Midtown Deli coming to Downtown

[blizz01]

Wow - nice reverse trend seeing a place relocate to downtown.  Although they've advertised the $1.99 breakfast all over the Baymeadows area for months - I can only vouch for their lunch (A+).

Downtown Jacksonville gets a new restaurant

The Midtown Deli on Bonneval Road is moving to Downtown Jacksonville.
The restaurants’ owners have signed a lease for 5,400 square feet on the first floor of the Jacksonville Bank Building at 100 N. Laura St., the building’s owner said.
The restaurant will close its location off of J. Turner Butler Boulevard near Philips Highway and open Downtown in mid-September. It will operate as Midtown Deli and Cafe, said Robert van Winkel, managing partner of the group of investors who owns the Jacksonville Bank Building.
Van Winkel and his partners bought the Jacksonville Bank Building in April for $3.5 million. It is mostly vacant, other than a Jacksonville Bank branch and offices on the 10th floors.
He said the restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and include a wine and espresso bar.
“It will be a nice place for an upscale sandwich, where you can have a good quality cup of coffee,” van Winkel said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2011/07/26/downtown-jacksonville-gets-a-new.html

http://www.midtowndelijacksonville.com/

[JHAT76]

I work in ATT building and with Chew and others leaving it seems like there will be a shortage of lunch places downtown.  Does anyone else think that with that montrosity of a courthouse coming there will be TONS of opportunity to open a great lunch place to capture that crowd.  That area is really lacking in semi close lunch spots. 

Side note props to MetroJax fave Mr Ron Chamblin for having a great place in Uptown.  That Turkey on Croisant with Brie is perfection.

[brainstormer]

This is great news!  Hopefully they can put a few tables outside and create some vibrancy on this now very "dead" block.

[thelakelander]

I work in ATT building and with Chew and others leaving it seems like there will be a shortage of lunch places downtown.  Does anyone else think that with that montrosity of a courthouse coming there will be TONS of opportunity to open a great lunch place to capture that crowd.  That area is really lacking in semi close lunch spots. 

Side note props to MetroJax fave Mr Ron Chamblin for having a great place in Uptown.  That Turkey on Croisant with Brie is perfection.

Yes, when the courthouse opens I think you'll see some of those empty retail spaces in the courthouse and BB&T Tower garages fill in.  However, that area will still shut down at 5pm on weekdays and be dead on the weekends.

[urbaknight]

I didn't know there were any delis in Florida, I thought it was to Northeast for people here to to give them a chance. I hope it's an NYC style deli, right down to it being run by  Jewish people. I'm not being sarcastic or anything, I just really want to see more places like the ones I grew up with, here in Jax.

[thelakelander]

Btw, it will be nice to see some life added to the Jax Bank Building at street level.  I assume they must be taking the old Gold's Gym space?

[acme54321]

I work in ATT building and with Chew and others leaving it seems like there will be a shortage of lunch places downtown.  Does anyone else think that with that montrosity of a courthouse coming there will be TONS of opportunity to open a great lunch place to capture that crowd.  That area is really lacking in semi close lunch spots. 

Side note props to MetroJax fave Mr Ron Chamblin for having a great place in Uptown.  That Turkey on Croisant with Brie is perfection.

Yes, when the courthouse opens I think you'll see some of those empty retail spaces in the courthouse and BB&T Tower garages fill in.  However, that area will still shut down at 5pm on weekdays and be dead on the weekends.

Unfortunately I think we will also see some current businesses closing, or at least moving to the other side of downtown.  Olio comes to mind.

[urbaknight]

I work in ATT building and with Chew and others leaving it seems like there will be a shortage of lunch places downtown.  Does anyone else think that with that montrosity of a courthouse coming there will be TONS of opportunity to open a great lunch place to capture that crowd.  That area is really lacking in semi close lunch spots. 

Side note props to MetroJax fave Mr Ron Chamblin for having a great place in Uptown.  That Turkey on Croisant with Brie is perfection.

Yes, when the courthouse opens I think you'll see some of those empty retail spaces in the courthouse and BB&T Tower garages fill in.  However, that area will still shut down at 5pm on weekdays and be dead on the weekends.

Not if we get serious about bringing residents back Downtown.

[thelakelander]

Even if we do, it will be a few years before there is a population that could support 24/7 commercial activity in that area of DT.

[thelakelander]

I work in ATT building and with Chew and others leaving it seems like there will be a shortage of lunch places downtown.  Does anyone else think that with that montrosity of a courthouse coming there will be TONS of opportunity to open a great lunch place to capture that crowd.  That area is really lacking in semi close lunch spots. 

Side note props to MetroJax fave Mr Ron Chamblin for having a great place in Uptown.  That Turkey on Croisant with Brie is perfection.

Yes, when the courthouse opens I think you'll see some of those empty retail spaces in the courthouse and BB&T Tower garages fill in.  However, that area will still shut down at 5pm on weekdays and be dead on the weekends.

Unfortunately I think we will also see some current businesses closing, or at least moving to the other side of downtown.  Olio comes to mind.

I could see that happening.  After all, all we're doing is moving existing traffic in one section of downtown to another.  The key for East Bay will be what we decide to do with the existing courthouse site and how long it takes to accomplish that goal.

[urbaknight]

Even if we do, it will be a few years before there is a population that could support 24/7 commercial activity in that area of DT.

And that's why we need to start working on it right now.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Has there been any mention of the site that I missed about the 8 floors that Wells Fargo is about to occupy at 1 Independent?

The courthouse only shifts people from one side of DT to the other, but WF and EB are bringing new blood into a place that's desperate for a transfusion.

[thelakelander]

Wells Fargo is actually reducing the amount of people they employee downtown and shifting their offices a block east from their existing location.  However, I have heard that they are adding a Wells Fargo store on the ground floor of the Independent Square building and that it will have its own separate entry to Laura Street.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

If I'm not mistaken, I thought they were just taking over the Wachovia bank on the ground floor.  I really didn't pay much attention to design plans, but everything was FBO and it occupied a 2000ish sqft area.

[thelakelander]

No.  The majority of that building is currently occupied with Wells Fargo (Wachovia) offices.  They're moving their entire operation from one building to another.  Basically, the exact same thing the city is doing with the courthouse.