V Pizza is moving forward with plans to build an 8,000-square-foot restaurant with outdoor seating in Durbin Crossing in St. Johns County.
It bought the property for the project June 4 for $1.87 million.
The restaurant is planned at 150 Longleaf Pine Parkway, west of St. Johns Parkway, in a developing center anchored by the Borland Groover Durbin Crossing Endoscopy Center.
Borland Groover, through Durbin Crossing Properties LLC, owned the portion of the parcel V Pizza bought through KNP Durbin LLC.
The St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency voted unanimously Sept. 5 to recommend allowing the project to proceed. The county approved a minor modification Feb. 2 to increase commercial development rights at the property from 44,561 square feet to 46,561 square feet.
Matthews | DCCM of St. Augustine is the civil engineer.
It would be the 14th V Pizza location across three states and the third in St. Johns County.
According to the V Pizza website, “We have no microwaves, range tops or heat warmers because we cook everything in our imported Italian brick ovens. They are truly the most important ingredient in our pizza. But of course, the sauce from San Marzano tomatoes, bufala mozzarella and Prosciutto di Parma are delicious too.”
The V Pizza restaurant chain, which uses wood-burning ovens, operates 10 restaurants in Florida, one in St. Simons Island, Georgia, and two in North Carolina, according to vpizza.com. The North Carolina stores are franchises.
V Pizza launched its concept in San Marco at 1406 Hendricks Ave. in spring 2014.
“Although it is rumored that V stands for Very, Very good Pizza, the truth is V stands for Veloce, which means ‘fast’ in Italian. Our 900° ovens cook your pizzas in as little as 90 seconds — now that’s fast,” says vpizza.com. “Everything is delivered hot and fresh directly to your table. Buon appetito!”