfront Plaza to the Southbank is under construction. Since August 24, The Haskell Company has been removing the old ramp stub on the Main Street Bridge, the first step toward a permanent pedestrian link into the park. Southbound traffic toward Riverplace Boulevard is down to one lane. The southbound pedestrian walkway is closed, and walkers follow posted detour signs. Northbound traffic keeps two lanes. Completion is targeted for January 30, 2027.
The park pieces that would make European Street and Atlas part of a fuller waterfront come after that. Riverfront Plaza Phase 2 adds a beer garden, a rain garden, and a bike and pedestrian connection to the bridge. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, with the phase and its Riverwalk segment expected to finish by December 2027 or January 2028. East of downtown, the Emerald Trail's Hogan Street Link from Riverfront Plaza toward Union Street was expected to finish in early 2027, according to June reporting. For most of the next year, the restaurant pads will be ahead of the paths that lead to them.
Reasons to head downtown this month
The open riverfront spots pair well with this month's downtown calendar:
- First Wednesday Art Walk, October 7, 5 to 9 p.m. Downtown Vision maps a self-guided Northbank route through James Weldon Johnson Park, The Jessie, and the Melanin Market at the VyStar Tower Breezeway.
- The Nightmare Bar, October 8 to 31. An immersive horror pop-up at 333 E. Bay St., Suite 105, with cocktails, live entertainment and games.
- WasabiCon, October 9 to 11. Anime, cosplay, K-pop, tabletop and video-game programming at the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, 1000 Water St.
- Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K, October 31. At VyStar Ballpark, 301 A. Philip Randolph Blvd. There's no registration fee or minimum donation.
A dinner reservation at Asado Life closes at 8:30 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, so plan Art Walk accordingly.
Every city-owned pad that gets a tenant changes what a downtown address offers day to day. At The Newcomer Group, we follow these DIA votes and opening dates because they show up in how downtown homes are valued. If you own near the Northbank or Southbank riverfront and want to know where your home stands as the waterfront fills in, request a free market valuation and we'll walk you through it.
