The area’s third Habit Burger & Grill has been in city review for construction and is now in permitting for site work in North Jacksonville.
The restaurant is planned on 0.75 acres at 15022 Max Leggett Parkway near River City Marketplace east of Interstate 95. It is an outparcel of BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse and Parkway Shops.
WFO Construction Inc., with offices in Atlanta and Jacksonville, is the contractor for the estimated $1.4 million project. Lingle Design Group Inc. of Lena, Illinois, is the architect. Commercial Development Resources of Costa Mesa, California, is the civil engineer.
The city also is reviewing a permit for the trash enclosure at an estimated $15,000 and now is reviewing a permit for WFO Construction to perform site work at an estimated $271,731.
The restaurant is designed to comprise 1,957 square feet of interior space, with 22 seats, and 275 square feet of patio space, with eight seats. There is a single drive-thru lane.
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.
Habit Burger was acquired in 2020 by Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands, the owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC.
BJ’s Restaurant Inc. of Huntington Beach, California, owns the restaurant site, which has a designated use as parking.
Municipal utility JEA issued a service availability determination letter April 29, 2025, for a 2,063-square-foot building with a mobile pickup lane.
In those plans, 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 was the applicant.
Jacksonville Beach-based Florida Retail Group had been marketing the “surplus pad site” as available for lease, showing it can accommodate up to a 4,200-square-foot building.
The North Jacksonville Habit Burger is being built from the ground up and is smaller than the other two, which are renovations of closed restaurants.
Habit Burger opened its first area restaurant in October 2025 in a converted Bojangles restaurant at 13559 Beach Blvd. at northwest Beach and Hodges boulevards in the Beach Haven area.
It intends to open the second Jan. 28 at 9171 Baymeadows Road, east of I-95 at Western Way. That restaurant is a renovated former Arby’s between a Daily’s gas station and a Bank of America branch office.
HabitBurger.com shows 13 Habit Burger & Grill locations in Florida, mainly in South Florida, with one in Clearwater.
Nationwide, Habit Burger appears to have almost 390 locations, predominantly in California and the western U.S.
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.”