The Five Points Theater building takes up a long stretch of Park Street. FIVE, the entertainment venue that anchors it, sits in the middle, with a row of smaller storefronts on either side. Across the street at 1027 Park St., a Ben & Jerry's has been scooping since late June. A few doors north, two adjacent spaces at 1043 and 1045 Park St. carry the name of a New Orleans frozen-drink chain that last operated in Jacksonville when the Landing was still standing. Around the corner on Lomax Street, a 1,700-square-foot rainbow covers the side of a privately owned building.
All of this happened within one block and roughly one season. The brands moving into Park Street come from Columbus, New Orleans, Vermont and the Tampa Bay area. The money behind the street itself, meaning the mural, the landscaping and the security plan, is coming from inside Five Points.
One Building, Three Storefronts
The Five Points Theater building has become the address national chains choose when they want a first Jacksonville location. That is new for Five Points, which has usually filled its storefronts one local operator at a time.
Dalmoros Fresh Italian was first. On Aug. 26, the fast-casual pasta chain announced it was coming to 1018 Park St., a 1,280-square-foot storefront in the four-story building, as its first Jacksonville location. The Jacksonville Daily Record reported that Tyler and Alyssa Gilmore will own and operate it. The chain's other locations are in St. Petersburg, Tampa, Orlando and Boston. The menu runs to fresh pasta, scratch-made sauces, sandwiches, garlic breadsticks, meatballs and tiramisu, along with beer and wine. The plan calls for lunch, dinner and late-night weekend hours, with the opening expected in fall 2026.
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams followed five days later. On Aug. 31, a public relations firm for the Columbus, Ohio, chain said it was working to open at 1020 Park St., the storefront next door to Dalmoros in the same building. The build-out shows how much the company is spending. The Daily Record noted that the city was reviewing a permit application for an estimated $400,000 build-out of 1,238 square feet in Suite 218, with Associated Consulting International LLC of Winter Park listed as contractor. That works out to more than $300 per square foot for an ice cream shop. Jeni's other Florida shops are in Orlando, Tampa and Sarasota.
Jeni's chose the storefront directly across Park Street from Ben & Jerry's. That Ben & Jerry's at 1027 Park St. had its soft opening on Thursday, June 25, and planned its grand opening for July 4. Its store page lists hours of noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and noon to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Here is the block as it stood heading into November:
- 1018 Park St.: Dalmoros Fresh Italian, in the Five Points Theater building
- 1020 Park St., Suite 218: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, in the Five Points Theater building
- 1027 Park St.: Ben & Jerry's, open since June 25
- 1043 Park St.: Fat Tuesday Kitchen & Bar
- 1045 Park St.: Fat Tuesday Social Lounge
- FIVE: the entertainment venue anchoring the Theater building
A 1987 Name Returns Up the Street
Fat Tuesday is the one name on the list that Jacksonville has seen before. The New Orleans-based chain was an original tenant of the Jacksonville Landing when the riverfront complex opened in 1987. It closed that location in 1997 when its lease was not renewed.
This time it signed for two side-by-side spaces on Park Street. In its October announcement, the company described Fat Tuesday Kitchen & Bar as a 2,300-square-foot space at 1043 Park St. open daily, serving wings, loaded nachos, smash burgers, seafood baskets, tacos and frozen drinks. Fat Tuesday Social Lounge, next door at 1045 Park St., was described as a 2,700-square-foot, Thursday-through-Sunday nightclub with a DJ host, live music, themed nights and late-night small bites. The opening was first set for Oct. 9. As the Daily Record reported, an Oct. 7 email from the company moved it to Oct. 16, with a VIP event the night before, citing severe weather and flooding.
Together, the two Fat Tuesday spaces cover 5,000 square feet, about four times the size of either Dalmoros or Jeni's. The announced schedule has the Kitchen & Bar running seven days a week and the Social Lounge four nights. That schedule adds late hours to a block that, with Dalmoros' planned weekend late nights and Ben & Jerry's 11 p.m. weekend close, is already moving its center of activity later into the evening.
