Beachside Seafood Restaurant & Market has new owners, who plan to do some renovations on the building at 120 Third St. S. in Jacksonville Beach.
But don’t expect a lot of changes other than cosmetic, said John Panghulan of Pearl Hospitality Group, which bought the business May 1 for $1.2 million.
The group plans renovations to update the exterior and interior of the 3,663-square-foot building constructed in 1954. It is between First Avenue South and Second Avenue South on the west side of Third Street.
The budget is about $100,000, he said.
The restaurant and market is open and will continue to operate during the renovations.
The business will continue to sell seafood downstairs.
Upstairs will still be a casual restaurant with the same menu. The sandwiches, including its take on the Philly cheesesteak, remain. The staff of around 25 is still there.
That is the reassurance that Panghulan wants to give to locals.
“We’re just doing renovations to make it look better. The building itself will stay. We’re going to repaint. We’re going to add some outside seating. We are upgrading the interior upstairs, we’re going to make the bar longer. It will fit the Jacksonville Beach community,” he said.
“We had some locals saying, ‘Don’t change the building. Don’t change anything.’ But we have this joke: ‘You guys want to keep the rust?’”
The most noticeable changes will be the addition of sushi-grade fish to the market and grab-and-go sushi made on premises.
In addition to Panghulan, Pearl Hospitality Group includes Francis Varias, Raymond De Padua, Nathan Ferrer and Justin Raulerson. All have extensive experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
Pearl Hospitality Group will operate the business.
It bought the restaurant through AR & JR LLC.
The seller was Jason Arteaga through Jax Beach Seafood Depot LLC.
Arteaga bought the building from William Barnett Jr. in 2008 for $900,000.
Pearl Hospitality Group is part of the larger Bento Group, which operates about 50 restaurants in Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando.
Once renovations have been completed, Panghulan said Pearl Hospitality has plans to open more restaurants around Jacksonville. The next will be Koto, a listening room Downtown. After that, it plans to open Norikawa in Riverside. Panghulan would not disclose addresses or the concepts of subsequent restaurants in the works.
However, he did say Norikawa would have a river view.
“In Japanese, ‘kawa’ means by the river. So the restaurant is by the river. You’ll see the view of the river.”
The group also operates Norikase and Soupa Noodle Bar in Tinseltown. They also have Davolo’s Catering Company.