The three positions will be filled by current employees from Eleven South and 3 Palms Grille. It will seat 155.Ī regional general manager, regional chef and regional administrator will be hired to oversee the three restaurants. The restaurant will employ a staff of about 60, he said. The plan is for the menu to include dry-aged steaks and tomahawk rib-eyes. East and West Coasts will be offered as well as a selection of ceviches, tartares and crudos. While the new location is a grill, it will not feature the same mesquite-grilled steaks as Eleven South. “We won’t be the most expensive restaurant in town,” Nagy said There, appetizers range from $13 to $16 and entrees from $29 to $49. The City Grille menu will be priced similar, if not higher, than items offered at Eleven South, he said. in Jacksonville Beach and 3 Palms Grille is at 254 Alta Mar Drive in Ponte Vedra Beach. Nagy did say they will keep the distinctive wall-long wine rack.īelloit Thomas is designing the interior that will be partitioned into several distinct dining areas.įasanelli Construction is the contractor.Įleven South is at 216 11th Ave. The Wine Cellar’s wine inventory was not part of the deal. Little of the Wine Cellar interior will remain, Nagy said. Principal owner Vicki Dugan said she had previous offers to sell, but last year the price and the timing were right. He estimates an investment topping $1 million.įormer Wine Cellar owners said upon closing that business was good but the coronavirus pandemic had reduced the employee count from 20 to 12, especially among the kitchen staff.Īt the end, only half the restaurant was booked because of the staff shortage. “It will be trendy but have an old-school feel,” he said. “We would like to create an environment that is more city-oriented,” Nagy said. Nagy is confident that City Grille will add a big city feel to Jacksonville’s Downtown. They registered City Grille LLC with the state in January 2022.īelloit Thomas and Nagy, who are married, bring more than 50 years of restaurant experience to the project.īelloit Thomas operated The Filling Station Cafe near San Marco from 1987 until selling it in 1994. They began discussing a lease in November and struck a deal in December, Nagy said. Matt Demir, managing broker of Jacksonville-based XERA Realty Inc., represented the landlord and the tenant in the deal. The menu will include fresh seafood, steaks and other seasonal specialties, as well as an extensive wine list from wine regions around the world, he said.īelloit Thomas and Nagy are leasing the space from Ronald Rettner, who paid $1.04 million for the property in October 2021. We believe there is a demand for high-quality seafood and steaks,” Nagy said April 5.Ĭity Grille will be open for lunch and dinner six days a week with Saturday and Sunday brunch a possibility depending on demand, he said. There is support in that particular area based on the residential growth. Karen Belloit Thomas and John Nagy are planning a fall opening at 1314 Prudential Drive, where the Wine Cellar operated for 47 years before closing in October 2021. Our employees are going to be fine.The owners of Eleven South and 3 Palms Grille at the Beaches are expanding inland to open City Grille & Raw Bar at the site of the former Wine Cellar restaurant on the Downtown Southbank. And we also have good relations with Frank Chivas (Salt Rock, Island Way, etc.). And we have strong ties with (restaurateurs) Dan Casey and Steve Westphal, who both got their start here. "We have employees who have been with us for 30 years," said Kai. Petersburg, says the Wine Cellar has about 45 employees, all of whom were notified about the closure on April 1. Son Kai, who also has been involved in the business but now works at C1 Bank in St. "We have customers telling us how they have loved it over the years precisely for that reason," Liesel said. The Wine Cellar's longevity in an industry with an exceedingly high failure rate can be explained in one word: constancy. We'll rest up from everything, and then we'll see." We decided that we needed to watch out for ourselves. When asked if a next restaurant project was in the works, Liesel said, "Absolutely not. Liesel, who turns 76 on April 14, and husband Ted, 79, aim to relax as of May 1. Before that, the property's land use was changed to accommodate a potential buyer who wanted to build an 85-unit hotel with restaurant and bar. Previous talks with Sweetbay Supermarket fell through when the grocery announced a moratorium on new construction. A confidentiality agreement precludes Liesel from revealing the details of the retail development that will go into the space, but it will not be Sweetbay.
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