QuoteThe owners of the Decca Live music and dance club in Downtown Jacksonville are seeking to open a new Irish pub next door, according to the Downtown Investment Authority.
On May 15, a DIA committee will consider a request from co-applicants 323 E Bay Street LLC and Bay Street Warehousing LLC for a $200,000 incentive to establish Keane's Irish Pub at 315 E. Bay St.
Property records show Bay Street Warehousing LLC is the owner of the three-story, 20,176-square-foot building. It was built in 1907.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/may/08/irish-pub-and-restaurant-planned-for-east-bay-street-downtown/
DIA, or whoever, should keep prioritizing these types of attenable projects more so than the muti-million dollar mega projects. DIA could reasonably fund five more restaurants/bars on Bay Street for a fraction of the cost of that proposed marina near the old courthouse, and the impact on "viability" (i.e. people actually existing in downtown) would be larger too.
By my count, DIA recently and financially helped open: Decca Live, Dorothy's Downtown, Hardwicks, Pour Taproom and Pizza Dynamo (soon to open), and Baby got Brunch (soon to open). It's a start, but they should continue the momentum. Now, if we could only get these places to cluster a little bit better.