Incentives for two new restaurants are on the agenda for the Downtown Investment Authority at its Feb. 18 meeting.
Those are a $403,590 grant for Asado Life Jax Sports District, an Argentinian-inspired restaurant at the marina near the Four Seasons Hotel & Private Residences, and a $75,140 grant for The Huguenot, a wine bar near San Marco on the Southbank.
Asado Life
Asado Life was announced in a September 2025 release saying it would focus on communal fire-grilling, or asado, featuring scratch-made ingredients and “traditional Argentinian-inspired cooking methods of chef’s cuts, sausages, fresh catches and grilled vegetables.”
It would be the second location for Asado Life, which started in St. Augustine and will remain open there.
DIA documents list total build-out costs at $1.1 million for the restaurant, which would comprise 90 interior seats and 50 covered patio seats.
“Pricing is positioned to appeal to an upper scale market, with lunch checks averaging $40 per person and dinner averaging $80 per person,” a staff report reads.
The proposed DIA incentive would come through the Waterfront Restaurant Program and be structured as a forgivable 0% interest loan amortizing at 20% per year over five years as long as the business remains open and operating as projected.
The Huguenot
The Huguenot is described in DIA documents as a wine, cheese and charcuterie bar planned in the former Reddi-Arts building at 1037 Hendricks Ave. That building is being redeveloped into four retail spaces, and the bar would occupy the southernmost.
Plans show seating for 18 patrons at the bar, plus tables with booths along the east wall and an event space on the western portion of the building. There is also a 600-square-foot patio with seating.
The DIA incentive would come in the form of a forgivable 0% interest grant under the Core Retail Enhancement Program. It is structured to amortize at 33.33% annually over three years.
The DIA meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. in the Jacksonville Public Library at 303 N. Laura St.
