Underwood Jewelers in San Marco Square applied to the city for a $2.2 million building permit to renovate the exterior facade and a full interior remodel at 2044 San Marco Blvd.
“This building needs to be a showplace,” Clayton Bromberg, chairman of Underwood’s parent company, Bromberg and Co., said Dec. 4.
The store was last renovated in 2015.
‘You have to remodel about every 10 years for your major brands, like Rolex,” Bromberg said.
Jeff Thompson Construction of Jacksonville is listed as the contractor.
The project includes a new facade for the 9,260-square-foot building that the jewelry company’s real estate division bought in June 2025 for $4.865 million. The Sherwin-Williams Paint Store occupies one end of the building.
Theatre Jacksonville is nearby at 2032 San Marco Blvd. and San Marco Theatre, now leased by Electric Dough Pizza Co., is at 1996 San Marco Blvd.
Bromberg said the work will begin in phases in January after the holiday shopping season. Some staff and operations will be moved out of half of the store to Underwood’s in Avondale. The staff that remains in San Marco will eventually move into the renovated side of the store and then the other side will be renovated.
Bromberg said the exterior, designed by San Marco-based Jaycox Architects & Associates, will be consistent with the architectural theme of the rest of the retail and dining square.
“It’s going to be great for San Marco. There needs to be a crown jewel at this end of the square and we are glad to do it.”
In 1928, Herbert F. Underwood opened the first Underwood Jewelers in Palatka. A second store opened in Jacksonville in 1940. The Palatka location was sold soon after and the business was consolidated in Downtown Jacksonville.
Underwood’s opened its first branch location in San Marco in 1953.
Bromberg and Co. bought Underwood’s in 1974.
Underwood’s also has diamonds, jewelry, watches and gift stores at 3617 St. Johns Ave. in Avondale and 330 Florida A1A N. in Ponte Vedra Beach.
