JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – St. Petersburg-based Kahwa Coffee Roasting Company appears poised to expand into Jacksonville's urban core.
After entering the Northeast Florida market with the Feb. 2017 establishment of a coffee shop inside Winn-Dixie's revamped East Baymeadows store, Kahwa Coffee appears to be moving forward with a possible Riverside location.
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On May 24th, the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission approved Riverside Square, LLC's Certificate of Appropriateness (COA-17-439) request to make facade and site improvements at 2502 Oak Street.
First reported by Modern Cities in September 2016, AccuBuild intends to redevelop two former medical buildings on-site into a restaurant and coffee shop. Renderings approved by the JHPC illustrate a coffee shop featuring a Stockton Street wall mural of Kahwa's coffee bean logo.
Furthermore, statistical data utilized to anticipate future traffic impact at the proposed Oak Street site, is based off Kahwa's branches at 3928 Henderson Boulevard in Tampa and 3901 3rd Street North in St. Petersburg.
According to their website, proudly roasted and packaged in Tampa Bay, Kahwa focuses on blends rather than single-origin coffees in order to bring complex flavors to each cup, using the world's finest 100% Arabica beans.
Opening their first café in 2006 in downtown St. Petersburg to showcase their enthusiasm for great coffee and high-quality coffee drinks, husband and wife team, Raphael and Sarah Perrier have since built Kahwa into a national powerhouse.
With 12 Bay Area locations and being voted "Tampa Bay's Best Coffee Roasters" by Creative Loafing readers seven years running, Kahwa's products are distributed to nearly 500 local and national restaurants and five-star hotels across the nation.
Named "The Best Coffee Ever!" by television retailer HSN, Kahwa recently entered the Northeast Florida market with a café inside of Southeastern Grocer's remodeled upscale Winn-Dixie store in the Point Meadows shopping center at 10915 Baymeadows Road.
In addition to Riverside, more Kahwa locations could be on the way.
In October 2016, Mark Rubin mentioned plans to build a coffee house in the old Laundry Station building owned by AccuBuild at 1604 San Marco Boulevard. Those plans call for a coffee shop with seating for 30 to 35 patrons and outdoor seating under the former gas station's 440-square-foot canopy.
At the time, neither confirming or denying the vendor would be the same as the vendor planned for the Riverside property, Rubin mentioned that the company they had in mind has a handful of stores in Florida and that "They just do coffee and they do it well".
Rubin also stated that the vendor he had in mind was "innovative but with experience" and one with a "local feel".
Click here to read the full renderings of the proposed Kahwa Coffee Riverside on Modern Cities.