A former Regions Bank in Riverside’s Five Points district is set for partial conversion to a restaurant after the Jacksonville Planning Commission voted March 19 to grant a zoning exemption and administrative deviation for the property.
The building at 1604 Margaret St. received an exception to permit outside sales and service in connection with a drive-thru restaurant. The administrative deviation allows for landscaping reliefs and a reduction in the number of on-site parking spaces to five from 13.
Both items passed on two 6-0 votes, with Commissioners Lamonte Carter, Dorothy Gillette, Moné Holder and D.R. Repass absent. Alternate Suzanne Jenkins took part in the voting.
Edward Ashurian purchased the property through Homerick LLC in 2021 for $1.61 million. Ashurian is president and founder of Ashco Centers, which owns neighborhood shopping centers around Jacksonville.
The two-story, 4,589-square-foot building was constructed in 1927. The property is one block north of the Riverside Market Square, which includes a Publix, and south of the Five Points retail and restaurant strip on Park Street.
Neighbors raised concerns about the restaurant’s potential effects on traffic in the area and said a drive-thru restaurant with reduced parking was incompatible with the largely residential neighborhood.
“Allowing a reduction in parking at this use, as well as allowing a driveway at this scale for a restaurant … is really an incredible exception,” said Shannon Blankinship, executive director of Riverside Avondale Preservation. “However, we really do support the use of this building for the neighborhood. It does no one any good being vacant.”
“It’s been marketed for restaurants. It’s been marketed for medical office, retail. This use on the ground floor is the use that is the most consistent with the area, and it’s actually one that is available to reactivate the property,” said attorney Steve Diebenow of Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, who represented Homerick.
Commissioner Joshua Garrison said that the requested modification to five parking spaces fit the character of Five Points and Riverside.
“This is right on the retail corridor,” Garrison said. “You’re expected to park about four or five minutes away, enjoy your walk, stroll.”
According to documents presented to the commission, the restaurant would not take up the full vacant property. The documents contained no information about the type of restaurant being planned for the building.
The Planning Commission’s votes on the exemption and deviation constituted final action, with no vote needed from Jacksonville City Council.