Southern Grounds Coffee LLC partner Mark Janasik and landlord Edward Skinner Jones in the Neptune Beach shop. They plan to add a second location in San Marco.
Southern Grounds in Neptune Beach is planning its second coffee-shop location at 1671 Atlantic Blvd in San Marco. The current tenant, B. Langston Antiques & Liquidations, would move about 3.3 miles east to 6126 Atlantic Blvd.
Southern Grounds, a Neptune Beach coffee shop and anchor at The Courtyard at 200 First St., intends to add a second location in San Marco.
It would serve Southern Grounds’ signature coffee products, house-made pastries and desserts, and a breakfast, lunch and evening-fare menu along with beer and wine.
Property owner Edward Skinner Jones and Southern Grounds partner Mark Janasik want to start renovations by Sept. 1 of a building at 1671 Atlantic Blvd. They hope to open in the fourth quarter.
Jones, who goes by Ned, is the sole owner and manager of Atlantic Railroad LLC, which owns the property.
“I love San Marco. I don’t know how you can have a better neighborhood than San Marco,” Jones said.
Jones also is partial to Neptune Beach, where he developed The Courtyard in 2000.
He has residences in both areas and knows the strong neighborhood involvement.
Janasik expects Southern Grounds will cultivate a community environment in San Marco just as it has in Neptune Beach.
“I have never seen a product connect people so much as coffee," he said.
Southern Grounds Coffee LLC owns the coffee shop, and its manager is Restaurant & Hospitality Investment Group LLC.
Jones, a potential investor in Southern Grounds San Marco, said he bought the building in June 2016 for the coffee shop.
It now is being leased monthly to B. Langston Antiques & Liquidations. Barbara Langston said Friday the business will move in early August to property her family owns at 6126 Atlantic Blvd.
Jones owns The Courtyard, where Southern Grounds opened in February 2016 in a location previously occupied by Lillie’s Coffee Bar and before that, Shelby’s Coffee Shoppe.
Janasik and Jones said Southern Grounds San Marco will be designed to accommodate a catering kitchen, where staff could prepare the baked goods for both locations.
That would allow both locations to offer an expanded menu, he said.
Southern Grounds opens daily at 6:30 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The San Marco shop will start with that schedule and evaluate whether those hours work best for the community.
The menu’s breakfast items include pastries and bagels, steel-cut oats, omelets, pancakes, avocado toast and yogurt parfait.
Lunch and evening menu items include charcuterie — meats, cheeses and combination boards — as well as hot and cold sandwiches, wraps, salad plates and items for children.
That will be expanded to offer fresh seasonal menu items at both locations through the San Marco catering kitchen.
The drinks include a wide range of coffees, including cold brew, along with smoothies, teas and other beverages.
Southern Grounds offers Intelligentsia coffee, a pioneer in the direct trade coffee movement.
Jones and Janasik expect to create a retail space for selling coffees, T-shirts, charcuterie boards, serving plates, wine and accessories and other items.
Janasik said the T-shirts sold in the Neptune shop are designed by local entrepreneurs.
Their goal is work with entrepreneurs for the shops’ business needs.
They also see the location, which backs up to Landon Middle School’s football field, as a spot for students to gather after school and the business as a source of support for donations.
Several other schools, including high schools, are nearby.
The 3,663-square-foot building sits just west of the Florida East Coast railroad tracks. The long, narrow building was developed in 1967 and the parcel was carved out in 1919.
Agent T.R Hainline, a lawyer with Rogers Towers, applied for a zoning exception and administrative deviation for the project for Atlantic Railroad LLC.
The exception asks for approval for the outside sale and service of food, beer and wine.
The administrative deviation asks for approval to reduce the minimum number of off-street parking spaces from 17 to seven. The existing lot would be reconfigured from the five spaces now to accommodate seven.
It also would lease property from Florida East Coast Railway LLC for about 15 off-site parking spaces. Jones said he has secured the space.
The description for the deviation says the coffee house will have a maximum of 60 seats among indoor and outdoor seating.
“You have to be innovative to make things work,” Jones said.
District City Council member Lori Boyer said Friday she had not seen the zoning applications but was familiar with the project.
She said she will reserve judgment until she reviewed the filings, “but I do think that is a reasonable use for the property.”
Jones sees the site as on the fringe of the developed San Marco Square trade area, although that strip of Atlantic Boulevard has been attracting redevelopment.
“People in San Marco will appreciate what we do,” he said.
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