by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Bay Street commuters got an inside look Monday at downtown’s developing entertainment district.
Contractors ripped open the Suddath Building’s facade for renovation and to install an elevator in the four-story building. The work exposed a steely skeleton that should house a new nightclub by mid-summer, said the building’s owner.
Julia Suddath-Ranne said work on the facade and the elevator should be complete in the next two weeks. Those are the two largest projects left facing the redevelopment of the near-100-year-old building at 315 E. Bay St. Suddath said the building should be ready by June 1, and said the Orchid nightclub planned for the first two floors could follow in the next month.
“It’s strange to look at it now, there’s nothing there on the front of the building. But once we put the storefront facade up and put the elevator in, it shouldn’t take us too long to do what we need to do in the lobby,” said Suddath.
“The building should be ready by June 1, or very soon thereafter,” she said.
Jacksonville investors Daryl Strickland and Josh Duke have been talking to a variety of City officials about building a nightclub on the building’s first two floors. The club, Orchid, would feature upscale ambience and a mix of entertainment.
Orchid would become the second entertainment venue in the City’s planned Bay Street Town Center. City planners envision the street as downtown’s premier entertainment corridor, connecting the Landing to the sports complex with a strip of restaurants, clubs and boutiques.
Strickland and Duke have asked for a waiver to serve alcohol at the club despite its proximity to four churches. City ordinances currently prohibit alcohol to be served within 1,500 feet of churches or schools. The Orchid owners want to reduce the number to 830 feet.