Bye Bye Cotton’s BBQ? Maybe so.

Rumor has it that Cotton’s BBQ has been bought and that the new property owners plan to redevelop the land and surrounding area:

…Cotton’s BBQ has been bought by property developers from NY. They also bought most of the old houses behind it for a parking lot. Their plans as I understand are to flatten, smash, and trash. They are also killing the pawn shop and gun store next to Cotton’s. They didn’t get too descriptive about what they plan to put up but I am guessing a modern looking stucco and concrete block thing. Light commercial like Walgreens or Starbucks. And no, they will not be conforming to historic district standards. They have 120 days to execute their contract.

I went down to Cotton’s on my lunch break and I talked with the manger. At first he discounted the information as rumor, but after talking with him for a few minutes, he was like, you know what, I heard the same thing. So he took me down to meet another man who told me he was approached by a woman from New York who wanted to buy two lots of his across the street. The lots sit between Main and Laura, but he declined to sell because the offer price was too low ($100K).

He told me if I wanted more details I should talk to a man at the Loftin and Taylor Locksmith shop, which is right next to Cottons. Apparently Loftin and Taylor owns all the property on the south east corner of Main and 17th. He told me over the phone, and here is where the story gets strange, that this was all rumor and no contracts had been signed at this time, but call back in a few weeks to see if anything has changed.

What! He was also asking me questions to guage how much I knew about this story. Based on my experiences today this story seems to have some merit. In my opinion, one shared by many others I’m sure, losing Cotton’s will be a loss to the community. I can’t see a scenario where I would want to trade Cotton’s for a Walgreens or Starbucks. Anyone with more information please chime in and let me know.

tags: jacksonville, springfield, cottons bbq

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at 2:37 pm and is filed under Springfield. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

thelakelander

Looks like a shopping center may be on it's way.

Informal concurrency for TRC Jax Main Street Retail Center, 2620 Main St. N. between 16th and 17th streets west, on 1.02 acres, 9,180 square feet, $250,000; agent is Twin Rivers Capital LLC, Charleston, S.C.; owner is Edward Doherty; file indicates limited drainage capacity available to support project on site. (No. 7806)[/quote]

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/0...

john

cotten's downtown is not even "cotten's" anymore. the REAL cotten's is in arlington where fred cotten makes the best bar b que in town......heck, he learned from his dad!

they can demolish downtown, its only a building, if you want cotten's, come to arlington!

joeymarchy

Scott, thanks for chiming in. Be sure to shoot me an email if you hear of anymore developments. As you can see the neighborhood is very interested in the future of Cottons.

tom borland

the sausage dog is the best

Scott Wilson

You'll are talking about BILYC's Fred cotten BBQ on Main Street.

We are still around. We pride ourselves on the best BBQ in town. We have always had the friendly service you are looking for.

Real barbecue cooked over a pit using the Oak wood is what akes it great.

Our night business has slowed so if coming in late please call first 356-8274.

Let Billy Cowart (owner) know if you are a first timer. He will make sure you at least try the ribs. they are the best in the world.

Downtownparks

HEY!!! Im sure I was wearing jeans!!!

My fear is that not being in the Historic District (no restrictions of use) progress may not be what we are going to see here....

On the bright side, the illegal game room on Main St is gone as of last week.

Eric Jaffe

It is a loss - Cottons is some of the best BBQ in town. When I worked downtown we frequented it often. It is a landmark, but landmarks even go under sometimes to PROGRESS.. hmm..

Uturn

Did you go in there looking your usual preppie self? They probably couldn't understand what you were saying, Boston Boy! :)

Next time you go, get some dreds, bling, and a grill. You'll have no problem. And don't forget to say "aight" a lot. Geez, I figured you'd been on the northside long enough to know these things by now :)

downtownparks

I could totally get into Jenkins, but it was bad enough to make me not want to go back.

I will, however, check out Cottons in the near future.

thelakelander

Never had a problem from Jenkins on my end. But I am darker than a brown paper bag, so I guess that would eliminate me from the discussion. Nevertheless, the food is decent. I still believe they could make a killing if they had a flagship Jax downtown Jax restaurant, with a quality interior setting and top notch customer service. The same goes for Cotton's.

Both are classic Jax establishments, but a little on the gritty side for the most of the new yuppies moving into the core.

John

Also to note, the person in my passenger seat was black. They were laughing and then stopped and said that it was messed up and obviously racism really does go both ways. Which I could have told them prior to that experience, but it was very disgusting for a business to work that way.

John

There is another Cotten's in Arlington as an FYI.

Also, as downtownparks mentioned, I had a similar experience at Jenkin's. I went to the drive-thru and the people working seemed ok over the speaker. I pulled up and talk about cold. Not only did they not say another word to me, they almost threw the bag in my car and slammed the window shut afterwards. No knapkins was included, so I waited and I kid you not, they just looked at me until I drove away. I will never go back to Jenkin's in my life and no it was not even that great. Even though, the rumor is they are the greatest. Whatever, I'd rather eat my own shoe.

Uturn

I was referring to this statement in the story....

"ottonâ€™s BBQ has been bought by property developers from NY."

Downtownparks

Yankees? Joey was born and raised here in Jax if I am not mistaken!

Me, yeah, I am a newbie to the greatness that is BBQ. I went to Jenkins downtown about a year ago to try it. The instant I walked in, the place went cold. I have never been so uncomfortable in my life.