Downtown Jacksonville is set to receive a long-anticipated boost with a full-service grocery store, as Publix will open at Pearl Square — a move that city leaders and residents alike hope will help reshape the urban core.
Gateway Jax, the development firm behind the project, revealed that the Publix will be a 31,000-square-foot anchor store located at 119 West Beaver Street.
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The announcement marks a significant milestone for downtown, which has gone years without a full-service grocery option.
“This project has been three years in the making,” Gateway Jax CEO Brian Moll said. “We have been missing a grocer in the urban core.”
Moll shared that the new Publix will be part of a broader mixed-use development. Plans include over 400 parking spaces above the store and a 15-story apartment building behind it. The development will bring more than 1,250 residential units to the area.
“You’ll have the Publix on the ground floor — so 31,000 31,000-square-foot full-service grocer with a pharmacy — and then you’ll have parking on top,” Moll said. “There will be plenty of parking, and then there will be a 15-story apartment building right behind me.”
RELATED: New Publix coming to downtown Jacksonville, construction to begin in 2026
Beyond groceries, Moll said the development is designed to spark long-term impact on the downtown community.
He hopes it will address food insecurity in nearby neighborhoods like Springfield and North Market Street, where the old Harveys grocery store is being converted into an Aldi.
“I really believe that a grocer is the heartbeat of the neighborhood,” Moll said.
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Local residents are already celebrating the news. Sigrid Atkinson put it simply:
“We can go over here to shop and carry our tails on home. Boom shaka laka, it’s over with.”
Others echoed her enthusiasm.
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“I think it will be convenient,” Dynasty Bartly said.
“By putting one downtown, people will be able to get to it more easily,” said Caige Talbot.
Construction on the new Publix is expected to begin in the summer of 2026, with doors projected to open to customers in the first half of 2028.
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