A 2,000-square-foot Dunkin' store is on the drawing board for the Publix-anchored retail center at St. Johns Parkway and SilverLeaf Parkway in the SilverLeaf community of St. Augustine. If it clears the process, the shop would bring a drive-thru coffee and breakfast stop to the doorstep of thousands of new homes and planned storefronts in the fast-growing area, as St. Johns County staff put the proposal under the microscope.
According to Jacksonville Daily Record, county staff began formally reviewing the application on Feb. 19 and have penciled in a March 25 discussion of the project. The filing describes a freestanding, roughly 2,000-square-foot Dunkin' at the Publix-anchored center northwest of I-95 and International Golf Parkway.
Local reporting frames the proposed shop as part of a broader wave of Dunkin' activity across Northeast Florida. What Now notes that franchisee St. Johns Donuts, which opened a Dunkin' in Hastings in January, has been tied to the SilverLeaf push. The outlet says it reached out to partner John Griffey about the SilverLeaf plans, but he was not immediately available to comment.
Site Owners, Engineers and Neighbors
Jacksonville Daily Record reports that Matthews | DCCM is listed as the civil engineer on the Dunkin' application, and that the land is owned by Hutson Co. through White's Ford Timber LLC. The paper also details the growing roster of tenants in the Publix-anchored center, including Avalon Nails, Club Pilates, SoFresh, a UPS store and Fifth Third Bank, and notes that the broader SilverLeaf master plan could reach about 16,300 homes at full build-out.
Why This Matters Now
Retail proposals like this one are landing as St. Johns County works to match public infrastructure to its growth curve. WJXT News4JAX reported in 2025 that the county signed off on a combined $14.5 million fire station and sheriff's operations facility in SilverLeaf, underscoring how quickly services are being scaled up for new residents.
The timing also lines up with a national menu tweak. Dunkin' recently rolled out "Dunkin Zero," a zero-sugar energy drink that comes in six fruit-focused flavors. The company says a medium delivers about 20 calories and zero grams of sugar; details are posted on Dunkin'. Regional outlets have tracked multiple franchise filings and store openings around Northeast Florida, and What Now connects the St. Johns Donuts group to several of those efforts.
The March 25 county review is just one checkpoint in a longer permitting gauntlet. Plans must pass staff review and secure any remaining approvals before shovels can hit the dirt. If everything lines up, a new Dunkin' could open its drive-thru windows as SilverLeaf's housing and retail network continues to grow into its master-planned footprint.
