{"id":168403,"date":"2026-02-25T10:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/168403\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T10:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:55:17","slug":"jacksonville-to-allow-downtown-entertainment-district-bars-to-serve-alcohol-until-3-a-m-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/168403\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville to allow Downtown Entertainment District bars to serve alcohol until 3 a.m."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Jacksonville City Council has overwhelmingly approved a new ordinance allowing bars in part of the city to serve alcohol <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstcoastnews.com\/article\/news\/local\/proposed-ordinance-bars-open-3-am-jacksonville\/77-90cc8852-8348-486b-b13b-87b14c29b443\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:beyond the traditional 2 a.m. cutoff.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">beyond the traditional 2 a.m. cutoff.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Council members voted 17-1, with Mike Gay opposed, to create a new Downtown Entertainment District where bars can serve alcohol until 3 a.m. each day if they choose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It spans from the Sports &amp; Entertainment District to the North Core and Central Core.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The goal of the new ordinance is to promote business downtown and centralize entertainment, retail and restaurant usage in that area. Within the district are some of the city&#8217;s biggest attractions, including EverBank Stadium, the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena and other late-night venues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While some may wish 3 a.m. was the cutoff throughout the city, the confinement of the extended alcohol sales to one area is intended to &#8220;conserve public safety resources and reduce public nuisances and crime,&#8221; the ordinance summary reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The ordinance was introduced by District 11 City Council Member Raul Arias.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This is a bold step forward for our city, one that has never been done before. It reflects how far Jacksonville has come and our continued commitment to building a vibrant, competitive downtown that positions us as a major city not just in Florida, but across the country,&#8221; Arias said in a statement to First Coast News Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This was not a decision made lightly. Over the past several months, I met with community stakeholders including the JAX Chamber, Downtown Investment Authority (DIA), and the Florida Restaurant &amp; Lodging Association to ensure concerns were addressed and collaboration was prioritized. Each organization expressed support, including written letters backing the legislation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The ordinance is set to take effect on March 10, or earlier with the mayor&#8217;s signature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jacksonville City Council has overwhelmingly approved a new ordinance allowing bars in part of the city to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15012,80165,116,4040,118,117,25317,42448],"class_list":{"0":"post-168403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-entertainment-district","9":"tag-extended-alcohol-sales","10":"tag-jacksonville","11":"tag-jacksonville-city-council","12":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","13":"tag-jacksonville-news","14":"tag-raul-arias","15":"tag-sports-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}