{"id":399721,"date":"2026-09-14T19:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/399721\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T19:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T19:30:13","slug":"demolition-begins-at-regency-square-malls-food-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/399721\/","title":{"rendered":"Demolition begins at Regency Square Mall\u2019s food court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Demolition has begun at the former food court inside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/topic\/Regency_Mall\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/topic\/Regency_Mall\/\">Regency Square Mall<\/a>, marking a major step in the redevelopment of the long-struggling Arlington shopping center.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The food court is part of the mall\u2019s east wing, which the city approved for demolition in August. The section targeted for removal is between Impact Church and the former JCPenney building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Watch a video of the demolition below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Realco Recycling Co. Inc. is handling the demolition. The work is part of plans to transform the former mall property into The Nexus at Regency, a redevelopment led by Blackwater Development.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The first phase focuses on about 11 acres near Atlantic Boulevard and Monument Road. Plans call for new roads, sidewalks, utilities, landscaping and commercial outparcels intended for future restaurants, retail businesses, a bank and a gas station.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\"  style=\"object-fit:cover;max-width:4080px;max-height:3072px;aspect-ratio:1.328125;width:100%\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/L5PZ3HFMZJBJ7BGPVN3WNEI3SI.jpg\"\/>Demolition begins at Regency Square Mall&#8217;s food court. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.)<img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\"  style=\"object-fit:cover;max-width:4080px;max-height:3072px;aspect-ratio:1.328125;width:100%\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/6XKQ362ZENDT7LBYVZJBDAFOGI.jpg\"\/>Demolition begins at Regency Square Mall&#8217;s food court. (Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The former JCPenney building is expected to remain and be renovated for another use. Impact Church, which owns its building, is not part of the demolition. The mall\u2019s west wing, including the closed Sears and Dillard\u2019s Clearance Center, also is not included in the current phase.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Regency Square Mall opened in 1967 and expanded in the early 1980s. After years of declining occupancy and deferred maintenance, the property accumulated nearly $2 million in code enforcement fines under its previous ownership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Blackwater purchased most of the 77-acre property for just over $19 million. The developer has said the redevelopment will bring new retail, restaurant and residential opportunities to the site.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Demolition has begun at the former food court inside Regency Square Mall, marking a major&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14324,116,118,117,70885],"class_list":["post-399721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-arlington","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-regency-square-mall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399721","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=399721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}