The Street Itself Is Being Paid for Locally
The storefronts are drawing outside brands. The public face of Five Points has been funded from inside the neighborhood.
The clearest example is on Lomax Street. "Constellations of Us," a 1,700-square-foot mural by Jacksonville artist Shaun Thurston, was unveiled on Thursday, Sept. 3. District 7 City Council Member Jimmy Peluso and Riverside Avondale Preservation Executive Director Shannon Blankinship attended the ceremony. The mural runs the length of a privately owned building and moves through the full rainbow, with glowing silhouettes of real neighbors and community members. Resident Community News reported that the idea came after the Florida Department of Transportation painted over the rainbow crosswalk at Park and Lomax streets last year. Thurston told the paper:
"If you're going to cover up rainbows that make people feel seen, I'll just give you a bigger rainbow."
All of the funding was private. Contributors included The Robert B. Ragland Foundation, the AIDS Memorial Project of Northeast Florida, Preston Haskell, Justin Stowell and Travis Joyal, Clark LaBlond and Ben Montgomery, and Riverside Avondale Preservation. Donations went over the budget goal, and the extra money is going into a reserve fund for the mural's maintenance and care. Because of that fund, the mural already has money set aside for its upkeep.
The Five Points Business Improvement District applies the same idea to the whole commercial district. According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, the BID was established in 2025 to pay for security, landscaping and district promotion through fees assessed on commercial property owners, and its board can impose ad valorem assessments and hire district employees. In March, City Council approved Andre Green, Cheryl Croft and Dori Thomsen as board members, with Alonzo Walton and Ashley Kendrick as alternates, for terms running to June 30, 2028. By August, Resident Community News reported that the board had named its officers and that commercial property assessments would start next year. In October, the Jacksonville Business Journal described a $200,000 plan to address security concerns and spruce up the neighborhood, which still needs City Council approval for funding.
So the owners of the buildings where Jeni's, Dalmoros and Fat Tuesday are setting up will soon pay into a fund for the landscaping and security on the sidewalk outside those shops. Outside brands are bringing the new storefronts, and Five Points property owners are taking on more of the cost of the street that leads to them.
A Longtime Tenant Leaves Margaret Street
The arrivals on Park Street came during the same months as a departure a short walk away. Al's Pizza at 1620 Margaret St. closed permanently after 23 years. The closure was announced the evening of Aug. 25 and confirmed by the business the next day, according to the Florida Times-Union. Al's still operates four other Northeast Florida locations. Over 23 years, the restaurant had become part of the Riverside routine. Its Margaret Street space is one more Five Points address whose next tenant will come into a district that now has its own budget, board and maintenance fund.
Riverside's Holiday Calendar From Here
The neighborhood's own institutions take over the calendar for the rest of the year. Listed in date order:
- Riverside Winefest, late November. Riverside Avondale Preservation's 23rd annual Winefest runs 6 to 9 p.m. at Riverside Liquors, 1251 King St. The date is posted on RAP's Winefest event page.
- Riverside Arts Market Holiday Market, Nov. 27 through Dec. 27. The second annual Holiday Market sets up under the Fuller Warren Bridge, in the plaza across Riverside Avenue, starting Friday, Nov. 27. Hours are 5 to 8 p.m. on Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, with 100 local vendors over the season.
- Luminaria, Sunday, Dec. 20. RAP's annual Luminaria lights the historic Riverside Avondale district by candlelight.
The Holiday Market's Friday evening hours mean that from Thanksgiving weekend through late December, a Friday night in Riverside can start under the bridge at 5 p.m. and end on Park Street, where Ben & Jerry's stays open until 11.
Our agents have watched Five Points storefronts change hands for more than four decades, from the Hendricks Avenue office RiverPoint Real Estate has worked out of since 1983. If you own a home or rental near Park Street and want to know how a changing block could affect your property's value, ask for a free home valuation. We'll walk you through it with neighborhood comps in hand.
