With at least 29 restaurants in Northeast Florida, Taco Bell is considering at least four more in Duval County and three more in St. Johns County.
That potentially kicks up the international taco chain’s presence in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties to 36.
The predominantly franchised fast-food chain of Mexican-inspired restaurants has 8,250 locations in the U.S., with 207 in Florida, according to TacoBell.com. It recently added new menu items like the Enchirito, Cantina Chicken Mexican Pizza, Cantina Veggie Mexican Pizza and Strawberry Cinnabon Delights.
Taco Bell is a division of Yum Brands Inc., which also owns KFC and Habit Burger & Grill. It has agreed to sell Pizza Hut.
One of the proposed Duval County Taco Bell locations is the closed Bank of America branch in Baymeadows.
City power provider JEA issued a service availability letter Feb. 3 for “Point Meadows Commercial,” and associated infrastructure at the branch on an outparcel at the Point Meadows shopping center at northwest Interstate 295 and Baymeadows Road.
A JEA service availability request means a project is being explored and has not been decided.
The four new prospective Taco Bells in Jacksonville are shown in June 24 requests to JEA to determine the service availability:
• Baymeadows: Point Meadows, at 10925 Baymeadows Road, where the Bank of America branch would be demolished for construction of a Taco Bell on 1.02 acres. Jacksonville-based Sleiman Enterprises owns the property and ground-leases the land. A site-sketch plan shows a single drive-thru and a bypass lane. The lease allows a Taco Bell or a Taco Bell Cantina that includes the sale of alcoholic beverages.
• West Jacksonville: Chaffee Square, at Normandy Boulevard and Chaffee Road, a 0.96-acre site. Sleiman Enterprises is the landlord for the ground lease. Site-sketch plans show a single drive-thru and a bypass lane. The lease allows a Taco Bell or a Taco Bell Cantina.
• West Jacksonville: 7211 Normandy Blvd., east of I-295, conversion of a Wendy’s restaurant on 1.19 acres into a Taco Bell. The property owner is A&C Ventures Inc. of Sonoma, California.
• Southwest Jacksonville: Walmart Supercenter outparcel, at 10065 Omni Drive, off Oakleaf Plantation Parkway. Walmart Realty of Bentonville, Arkansas, is the landlord for a ground lease. The 2,100-square-foot Taco Bell would be built on 0.67 acre.
The architecture, engineering and planning GDP Group Inc. of Akron, Ohio, is the applicant for all three.
In St. Johns County, Taco Bell operates three units and regulatory reviews show it is exploring locations for three more.
Those are at 3709 International Golf Parkway in World Commerce Center; at Sembler Drive off County Road 207 in south St. Augustine east of I-95; and at 1549 County Road 210, near the Fountains at St. Johns mixed-use development east of I-95 and west of the Beachwalk community.
The TacoBell.com site shows 18 locations in Duval County in Jacksonville (17) and Jacksonville Beach (one); four in Clay County; three each in Nassau and St. Johns counties; and one in Baker County.
Taco Bell, based in Irvine, California, says that 93% of its U.S. units are franchised, while the rest are owned by the company.
Yum Brands is based in Louisville, Kentucky.