Eight months after opening, Safe Harbor Seafood Riverside suddenly closed last week along with Marah Brewing Co. in the heart of Jacksonville’s historic Five Points.
A “For Lease” sign on the front patio fence, the stripped bare building and a recorded message stating “your call cannot be completed as dialed” on the restaurant’s telephone indicate neither business will be reopening at the 1521 Margaret St. location.
The separate businesses shared a renovated Victorian house that previously was the old Five Points Tavern and O’Brothers Irish Pub.
Safe Harbor owner Chris Wooten said Monday the coronavirus pandemic with its accompanying social distancing restrictions was the main reason he closed the restaurant, although other unrelated issues contributed to the decision.
“Obviously, the pandemic, that was a big hit,” Wooten said.
The restaurant, he said, “was pretty successful” before the pandemic. It attracted neighborhood residents and visitors alike.
“We sold a lot of shrimp baskets. It was hot. We had some really good weeks before the fiasco with the virus shut us down,” Wooten said.
“It could have been even more so. We were getting ready to remodel,” Wooten said.
The closure of Safe Harbor Riverside and Marah Brewing Co. comes amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in the temporary closure of many Jacksonville restaurants, bars and brew pubs.
Mandatory social distancing restrictions as well as crowd capacity limits and the temporary ban on dining room service, many restaurant owners say, means they couldn’t afford to stay open.
Some restaurants have switched to take-out, drive-thru or delivery for the duration of the pandemic restrictions, which are intended to reduce exposure to the virus.
Safe Harbor Seafood Riverside was subleasing space from Marah, which billed itself as a brew pub. Although focused on craft beers, Marah didn’t brew on site, Wooten said.
The owners of Marah Brewing Co. couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
The company’s website and Facebook page remained but didn’t mention the closure as of Monday. It was unknown whether the business might reopen elsewhere.
Safe Harbor Seafood Riverside closed on Friday, Wooten said.
Wooten and his wife, Deanna, have sold their partnership interest in the Jacksonville Beach restaurant to the Groshells, who’ve been its operating partners since Day One.
Veteran restaurateurs, the Wootens are preparing to open Safe Harbor Seafood Crescent Beach, 6896 A1A South, in St. Johns County.
Although it got off to a solid start, the Riverside location ultimately didn’t work out because of separate but coinciding factors, Wooten said.
“But this all came to a head with the pandemic,” he said.
The pandemic, he said, took a toll beginning with the employees — many single parents.
When schools and child care facilities closed due to the pandemic restrictions, Wooten said their employees scrambled to care for their kids while continuing to work.
Although the transition to take-out and delivery service went well, he said an unrelated issue came to the forefront.
A neighboring business complained aggressively about the restaurant’s garbage removal efforts, Wooten said.
Wooten said he later learned that similar complaints had been made about the previous restaurants in the building.
The problem, he said, is there’s no room for a dumpster at the site.
“The day of the pandemic they were filming my guy, saying ’you don’t have a dumpster. So what, he’s taking trash cans, we have no other choice,” Wooten said.
Burglaries, he said, also contributed to the restaurant’s woes, he said.
Nonetheless, Wooten didn’t rule out the possibility of Safe Harbor Seafood Riverside relocating in the area if the right opportunity presents itself..
Riverside overall has been good to the restaurant, Wooten said, and the decision to close Safe Harbor Riverside wasn’t easy.
“There was more effort put into the smallest place that we own. It was exhausting but we were just on the verge of making it how we wanted,” Wooten said.
“But right now, there is so much uncertainty that we are just watching to see what happens,” Wooten said of weighing the possibility of reopening in the area.
Teresa Stepzinski: (904) 359-4075