In June, Action News Jax called Catullo's Italian "the latest casualty in Town Center closures." The station grouped it with Dick's Wings and Wendy's as three restaurants leaving Nocatee Town Center within a few months. Four months later, that story looks different. The two local restaurant suites on Marketside Avenue have both passed to other independent restaurant groups. One is already serving dinner. The one space without a named successor is the Wendy's, and that exit started at corporate headquarters, not on the block.
So this year's Town Center story is about which kinds of spaces got refilled and which one didn't. Salata went through the same kind of handoff in 2025, when it took over a former wine shop's space.
Three Exits on Three Different Clocks
The closures came close together but for different reasons:
- January 18: Dick's Wings announced it would close in February. The farewell message said "all good things must come to an end" and hinted at another venture, without giving a reason. It had opened in April 2013 as one of the center's original restaurants and closed after 13 years.
- By March 18: Photos showed a "permanently closed" sign on the Wendy's at 103 Capitol Green Drive, the Florida Times-Union reported.
- June 16: Catullo's Italian announced its Nocatee location would close on June 25, "unless we run out of food or staff prior to that date."
Each one played out on its own timeline, and that shaped what happened to the space afterward.
Suite 305 Already Had a Buyer When Catullo's Closed
Catullo's announcement included a detail that got less attention than the closing itself. According to Action News Jax, the restaurant's social media post said the Nocatee location had been sold to another restaurant group. Its San Pablo Road location in Jacksonville stayed open.
The owners described the pressure on small restaurants in a video the station quoted:
"With rising prices and the wage increase that just happened again, it's getting harder and harder for small businesses to move forward and keep doing what they love and what they want to do."
That same afternoon, Catullo's posted an Instagram update. It said two Frenchmen who own restaurants in France planned to open a rustic Italian concept in the space. Less than three months after the last scheduled Catullo's service, Riviera 89 opened on Sept. 18 at 100 Marketside Ave., Suite 305.
The Ponte Vedra Recorder introduced the founders as Emeric and Anthony Roy Perruccenio, a married couple who run restaurants. Anthony trained under Michelin-starred chef Christian Begyn in Colmar, spent three months learning to make pizza in Italy, and bought a restaurant in Alsace in 2017. That background explains the menu. The Times-Union covered the opening as a new Nocatee Town Center restaurant.
Here's what the Recorder reported about the food:
- Lunch and afternoon: Pinsa Romana, salads, quiches, pasta you can customize, sandwiches and charcuterie
- Dinner: pasta served in a house-made dough bowl, plus French dishes such as steak frites, croque-monsieur and onion soup
- Beyond the mains: pastries, ice-cream sundaes, gluten-free and vegan options, a children's menu and a full bar
- The room: indoor and outdoor seating and an interior inspired by southern France
The space went from Italian to Franco-Italian, from one independent operator to another, with almost no downtime.
Suite 301 Took Longer, and It Isn't Open Yet
Two doors down, the former Dick's Wings space took longer. Dick's closed in February. In August, the Jacksonville Daily Record reported that Asado Life had signed a lease for the 3,415-square-foot space at 100 Marketside Ave., No. 301. It will be the brand's third Northeast Florida restaurant. That's roughly six months between closing and a signed lease, compared with a buyer already in place at Suite 305.
Nocatee's developer announced the deal on its news site and described the concept as live-fire, Argentinian-inspired cooking. The Daily Record described scratch-made, communal grilling, and listed picanha, chorizo and spiced chicken in the Asado Trio.
The Nocatee restaurant has no opening date yet. In an Oct. 5 Daily Record report on Asado Life's opening at the Jacksonville Shipyards, the Nocatee location was still "in the works," and co-owner Nick Carrera didn't share more details. For now, Suite 301 is a signed lease with a known concept and an open timeline.
The Pad on Capitol Green Drive Is the Odd One Out
The Wendy's left for different reasons. When Action News Jax asked about the closures, Parc Group, the company that developed Nocatee, linked the Wendy's exit to the chain's announcement the year before that it would close 300 locations. Parc said it didn't know why Catullo's or Dick's had closed.
That makes 103 Capitol Green Drive the only one of the three exits that came from a national portfolio decision and not from a local operator's own choice. It's also the only one without a named successor. The Times-Union's March report on the closure didn't name a replacement for that address.
The two Marketside suites were both full-service restaurant spaces that local restaurant groups could step into. The Wendy's was a quick-service pad built for one national format, and no plans for it have been named in this year's coverage of the closures.
Who Decides What Comes Next
Many residents may not know who owns the center. Parc Group told Action News Jax it sold the Town Center property nearly 20 years ago, and Regency Centers owns and operates the shopping center. Leasing decisions sit with Regency. The developer's news site still announces new tenants. Its Asado Life post quoted a Regency senior leasing agent.
In June, Action News Jax asked Regency whether it had raised rents for any businesses at the center. The station said it would update its story if Regency replied, and the story as published didn't include an answer.
The same handoff happened earlier with Salata. In October 2025, Nocatee's news site reported Salata open in Town Center in the space that used to be Coastal Wine Market & Tasting Room. Regency's property page for Nocatee Town Center currently shows two available spaces. The page isn't dated, so read that as what the page shows today, not as an occupancy figure for a particular month.
Where Each Space Stands This Fall
| Space | Previous tenant | How it left | What's there now |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Marketside Ave., Suite 305 | Catullo's Italian, opened 2023 | Closed June 2026; space sold to another restaurant group | Riviera 89, open since Sept. 18 |
| 100 Marketside Ave., No. 301 | Dick's Wings, opened April 2013 | Closed February 2026 after 13 years | Asado Life lease signed August 2026; no opening date as of Oct. 5 |
| 103 Capitol Green Drive | Wendy's | Shut by March 18, 2026; Parc linked it to the chain's 300-location closure plan | No successor named in closure coverage |
| Former Coastal Wine Market space | Coastal Wine Market & Tasting Room | Replaced in 2025 | Salata, open since October 2025 |
Planning a Town Center Meal This Week
If you're heading to Riviera 89, check the day first. The restaurant's website lists it as closed Mondays. It's open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Those are the current hours. A pre-opening schedule that circulated in mid-September has been replaced.
Since Riviera 89 serves lunch and afternoon food as well as dinner, a weekday stop for pinsa or a quiche works as well as a Friday night with steak frites. Salata, a few storefronts away, covers the quick salad lunch.
For Asado Life, the Daily Record's coverage of its Jacksonville Shipyards opening is the best guide to the concept until Suite 301 opens. Its Nocatee opening date will most likely come first through the Daily Record or Nocatee's own news site, the two outlets that broke the lease.
Riviera 89 is open, Asado Life is pending, and the Wendy's pad on Capitol Green Drive is the one space without a named successor.
When a long-running restaurant closes, Nocatee Town Center often gets a new tenant faster than the news coverage suggests, and the Noah Bailey Group follows these Town Center changes year-round. If you'd like to talk about how changes like these play into your plans to buy or sell, the Noah Bailey Group is glad to help. Contact Us.
