Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers has started construction on two more Jacksonville restaurants, pushing its local footprint beyond the first opening at Oakleaf Station. The work is at 4863 Gate Parkway in The Markets at Town Center and 10989 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin Corners shopping center.
The two projects are moving after the chain’s first Jacksonville restaurant opened July 15, 2025, at 8308 Merchants Way in Oakleaf Station, where hundreds turned out. For Jacksonville customers near the two former Pollo Tropical sites, the immediate change is not a new menu yet but active buildouts that put both locations on a construction path instead of a planning one.
Gate Parkway and San Jose Blvd.
Nearly 3,000 square feet is the size Raising Cane’s is planning for the Gate Parkway restaurant, and the building permit package shows a renovation and repair of the former Pollo Tropical space. The site work was estimated at $1.5 million on Jan. 14, then the buildout was estimated at $1.65 million on May 20, with an outdoor covered patio, a seating area, a drive-thru lane and a drive-thru canopy included in the plan.
The Mandarin Corners project is moving differently. The company is building that restaurant from the ground up at 10989 San Jose Blvd., after the old Pollo Tropical building was torn down. The planned restaurant is 2,770 square feet, and the May 29 permit listed a drive-thru, outdoor patio seating, a free-standing drive-thru canopy and a dumpster enclosure, with construction estimated at $1.65 million.
Pollo Tropical sites in Jacksonville
February 2025 marked the end of Pollo Tropical’s last three Jacksonville locations, which left two shells and a cleared site now in Raising Cane’s pipeline. The reuse of those former sites matters to nearby shoppers because it shortens the path from closed restaurant to active redevelopment; the work is already in permitting and demolition stages, not at the level of a fresh site search.
June 2 brought a $50,000 demolition estimate for the Mandarin Corners property, while June 23 brought the only public sign of a possible next step at 9501 Arlington Expressway: a representative said the company was looking at the Regency Square Mall property but could not confirm anything at that time. That leaves Jacksonville with two active builds and one larger question at the former Regency Square Mall property.
Jacksonville growth at three sites
One opening, two builds, and a potential fourth site now define the chain’s Jacksonville map. If the current permits hold, customers in Town Center and Mandarin will see the two former Pollo Tropical locations converted into Raising Cane’s restaurants first, while the Arlington Expressway proposal remains a separate, unresolved possibility tied to the east side of the mall’s main entrance off Atlantic Boulevard.
