What's Really Opening at Marketplace at Nocatee This Year

Drive west on Valley Ridge Boulevard past the Publix and you'll pass at least four storefronts with paper still taped over the glass. Ask five neighbors what's going in each one and you'll get five different answers, because the PARC Group's blog posts announcements the way a lot of master-planned communities do: with enthusiasm, but without much distinction between a business that has a contractor and a permit number and one that exists as a name on a press release.

That distinction matters if you actually live here and want to know what's opening before the holidays versus what's a rendering for 2028. So here's the corner sorted out, building by building, using the same permit filings and construction records that separate a done deal from a hope.

Three Names for Three Different Places

Part of the confusion is geographic. Nocatee residents use "Town Center" loosely to mean anywhere with a storefront, but there are three distinct zones stacking up along this corridor right now, and they're on completely different timelines.

Nocatee Town Center, the original retail core around Crosswater Parkway, is finished and running. Chophouse at Nocatee, the steakhouse and rooftop bar, has been open there since 2025. Salata, the build-your-own salad concept, took over the old Coastal Wine Market & Tasting Room space at 641 Crosswater Parkway and opened in early April 2026 under local owners Jason and Sandy O'Hara, whose ties to the area go back to Jason's Navy service in Jacksonville more than two decades ago.

Marketplace at Nocatee is the newer project a short drive west, off Valley Ridge Boulevard, built around a Publix that opened November 15, 2025. This is where most of this year's actual construction activity is happening.

The Hub at Nocatee is a third, separate thing entirely: an announcement, not yet a construction site, planned for a parcel next to Marketplace at Nocatee. More on why that one belongs in its own category below.

The One With a Permit Number

If you want proof that a "coming soon" sign means something, look for the paperwork. BODYBAR Pilates has it.

A building permit filed and reported by the Jax Daily Record in its April 23, 2026 development log lists a tenant build-out at 75 Irondale Road, contractor Coastal Building Group Inc., 2,640 square feet, valued at $297,000. That's not a press release. That's a construction budget attached to a specific address inside Marketplace at Nocatee.

The studio, BODYBAR Pilates Ponte Vedra, is locally owned by residents of Twenty Mile at Nocatee and will be a sister location to the existing BODYBAR Pilates Mandarin studio in Jacksonville. It's built around reformer machines, the sliding-carriage equipment used for resistance-based Pilates work, with 14 reformers planned for the space and a retail corner selling athletic wear. Both the PARC Group's own announcement and independent coverage point to a fall 2026 opening, which lines up with a permit filed in April and several months of build-out time before doors open.

That's the pattern worth remembering: permit plus contractor plus dollar figure equals a real date on the calendar.

Already Open, No Permit Search Required

Two businesses on this stretch have already cleared the entire process and are simply operating.

Publix anchors Marketplace at Nocatee in a 48,387-square-foot store that cost roughly $14 million to build, according to local reporting on the project, with an adjoining Publix Liquors and a pharmacy drive-thru. It opened its doors on November 15, 2025, giving Nocatee its third Publix location alongside the two already facing each other in Town Center.

Salata, mentioned above, is the other confirmed opening this year, and it came with a piece of community detail worth knowing if you haven't been in yet: on opening day, the O'Haras donated 25 percent of proceeds to HUGS St. Johns, a local nonprofit that provides emergency clothing, food, and school supplies to families in the county.

Neither of these needs a follow-up visit to check on progress. They're done.

Named, Not Yet Dated

Here's the middle tier, the businesses that have appeared in the PARC Group's own July 2026 Marketplace update with real names and real concepts, but no permit filing turned up yet and no opening window announced.

That Gate listing is worth a second look if you've been following this corner for a while. Back in February 2025, the PARC Group's own update for the same corner named a different brand, Daily's, as the convenience store planned for that spot. By July 2026, the announcement had changed to Gate. Deals like this shift before ground breaks more often than blog posts let on, which is one more reason a name on a list isn't the same as a business that's actually coming.

Why the Hub Isn't on Any of These Lists Yet

The biggest headline out of Nocatee this summer wasn't a restaurant. It was The Hub at Nocatee, a 63,225-square-foot open-air retail and dining project announced July 6, 2026 by Tampa-based Center Connect Development, planned for the parcel just west of Marketplace at Nocatee's Valley Ridge Boulevard South frontage.

Developer Paul Bissett described the goal as creating a gathering space with outdoor seating, weekend live music, and dedicated golf cart parking, a nod to how a lot of people actually get around this part of St. Johns County. The site plan calls for seven multitenant retail buildings arranged around a central courtyard, with unit sizes ranging from 1,261 to 5,064 square feet and a mix of restaurant, retail, entertainment, medical, and pet-related uses. Franklin Street is handling leasing.

None of that has a tenant attached yet. As of a July 13 update from the Jax Daily Record, the project was still in the permitting stage, with the St. Johns River Water Management District reviewing a modification to an environmental resource permit for the 8.07-acre site. The property itself is owned by Sonoc Co. LLC, tied to the Davis family behind the founding of Winn-Dixie, the same family that has worked with the PARC Group on Nocatee's build-out for years.

Center Connect's two existing Hub projects near Tampa, in Land O' Lakes and Wesley Chapel, give a sense of what could eventually land here: a mix that has included pet grooming, martial arts studios, barbershops, escape rooms, nail salons, a candle bar, golf simulators, ice cream shops, sports bars, and restaurants specializing in Indian, Vietnamese, and Caribbean cuisine. None of that is confirmed for Nocatee. It's simply the closest evidence of what the format tends to attract.

The stated target is 2028. That's two years out, which puts it in an entirely different category from a permit filed in April with a fall opening.

Reading the Trail Yourself

The shortcut, if you want to track this corner without waiting for the next blog post, is to treat every "coming soon" announcement as a claim that needs a second source. A contractor's name and a dollar figure in a county or city permit filing means someone has committed real money to a real date. A developer's quote and a site rendering means someone has an idea they'd like to build eventually.

Nocatee has been adding retail infrastructure steadily since the Town Center first opened, and this latest round, from a permitted Pilates studio to a two-years-out entertainment district, is part of the same pattern of a community that keeps building years after most of its homes sold. That ongoing investment is worth watching regardless of whether you're shopping for a home here, because it's one of the clearer signs of where demand in this part of St. Johns County is actually headed.

If you're a longtime Nocatee homeowner curious what all this new construction and continued demand might mean for your own property's value, Julie Little Brewer offers a complimentary home valuation with no pressure attached. Request Your Complimentary Home Valuation whenever you're ready to see the numbers for yourself.