This Fall, Downtown Jacksonville Beach Gathers at the Seawalk Pavilion
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
"We are not walking away from Beachside," Raymond De Padua said in late August, when his group announced it would stop restaurant service at Beachside Seafood this October. That's a reasonable thing to hear from a restaurant that has been at 120 Third St. S. for more than three decades. The building itself dates to 1954.
Read the 2026 news about downtown Jacksonville Beach together and the busiest place in town this fall is clearly the Seawalk Pavilion and Latham Plaza. The city runs it, its calendar is published months ahead, and in October it hosts nearly every public event on the schedule. Downtown restaurants have opened, closed and changed course this year. The plaza calendar has kept filling up.
Pearl Hospitality Group bought Beachside in May 2025. On Aug. 28, 2026, it announced that restaurant service would end "indefinitely" in October. The group pointed to the building. In its release, it said the age and condition of the building "called for a much more substantial level of renovation than could reasonably be completed around daily restaurant service."
The fish market stays open and becomes the main focus at the property. The partners plan to improve the market, expand what it carries, and look at prepared food, grab-and-go items and retail. In a First Coast News follow-up, the manager talked about possible side dishes to go with fresh fish and oysters. That was an idea, not a set menu.
As of the latest reporting, there's no final date for restaurant service. The Jacksonville Daily Record said neither the last day nor the future of the dining room had been decided. First Coast News reported that the timing depended on operations, community response and transition planning. If you want one more meal in the dining room, it's best to go soon. The market counter isn't going anywhere.
Beachside isn't the only downtown change in 2026. In June, Jacksonville Beach lost two familiar places. Maple Street Biscuit Company at 410 Third St. N. closed in mid-June. Donatos Pizza at 1500 Beach Blvd. was reported closed in early June.
The opening of the summer was Alder & Oak. It opened July 15 at 131 First Ave. N., next to Oaxaca Club, in the space Jekyll Brewing used to occupy. Mark Janasik owns it, and Eddy Escriba is the operations partner. The kitchen cooks Aegean food over wood fire, drawing on Greek, Turkish and coastal Mediterranean cooking. The menu runs from meze, hummus and crudo to pizzas, market fish, meat and desserts. Upstairs, the rooftop bar Zorbas serves Aegean-style cocktails, wine by the glass and shareable plates from the kitchen below. Shrimp saganaki is one of them.
Hours for both floors:
| Day | Alder & Oak and Zorbas |
|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | 4 to 10 p.m. |
| Friday | 4 to 11 p.m. |
| Saturday | 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. |
| Sunday | 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
New places here take a while to arrive. Maggie's Coffeehouse, a planned coffee shop and bakery at 803 Third St. N., was announced in September. Owner Maggie McIlroy told the Daily Record she expects to open in summer 2027, serving coffee, croissants, sourdough and soft-serve. Bigger projects move even more slowly. Construction started in September on 415 apartments at the former Adventure Landing site, 1944 Beach Blvd., and the project isn't expected to finish until the last quarter of 2028.
So for this October and November, the downtown dining scene is mostly what's already here. One closing date is unsettled, and most of what's new won't open for months or years. The calendar you can count on is the city's.
The City of Jacksonville Beach's October calendar shows how much of the month's public life happens at Latham Plaza and the Seawalk Pavilion. Here's what's left this month, with the city's listed times:
Out of eight entries, the only one away from the plaza is the piano concert, and it's on the sand a short walk away by the pier. The one other Halloween option on the calendar is a second Trunk-or-Treat at the Carver Center the same evening, 6 to 8 p.m. If you're planning Oct. 30 with kids, you can go from the plaza at 5 to the movie at 7:15 without moving the car.
The two weekly markets follow the same pattern Beachside is moving toward: produce and prepared food from vendors who don't run a full restaurant.
On Tuesdays, the Jax Beach Farmers Market sets up at the Seawalk Pavilion. It started on Feb. 10, 2026. When the city announced it, the plan called for 50 to 60 local vendors selling vegetables, locally raised beef, pork and chicken, bread and pastries, coffee, honey, microgreens, mushrooms, prepared foods and flowers, plus rotating food trucks. The market's own site lists October 2026 dates, so it's still running into fall. Julie Olsson is the market manager.
The hours change next month. Through October, the market runs 3 to 7 p.m. From November through February, it closes an hour earlier at 6 p.m. If you've been stopping by after a 6 p.m. workday, the first Tuesday in November is the last one that won't fit.
Saturdays belong to the Beaches Green Market at Penman Park, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It's on the city calendar every Saturday in October and again on Nov. 7, 14, 21 and 28. Between the two markets and Beachside's fish counter, you can still buy fish and produce downtown while Beachside's dining room is closed.
November starts with another Seawalk Sessions night on Wednesday, Nov. 4, this time with Trent Fowler, 5 to 7 p.m. at Latham Plaza and the Seawalk Pavilion. That's a half hour earlier than the October session.
The following weekend is the biggest of the fall. The Super Girl Surf Festival's free concerts take over the Seawalk Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 7, and Sunday, Nov. 8. The posted lineup includes Switchfoot, Lupe Fiasco, Gym Class Heroes and B.o.B. That Saturday also has the Green Market at Penman Park in the morning, so the market and the concerts can share the same Saturday.
Through Nov. 8, the Seawalk Pavilion has something nearly every week. Alder & Oak is open seven days a week on First Avenue North. Beachside's restaurant will likely be dark by then, and its market counter will still be selling fish on Third Street South.
If the changes on Third Street have you wondering what a 1954 building or a former brewery space means for your own block, Rory Connolly follows downtown Jacksonville Beach closely and is glad to talk it through over coffee, or at a table at the Tuesday market.
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