Riviera 89 opened on a Friday in mid-September at 100 Marketside Avenue, Suite 305, in the space Catullo's Italian left in June. About two weeks earlier and a short drive west, SoFresh opened at 75 Irondale Road, Suite 105, in Marketplace at Nocatee, the shopping center the community's developer calls its newest retail destination.
Both openings count as new restaurants in Nocatee, but they are different kinds of new. At Nocatee Town Center, this fall's changes are happening inside existing storefronts, with one concept replacing another at the same suite number. At Marketplace at Nocatee, along Valley Ridge Boulevard, the shopping center is still filling up, so its openings add to the mix instead of replacing something. Once you know which center a place is in, you know whether it's an addition or a new name on a familiar door.
Marketplace at Nocatee Is Still Filling Its First Storefronts
Nocatee's master developer, The PARC Group, describes Marketplace at Nocatee as the community's newest retail destination, west of Town Center along Valley Ridge Boulevard. Like most new shopping centers, it started with a grocery store and is adding tenants around it.
Here is what's open there now:
- Publix Supermarket, a full-service grocery with a pharmacy drive-thru and a Publix Liquors next door.
- SoFresh, at 75 Irondale Road, Suite 105, which held its grand opening Thursday, Sept. 3, at 10:30 a.m. It serves made-to-order bowls, salads, wraps, quesadillas and smoothies. The menu covers gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, vegetarian and high-protein diets, and there's online ordering, pickup, delivery and catering.
- BODYBAR Pilates, at 75 Irondale Road, Unit 203, which now posts a full class schedule and hours on its studio page.
BODYBAR shows best what a first tenant brings. According to the developer's July update, the owners live in Twenty Mile at Nocatee. The studio has 14 reformers, a small boutique selling athletic wear, and a sister studio, BODYBAR Pilates Mandarin, in Jacksonville. Its class list ranges from reformer work to RESET, a Tower class focused on mobility, and BALANCE 40, a 40-minute recovery class using the Tower and Chair. Before it opened, the closest location of this studio was in Mandarin.
At Town Center, New Tenants Are Moving Into Familiar Spaces
The east side of Valley Ridge works differently. Nocatee Town Center is an established center, and its fall news has been about turnover in existing suites. Here is where each change stands:
| Space | Previous tenant | New tenant | Status at last report |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Marketside Ave., Suite 305 | Catullo's Italian, closed in June | Riviera 89 | Open since Sept. 18 |
| 100 Marketside Ave., No. 301 | Dick's Wings | Asado Life | Lease signed, no opening date announced |
| Town Center, east of Crosswater Parkway | Clean Juice | Easy Açaí | Projected for fall 2026 |
The Riviera 89 timing shows how quickly a Town Center space can turn over. Catullo's closed in June after three years, and Riviera 89 opened in the same roughly 1,860-square-foot space by Sept. 18, about three months later. The Florida Times-Union's September openings roundup says the new restaurant calls itself an "Italian kitchen with French soul." The menu centers on pasta imported from Italy, with spaghetti, penne, rigatoni and gnocchi, plus scratch-made sauces from pomodoro and arrabbiata to pesto verde, carbonara and Bolognese. There's also risotto, house-made desserts and pastries, and three kinds of quiche on the French side. So the suite still has an Italian restaurant, just a different one.
Asado Life is next door at No. 301, in the former Dick's Wings space. The Jacksonville Daily Record reported the lease in late August in a story about the business growing from a garage grill to a third location. No opening date has been announced, so for now it's a signed lease, not a dinner plan.
Easy Açaí is taking over the former Clean Juice space, east of Crosswater Parkway. The developer's announcement describes it as a family-owned business that sources its açaí directly from Brazil and uses no artificial dyes or synthetic preservatives. Plans include traditional and Brazilian-style layered bowls, smoothies, juices, fresh-baked pastries and specialty treats. "We can't wait to meet the wonderful people of Nocatee, become part of this community, and bring a little Easy to their lives," founder Doug Rowland said in the announcement on Nocatee's developer blog. A juice bar becoming an açaí shop follows the same pattern as Suite 305: a familiar kind of business, with a new owner and new recipes.
Why the Same Errand Can Point to Different Centers
The two centers now overlap in a few places. One example is gas and convenience. Nocatee's original Daily's at Town Center opened back in 2014. A second Daily's is planned for the front of the Marketplace Publix, at the corner of Valley Ridge Boulevard and Burbank Avenue, with fuel, grab-and-go food and drinks, and everyday convenience items. The developer has said only that it will open in 2026. Until it does, a fill-up and a snack still mean a trip to Town Center.
Healthy fast-casual food is now on both sides. SoFresh's bowls and smoothies are open at Marketplace, and Easy Açaí's bowls and juices are expected at Town Center this fall. They aren't the same kind of food, but someone who wants a quick bowl on the way home will have a choice on each side of Valley Ridge.
The rest of the Marketplace pipeline arrives slowly, on the developer's timeline:
- The Nail Boutique Spa, Marketplace at Nocatee. The developer projected a late-October 2026 opening for a full-service nail salon offering manicures, pedicures, and eyebrow and eyelash services. Opening dates often slip, so call ahead before planning an appointment.
- Daily's, Valley Ridge Boulevard and Burbank Avenue, planned for 2026.
- Shores Fine Wine & Spirits, about 15,000 square feet, planned for late 2027. Along with beer, wine, spirits and cigars, it's designed around a wine and cheese bar meant as a casual gathering spot.
- The Hub at Nocatee, planned for 2028 next to Publix, west of Valley Ridge Boulevard. Plans call for a 63,225-square-foot open-air marketplace built around a courtyard with outdoor seating, weekend live music and events, and a mix of restaurants, shops and services.
The Hub is the biggest change in that list. Today, Marketplace is mostly a grocery store with a few neighbors. With a courtyard, live music and a wine bar, it would become a place people go for an evening as well as for errands. Getting there is a two-year process, one storefront at a time.
Elsewhere Nearby, on Crosswater Parkway and at The Fountains
Not every new place lands at one of the two centers. Firehouse Subs is coming to The Corner Markets at Nocatee, on Crosswater Parkway across from Splash Waterpark, with an opening planned for late fall 2026. If it opens on schedule, it will be a convenient stop for families leaving the water park.
A few miles away, at 170 Fountains Way, Unit 7, in The Fountains at St. Johns, Ned's New England Deck opened its first Florida location in September. It took over the space Jax Fish Fry left in August. The Times-Union's roundup reports that the restaurant was founded by New England natives who live in Nocatee. The menu has lobster rolls, North Shore roast beef and other New England seafood, and breakfast is planned. Hours are 10:45 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday, and 10:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Ned's and BODYBAR were both started by people who live in Nocatee, which says something about who is opening these businesses.
For the rest of the season, look to Town Center for new names in familiar spaces, starting with whenever Easy Açaí and Asado Life open. Look to Marketplace for additions on the west side, starting with the nail salon and a second Daily's in front of Publix, and later the wine bar and The Hub.
If you'd like to talk through what all this building along Valley Ridge Boulevard means for your corner of Nocatee, whether that's a shorter errand run now or a busier courtyard in 2028, the Beach + Main team is glad to share what we're seeing. Let's find your place together.
