Crews have begun demolishing Coconut Jacks, the longtime bar and grill that anchored 2301 Laguna Boulevard on South Padre Island for 36 years, clearing the way for a three-story Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant estimated to cost at least $4.25 million. Construction fencing and banners promising the new restaurant is coming soon now ring the site, where the old building's thatched roof and open-air bar once drew generations of beachgoers and bands.
Coconut Jacks opened on March 23, 1990, according to myrgv.com, which described it as an iconic, two-story, open-air tropical-style bar with its thatched roof. The site is now permanently closed, and as MySA reports, Coconut Jacks was a locally owned eatery and live music venue before crews moved in to tear it down.
Houston-based Bubba Gump Shrimp Company has never opened a restaurant in the Rio Grande Valley, and this project marks its first foray into the region, per the same MySA account. The planned restaurant will rise on the south side of South Padre Island along the Laguna Madre waterfront in the entertainment district, near Louie's Backyard, Liam's Steakhouse & Oyster Bar, Laguna Bob and Gravity Park.
A Three-Story Build Years in the Making
The new restaurant is designed as a three-story building covering roughly 18,000 square feet, according to MySA's reporting. rgv.me puts the figure slightly higher, at 18,042 square feet, describing the ground-up construction project in similar terms. Cost estimates also diverge: MySA reports the build will cost at least $4.25 million, while rgv.me has pegged the project at $4.3 million.
Construction finally began after more than a year of delay, the MySA report notes. Earlier timelines described by sprawltag.com had construction starting in July 2025 and wrapping by July 2026, though no confirmed revised opening date has surfaced since.
MySA first reported on the planned restaurant roughly a year and a half before this latest update, tracking the project from early plans through the demolition now underway. Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., inspired by the feature film Forrest Gump, first launched in Monterey, California, in 1996 and has since grown into a chain with more than 25 locations across the United States and abroad, per sprawltag.com.
Islanders Split Over Losing a Local Landmark
Reaction on South Padre Island has been mixed, according to MySA. Resident Steve Davis said Bubba Gump's gumbo fills a gap in the island's restaurant offerings, while Dianna Garza said she loves the restaurant coming to the island.
Not everyone is as enthusiastic. Judy Vargas-Wooten told MySA she would continue eating at Joe's Oyster Bar, a longtime fixture across the Queen Isabella Memorial Causeway in Port Isabel that has operated for decades, serving fish and shrimp brought directly from the Gulf of Mexico and offering cook-your-catch meals to anglers. Amy Lockhart-Sylanscki, who said she has visited South Padre Island for 26 years, told the outlet she prefers local restaurants over chains, adding that visitors want local food rather than frozen prepared food on the Gulf.
Local surfer and social media influencer Tommy J. Saenz, known online as Tiki Tommy, documented the demolition of the former Coconut Jacks over several days, giving islanders a front-row seat to the teardown as it happened.
Past Scrutiny Over Shrimp Sourcing
The chain has faced scrutiny before. Inside Edition reported in March 2025 that Bubba Gump Shrimp and other seafood eateries served imported farm-raised shrimp labeled as wild-caught Gulf of Mexico shrimp. In response, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company said a server had made a mistake about the shrimp's origins and said the company would never intentionally mislead diners.
Similar debates over the chain's arrival played out when the project was first proposed. mysanantonio.com reported that some islandgoers were excited about the food, with one commenter writing, So Excited - the food is amazing!!!!, while another said, I will still prefer and buy local over these overpriced big brands any day. That earlier coverage noted the new restaurant would join the dozens of other seafood restaurants already on the island.
