Clark’s Fish Camp and Seafood Restaurant, the now-closed restaurant on the bank of Julington Creek, is preparing for a significant renovation in Mandarin, located at 12903 Hood Landing Rd.
Jim Franks, president of QBS Inc., an Ohio-based construction firm, recently purchased the restaurant and 3 acres of property for $1.4 million and plans to spend the next year renovating it to reopen, according to Jacksonville Daily Record. When the restaurant reopens, customers can expect to see the same taxidermy collection, but the menu will be slightly adjusted. Despite the restaurant being closed for a year already, the air conditioning has been running to help protect the stuffed wildlife collection.
Franks is in the early stages of this renovation and is funding the entire project himself. This will be the third restaurant he has brought back to life in the area, starting with Seachasers at 831 First St. N. in Jacksonville Beach, which took over the former Paradise Alley beer store and attached motel before being sold in 2022. In March, Franks opened Flying Fish Taphouse in the former Millhouse Steakhouse. The new acquisition gives him the Clark’s Fish Camp name, website, social media, phone numbers, and its extensive taxidermy collection.
Before Franks can begin renovating the restaurant, he must address the potential flooding issues from parts of the building sitting two feet below the flood plain. The restaurant was constructed in 1954 and underwent two additions in the 1970s and 1995 to prevent flooding, but hurricane skirts still threaten the space. Once the building is reestablished, Franks will rebuild the 10- to 12-slip dock, as well as potentially bring in a small beer brewery for the restaurant. Despite the additions, Franks hopes to retain the fish camp vibe as much as possible.
“We’re probably gonna have to tear down about two-thirds of it and bring it up out of the water to get it within the proper flood stage. Because there’s really no other way to do it,” Franks tells JDR. “There’s just a whole hodgepodge of additions that have been put on over the years, and the building life of those additions has pretty much been exceeded. Until I really dig underneath this thing, I don’t know what’s under there. We’ve got to tear up a lot of flooring and see what they’ve done for 47 years under there.”
