SilverLeaf Market Is Fully Leased. Most Of It Still Isn't Open.

Drive past the new Publix on SilverLeaf Parkway on a Saturday morning and the parking lot is full. Carts roll toward the doors, the wine and coffee counter has a line, and it genuinely looks like the shopping center St. Johns Parkway has been waiting for finally arrived. Then you notice the storefronts on either side. Half of them still have paper on the glass.

That gap between "looks finished" and "is finished" is the actual story here, and it matters if you live anywhere near SilverLeaf, TrailMark, RiverTown, or Beachwalk. The center's developer confirmed in early August that the inline building is fully leased. Fully leased is not the same as fully open, and the difference is going to shape what this corner of St. Johns Parkway feels like for at least the rest of the year.

What "Fully Leased" Actually Covers

The Publix-anchored building at 1975 SilverLeaf Parkway is done in the sense that matters to a leasing agent: every space has a signed tenant. It's a different question whether you can walk into any of them yet.

Right now, two tenants are open for business: Avalon Nails and SoFresh. Everyone else with a signed lease in that building, including Club Pilates, M Shack, My Tiffin, and The UPS Store, is still working through build-out, according to reporting from Jax Daily Record published August 6. Chase Bank and Dunkin' hold the two single-tenant outparcels facing the parking lot. Dunkin' pulled a building permit worth $736,000 on July 1, which is a useful signal in itself: that's not a placeholder filing, that's the kind of number that shows up when a company is actually pouring a foundation.

Here's roughly where things stand as of this month:

That last row is the part most people driving by don't know about yet.

The Center Is Growing Before It's Even Full

Here's the detail that changes how you should think about this corner of St. Johns Parkway: the developer isn't waiting for the current building to finish leasing up before adding more space. Two new commercial buildings, one about 8,800 square feet and one about 7,600 square feet, went in front of the St. Johns County Development Review Committee for discussion on August 19, according to the same Jax Daily Record report. Neither building has a confirmed tenant. Developer Chet Skinner of Skinner Bros. Realty described them as speculative space, built because the existing inline building is already full and there's nowhere left to put a new tenant who wants in.

That's not how you'd expect a shopping center to behave if demand were cooling. A developer builds on spec when they're confident someone will want the space before it's even framed. If you live along this stretch, the practical read is simple: expect construction activity, extra trucks, and shifting parking patterns near the Publix to continue well past what "grand opening" implied back in March.

The Grocery Store That Started All of This

The Publix that anchors the center opened March 26, 2026, and it's not a typical store. At 55,701 square feet, it's the largest Publix built in Northeast Florida, according to Jax Daily Record's coverage of the opening, well above the chain's usual 45,000 to 50,000 square foot footprint. The size buys you things a standard Publix doesn't have: a Pours bar serving beer, wine, and coffee alongside acai bowls and smoothies, plus an expanded deli with burrito bowls and made-to-order pizza.

Store manager Ashley Lukas connected the investment directly to what's happening around it, telling News4JAX:

"St. Johns County as a whole is growing, especially this northern area."

That's not marketing language. St. Johns County had 20 Publix locations before this one opened, and the company still decided this particular stretch of parkway warranted its biggest format in the region.

A Second Kitchen Swap, A Few Minutes South

The turnover isn't limited to SilverLeaf. Down St. Johns Parkway at 1385, the former Oola Mala Hot Pot & Sushi space is becoming ZEN Pho and Noodles, a Gainesville-founded pan-Asian chain that's been expanding across Florida, per St. Johns Citizen. It's a small data point, but it fits the pattern: this corridor isn't just adding new square footage, it's actively recycling space that didn't work the first time around. Restaurants along St. Johns Parkway are getting a second look from concepts betting the neighborhood's growth will do what the previous tenant couldn't.

What Actually Works Right Now, Construction or Not

None of the build-out timelines change what's already reliable if you live nearby. A few things worth knowing about even while the parking lot near Publix stays a little dusty:

• RiverTown's RiverHouse runs a steady weekly rhythm that doesn't depend on any shopping center opening on schedule. Monday nights bring a pre-order dinner from Sal's, basketball leagues run Tuesday and Thursday evenings, Champion Swim School holds lessons for kids as young as six months, and Saturday mornings start with a Vinyasa class.
• Waters Farm and The Loaf Shack sell fresh sourdough and farm meats through RiverTown's community pickups, a smaller-scale version of the grocery run most people are now making at the new Publix instead.
• Down in Fruit Cove, Ellianos Coffee, Julington Creek Fish House & Oyster Co., and Back 40 Urban Fresh keep the everyday food options close to home, while Alpine Groves Park offers a dock and a butterfly garden for anyone who wants river views without a boat.
• The Muse Bourbon Bar and Grill in Fruit Cove runs live music on Friday nights, and Trout Creek Memorial Park and Marina hosts a free Cruise-In on August 29 for anyone who likes looking at old cars as much as new storefronts.

Why This Is Worth Tracking

The honest version of this story is that SilverLeaf Market is a shopping center still becoming itself. The Publix is real and it's busy. The nail salon and SoFresh are open. Everything else, from M Shack's burgers to the two spec buildings that don't have names attached yet, is still in motion. If you've driven past and wondered why half the storefronts still look empty months after the grand opening, now you know: fully leased was never the same promise as fully open, and the county's own review calendar shows more construction, not less, headed for this stretch of parkway before the year is out.

Keep an eye on the August 19 county review and the tenant announcements that tend to follow permits like Dunkin's. This corner of St. Johns Parkway isn't finished changing.

Whenever you're ready to talk about what any of this means for your own home or your next move in St. Johns County, Pamela Hoffman is always glad to help. Let's Talk About Your Move.