Goodbye Homerdome, hello Pub Subs

Publix at 119 Beaver St. Courtesy of Gateway Jax.

Jaxsons will soon be able to get their Pub Subs and Old-Fashioned Lemonade in Downtown Jacksonville. Developer Gateway Jax has announced that the grocery store in its quickly developing Pearl Square district will be a Publix. The announcement has drawn considerable excitement from Urban Core advocates and Downtown residents looking forward to getting their Boar’s Head meats a little closer to home.

“A grocery store is the heartbeat of any neighborhood,” said Gateway Jax CEO Bryan Moll in a press release. “The addition of Publix, already well known and loved, is a game-changer for Downtown and an incredible step forward for Pearl Square. It brings everyday convenience and reinforces our commitment to building a complete, connected community that reflects the energy of Jacksonville.”

The Downtown Development Review Board approved the designs for Gateway’s N7 block in August 2025. Courtesy of Gateway Jax.

According to Gateway Jax’s press release, the Publix “will serve as the retail anchor for a mixed-use building that will also include residential units and parking.” It will be part of Pearl Square’s N-7 block between Hogan, Laura, Beaver and Union Streets, with its frontage at 119 W. Beaver St. Designs approved by the Downtown Development Review Board in August 2025 show the block featuring a 15-story, 250-unit apartment building, six floors of garage parking, and ground floor retail in addition to the 32,000-square-foot grocery. The site was previously home to the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville’s main auditorium, waggishly dubbed the “Homerdome” after its builder, pastor Homer Lindsay, and currently serves as Gateway’s NoCo Center, an event venue that has hosted Beyond Van Gogh, Beyond King Tut and other exhibits. Gateway will develop the block in partnership with Corner Lot, and construction could begin in summer 2026.

The Publix will be well placed in this location, easily accessible for Downtown and Springfield residents and workers and directly across the street from JTA’s Rosa Parks bus and Skyway station. The Downtown Northbank currently has no grocery stores following the closure of the Harveys on Market Street in July pending its renovation as an Aldi. There is a Fresh Market in Downtown’s Brooklyn neighborhood and a Whole Foods currently being built there as well. The Beaver Street Publix will be the chain’s fourth in the city’s traditional Urban Core, following the Roosevelt Boulevard, Five Points and San Marco locations.

Pearl Square

2023 rendering of Pearl Square. Courtesy of Gateway Jax.

The sprawling Pearl Square development has emerged as one of the most ambitious projects in Downtown Jacksonville in years — no short order in a time when a University of Florida graduate campus, the Jaguars’ Stadium of the Future and massive investment in Downtown parks and public spaces are also barreling down the pipeline. Its developer, Gateway Jax, was founded in 2022 by CEO Bryan Moll and partners JWB Real Estate Capital and DLP Capital and quickly assembled properties in the northern blocks of Downtown.

The Pearl Square blocks. Courtesy of Gateway Jax.

From its initial plans to develop five blocks around Pearl Street in 2023, the project has grown to encompass additional blocks and adaptive reuse opportunities such as the long-deferred Ambassador Hotel redevelopment. The first phase broke ground at 515 Pearl St. less than a year ago in 2024, creating a seven-story mixed-use building. The second phase began on May 29 at 425 W. Beaver Street, another mixed-use building with 286 residential units, 20,000 square feet of retail and parking.

Article by The Jaxson. Contact us at editors@moderncities.com.