The owner of Flying Iguana Taqueria & Tequila Bar has signed a lease to open a new restaurant in San Marco, located at 1996 San Marco Blvd.
Al’s Pizza founder Al Mansur said he signed a lease to open Iguana San Marco in the 85-year-old closed San Marco Theater, according to Jacksonville Daily Record. The restaurateur plans to renovate the 5,000-square-foot theater space and create a 150-seat restaurant and bar. Iguana San Marco will have a bar on the first level, and Mansur will create a secondary bar and seating on a mezzanine level in the former projection room and office space. The restaurant is expected to open in the first quarter of 2024.
“We are going to keep the art deco look on the exterior and carry that look into the interior,” Mansur tells JDR. “I just love being in a neighborhood that has a true town center feel.”
TSG Realty announced last year that it purchased the San Marco Theatre and adjacent spaces for $3.35 million. San Marco Theatre permanently closed its doors after the acquisition. The new owners quickly began interior removal work of walls and flooring and removed the theater seating. While Mansur has secured the lease for a part of the theater, there is still another space next to the theater that will be available for retail lease. At the time of the purchase, TSG Realty promised to preserve the building and facade.
“We would never demolish this building,” Pam Howard, property manager and agent for Jacksonville-based TSG Realty, said last year. “It’s structurally sound and looks fantastic,”
Mansur first opened Al’s Pizza in 1988 and now with five locations in Baymeadows, San Pablo, Riverside, Ponte Vedra, and Neptune Beach. He then opened Flying Iguana Taqueria & Tequila Bar opened in 2013, followed by a second location, called Iguana on Park, in 2021 in the Avondale area of Jacksonville. The Iguana concepts focus on Latin American fusion cuisine, offering tacos, entrees, spirits, and cocktails.
