Habit Burger & Grill is up to three identified Jacksonville locations, with the third a closed Arby’s in Baymeadows.
The first two are one at a closed Bojangles restaurant in Beach Haven at Beach and Hodges boulevards and one that would be built in North Jacksonville near River City Marketplace.
Habit Burger & Grill is a chain based in Irvine, California. It says its menu features freshly chargrilled burgers, chicken and tuna “all cooked-to-order over an open flame.”
It also has salads and shakes.
For Baymeadows, the city is reviewing a permit application for Habit Burger & Grill to renovate the Arby’s at 9171 Baymeadows Road, east of Interstate 95 between a Daily’s gas station and a Bank of America branch office.
No contractor is specified for the estimated $750,000 renovation of the 3,517-square-foot restaurant and drive-thru built in 1985 on a 0.8-acre site.
R.I.C. Properties of San Diego owns the property. It is part of Realty Income Corp. commercial real estate investment company.
Plans show that the project scope is the conversion and tenant improvement of the building.
The exterior work will include paint finishes and landscaping. The interior work will include new equipment, furnishes and finishes.
Habit Burger & Grill will seat 76 customers in the dining area, plans show.
Lingle Design Group of Lena, Illinois, is the architect. Commercial Development Resources of Costa Mesa, California, is the civil engineer.
The first two
The city issued a first permit May 6 for Habit Burger & Grill to build-out in South Jacksonville at the closed Bojangles restaurant at 13559 Beach Blvd. at northwest Beach and Hodges boulevards in the Beach Haven area.
Falcon Franchise Construction LLC of Fort Lauderdale will convert the 3,875-square-foot freestanding restaurant and drive-thru on a 0.83-acre site at a cost of $715,518.
The city issued a permit April 8 for landscaping and site work at a project cost of $10,000.
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 issued a service availability determination letter April 29 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 is the applicant.
The St. Johns River Water Management District received a pre-application March 10 for an environmental resource permit for “Habit Burger, Max Leggett.”
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 I-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.
What Habit Burger says
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.
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.”