Plans for the area’s second identified Habit Burger & Grill site are taking shape near River City Marketplace on land next to BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse at 15022 Max Leggett Parkway.
Municipal utility JEA is reviewing a service availability determination request submitted April 25 for a 2,063-square-foot building with a mobile pickup lane on a 0.8-acre site owned by BJ’s Restaurant.
The project comprises the 30-seat restaurant and a drive-thru lane that can stack at least 10 vehicles. Surface parking for 27 vehicles is allocated for Habit Burger, but additional parking is available on the shared lot with BJ’s Restaurant.
Commercial Development Resources of Costa Mesa, California, is the applicant. Habit Burger & Grill is a chain based in Irvine, California.
The St. Johns River Water Management District received a pre-application March 10 for an environmental resource permit for “Habit Burger, Max Leggett.”
While no site was identified, the almost 0.8-acre pad site for lease next to the parking lot of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse was an apparent possibility.
BJ’s Restaurant Inc. of Huntington Beach, California, owns the site, which is at Max Leggett Parkway and Skymarks Drive. The property is east of Interstate 95.
Jacksonville Beach-based Florida Retail Group has been marketing the “surplus pad site” as available for lease, showing it can accommodate up to a 4,200-square-foot building. It is an outparcel of Parkway Shops and BJ’s Restaurant.
The size fits within Habit Burger’s dimensions.
Site work toward the area’s first Habit Burger & Grill is firing up at a former Bojangles that closed in June 2023 at 13559 Beach Blvd.
The HabitBurger.com site says the company began in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969 and “has been chargrilling California’s freshest flavors for over half a century.”
It also has salads and shakes.
The city issued a permit April 8 for landscaping for Habit Burger at the 3,875-square-foot freestanding restaurant and drive-thru it intends to renovate on a 0.83-acre site at northwest Beach and Hodges boulevards.
The site work carries a project cost of $10,000.
Tenant build-out is in review at an estimated $750,000. That permit was submitted Sept. 18, 2024.
The contractor on the site work plan is Falcon Franchise Construction LLC of Fort Lauderdale.
The Beach Boulevard property owner is shown on a building permit site as JLR Hodges Station LLC. The architect is Lingle Design Group of Lena, Illinois.
Habit Burger & Grill said in November it is opening in Jacksonville in the second half of 2025 because the area’s food culture is growing, with an interest in comfort foods and innovative dishes.
That is “making it a welcoming spot for a Habit Burger & Grill restaurant,” the company said in an email.
“We’ve got Habit Burger & Grills sprinkled across the Sunshine State, and we’re pumped to fire up the grill in Jacksonville,” said chef Jason Triail, director of Culinary Innovation at Habit Burger & Grill, in an email Nov. 7.
Habit Burger said it will hire about 40 people.
There are 12 Habit Burger & Grill locations in Florida, mainly in South Florida with one in Clearwater. There is a 13th coming soon to St. Petersburg.
The Jacksonville restaurant will be owned by the company and is not a franchise.