Building Up Jax: The Volstead lives on thanks to last-minute deal

The Volstead lives on

Popular downtown bar The Volstead has been saved from closing, and will live on under new ownership.

New owners Dana Chen and George Cunningham have officially taken control of the bar, according to Jacksonville Business Journal.

The bar’s co-founders had previously announced the restaurant would be closing this coming Monday due to one of the owner’s health issues. The announcement, made on the bar’s Facebook page, sparked an outpouring of support for the business and sadness over its impending demise.

(We held off on putting this news in previous weeks’ updates in hopes that a deal could be reached.)

Now that the bar will live on, all employees will be retained and business will continue as usual.

While the bar will never actually close at any point thanks to the last-minute deal, a party to celebrate The Volstead’s “re-opening” will be held on September 1.

Noted projects

Tropical Smoothie Café received a permit to remodel and add on to an existing building at 5895 Roosevelt Blvd.
Five Guys will remodel the interior of its location at 9039 Southside Blvd.
Myrtle Crab Shack will open in the building at 1452 Myrtle Ave. N.
Site plans submitted this week for the future Wawa location at 2500 Monument Rd. shows an 8-pump station and a 5,636-sq-ft convenience store.
McDonald’s plans to rebuild its location at 12311 Main St. N. near New Berlin Rd.
Two Hilton hotel buildings are proposed in site plans submitted this week for land just off of Deerwood Park Blvd. near Gate Parkway. Both buildings would be 5 stories, and would feature around 100 rooms each.