One last call for alcohol… at 3 a.m.?!
City Councilman Raul Arias is proposing extending alcohol sales from 2 a.m. until 3 a.m. in certain areas of downtown Jacksonville.
According to reports, Ordinance 2026-0063 would allow bars in the “NorthCore, Central Core, and Sports and Entertainment districts” to serve booze later than other places around town because other cities allow drinking until the wee hours of the morning.
“When you’re looking at larger cities, they all have one thing in common, and that’s obviously expanded hours for nightlife and restaurants, but they only have these hours in the urban core,” Arias said. “So, adding an additional hour to consume alcohol makes “sense for Downtown.”
Arias’ ordinance is exactly the kind of unserious thinking that keeps failing downtown.
This is the latest attempt to revive downtown by adjusting the clock instead of fixing what’s actually broken. And this isn’t the first time Jacksonville has tried it.
Back in 2005, a city council member tried to move the cut-off to 4 a.m., but the legislation was dropped.
“It was too early for Jacksonville,” Arias said. We just weren’t ready. Now, we are – and it’s time to “seize the moment.”
Jacksonville leaders keep mistaking an extra hour of alcohol sales for economic development, rather than addressing the basics that actually keep businesses alive downtown.
Intuition Ale Works recently announced it will close its doors this spring after a decade of struggling to stay open on the corner of a quiet city block.
The microbrewery first opened its doors 15 years ago in Riverside. A few years later the company was lured into a historic building on the corner of East Bay and A. Philip Randolph, trusting political promises of downtown’s resurgence.
“When we opened our Bay Street location in Sept. 2016, moving downtown was a deliberate choice,” the owner wrote. “I believed in the long-term potential of Downtown Jacksonville.”
That resurgence never came.
There was hope for a moment, until it quite literally burned to the ground one chilly morning in January 2024.
By April of last year, the owner decided it was time to sell. The right buyer never came.
In a social media post, the owner doesn’t hold back his righteous indignation.
“I don’t regret the move. It was ambitious, and it was my call. But that ambition was rooted in the hope that transformative downtown development would follow. It never did,” he wrote. “Renderings and potential do not pay the bills. Ultimately, the financial burden placed on Intuition made long-term sustainability impossible.”
The brewery didn’t fail because last call was too early. It’s closing because political promises don’t cover payroll.
But sure – let’s try one more gimmick.
Last call at 3 a.m.
