BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Papa Johns could be the next restaurant to open in Starke.
The selected location is Commercial Drive next to Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, right in front of Walmart. Starke’s building and zoning office is awaiting plans to bring the space up to code to support a commercial kitchen.
According to its investor relations website, Papa Johns has headquarters in in Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. It is the world’s third-largest pizza delivery company with more than 6,000 restaurants in approximately 50 countries and territories. The company has been around since 1984.
Papa Johns’ marketing has always been “Better ingredients. Better pizza.” Presumably the same is true of its other offerings, which include its signature papadias, papa bites and papa bowls, along with its wings, sides and deserts.
The Starke location is already searchable on its website, showing carryout and delivery options will be available.
New housing opening up
Lance Campbell in Starke’s zoning office said Sandcastle Pines has just received its certificate of occupancy. This is the rental housing development of 22 homes constructed at the end of North Westmoreland Street. It was funded through the Florida Housing Finance Corporation.
Anyone interested can apply online at www.sandcastlepines.com. The minimum household size for these four-bedroom, two-bath homes is three members. All household members over the age of 18 must submit a separate application, and there is a nonrefundable $50 application fee for each. Minimum income level is $1,950 a month.
Apartments coming, too?
Two recent environmental resource permit applications submitted to the Suwannee River Water Management District involve housing developments in Starke.
One is for New River Place, a new apartment complex proposed on Thomas Street. According to Invictus Development’s website, the 80-unit development was funded by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation with Live Local funds in April. With one to three bedrooms, the apartments were pitched as housing for active military members from Camp Blanding Joint Training Center.
Campbell said the site plan shows three apartment buildings and a conference center. A much larger housing project with 234 apartments known as Strawberry Fields was denied a land use change in 2009 because the city commission did not want more subsidized housing.
According to Invictus, pending the necessary permits, construction should begin in the third quarter of 2025, with apartments available to rent in late 2026 or early 2027.
The other housing project applying for permitting is CityWalk townhomes on East Call Street, next to the Downtown Square. Once constructed, the 45 townhomes will be ready for rent or purchase, with a rent-to-own option available to its target residents, which includes teachers, nurses, first responders, correctional officers, and active and retired military.
The two-story units with three bedrooms and two bathrooms will be sustainably designed and constructed, incorporating high tech and green technology, including solar power. Unlike the other housing projects, CityWalk is not subsidized with government funding.
The developers are Dwight Hewett and Jason Doran of Kingsley Development and The Doran Jason Group.
