Dine with Us Downtown at Wine Cellar
Kim and Bill Prescott, CFO of the Jacksonville Jaguars, scheduled their first 2013 "Dine with Us Downtown" for Jan. 17 at the Wine Cellar at 1314 Prudential Drive on the Downtown Southbank.
It will be the 15th Downtown dining event arranged by the Prescotts to support restaurants and venues on the Northbank and Southbank.
"The 2012 year was important for Downtown with important successes such as the creation of the DIA, EverBank's relocation of 1,500 employees Downtown, and the start of the Downtown Marketing Collaborative," the Prescotts said in a statement.
The DIA is the Downtown Investment Authority.
"Let's keep the momentum going in 2013, and what better way to show your support for Downtown than joining us at our first Dine with Us Downtown for 2013," they said.
The Prescotts have reservations for 7:30 p.m. at the Wine Cellar and ask others who plan to participate to make reservations between 5:30-10 p.m.
"I would also enlist your support to please share this invitation with your friends, family and business associates," the Prescotts said in an emailed announcement.
Wine Cellar is at (904) 398-8989 and diners are asked to say they are part of the Dine with Us Downtown group.
KFC renovations continue
The City approved renovations for KFC at 7276 103rd St. Ameritech Services Inc. is the contractor for the $118,394 renovation.
Goozlepipe & Guttyworks to be completed by year-end
Stephen Flores, an owner and partner in Kickbacks Gastropub and the planned neighboring Goozlepipe & Guttyworks restaurant in Riverside, said this week he hopes the construction and renovation project is completed by year-end.
Flores and his business partners are renovating Kickbacks and will build a two-floor restaurant, plus a basement, adjacent to it at 910-914 King St.
He said he hopes to have the patio and kitchen up and running by late summer. Kickbacks will continue operating throughout.
"It's a complicated construction and the build-out portion is detailed," he said. "Nothing like this has been done before."
He said the basement requires a lot of engineering, given Florida's water table.
As for the name, he said goozlepipe is an old-fashioned word meaning "throat" and guttyworks is a made-up word "for everything in your stomach."
"Combined, those words conjure up images of the theme of the restaurant – the steampunk world," he said, explaining it was "retrofuturism, designing the future from the perspective of the past in a whimsical way."
The City approved a permit Friday for the $1.5 million construction project by Toney Construction Co. Inc. to build Goozlepipe & Guttyworks at 914 King St. and renovate Kickbacks at 910 King St.
Kickbacks is a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and also serves more than 600 different bottled beers and 84 beers on tap. It operates 20 hours a day, seven days a week.
Partners worked through neighborhood and City concerns to develop the final plans.
"Everything is in the past," Flores said. He said the partners are adding 35 parking spaces as part of the settlement.
"We have limitations, but for the most part, we did design the project as we wanted to," he said.
The location is at King and College streets in an area where retailers and restaurants are renovating older spaces.
Seven Seasons Crab House build-out
The City approved renovations for a 2,604-square-foot building at 5326 N. Main St. for Seven Seasons Crab House. Eagle 2 Construction LLC is the contractor for the $47,600 project.
Seasons of Japan to register name
Seasons of Japan notified the City under the Fictitious Name Law it intends to register its name with the state Division of Corporations. The Savannah-based company is renovating space at 4413 Town Center Parkway at St. Johns Town Center for its first area restaurant.
Loc Thau Lin is listed as president of the company, Seasons of St. Johns Inc. He said in early November he wanted to open the restaurant in February and was negotiating a second location in Mandarin.