The Promenade sits on the southwest corner of Central Avenue and Bulldog Drive, near City Hall. Its first six commercial tenants are signed, and only one of them is a restaurant. The other five are a running store, a golf simulator, a candy shop, a medical aesthetics practice and a sports rehab clinic. Palm Coast built its Town Center incentive program around restaurants and taprooms, so that lineup says something about the downtown taking shape. It's filling as a daytime destination for active people. The evening anchor the city has been trying to land is still an empty space.
Six Leases, One Kitchen
The six tenants were announced on Oct. 1, 2026. Together they're the first real look at what will occupy the ground floor under the building's 204 apartments.
| Tenant | What it offers | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 6th Street Deli | Kettle-boiled New York-style bagels baked daily, deli sandwiches, Lavazza coffee drinks, homemade desserts, patio seating and an Italian dry-goods shop | Second location of the Flagler Beach deli |
| Fleet Feet | Running shoes and apparel, plus fun runs, walks, training groups and in-store seminars | Specialty running retailer |
| The SIM Lounge Golf & Sport | Indoor golf simulator and multi-sport entertainment | Owned by Palm Coast resident Dorian Adams |
| Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop | Nostalgic candy shop | Franchise with shops in The Villages and Ocala |
| Enchanted Medical Aesthetics | Medical aesthetics and wellness services | Boutique spa with locations in Ormond Beach and DeLand |
| AdventHealth Sports Rehab | Sports rehabilitation and physical therapy | Newest of more than a dozen Central Florida locations |
For anyone who has crossed the bridge for a bagel in Flagler Beach, 6th Street Deli is the headline. According to FlaglerLive, the deli will take less than 2,000 square feet at an annual rent of $69,700, or just under $6,000 a month. The city's incentive program will let it recoup almost all of that first year's cost.
A Lineup Built Around Movement, Not Late Dinners
Look at the six as a group. Fleet Feet plans to organize fun runs, walks and training groups. The SIM Lounge offers golf and other sports indoors, regardless of weather. AdventHealth Sports Rehab provides physical therapy for athletes and active people. Enchanted Medical Aesthetics adds to what the Palm Coast Observer calls the center's growing health and beauty offerings.
Location makes that mix more logical than it might first appear. The development connects to outdoor gathering spaces, the nearby Central Park and lake, and the hiking and biking trails that run through Town Center. A running store's group runs, a coffee-and-bagel counter with a patio and a park path all fit the same morning. The tenants who signed are the ones whose customers already come to Town Center to be outdoors.
The candy shop and the simulator lounge fill the afternoon and weekend hours, for families and groups. Of the six, they come closest to what the city has been chasing. A taproom is not among them.
The 5,250 Square Feet With No Takers
The tenant list also has gaps. FlaglerLive reported that at least two businesses the Promenade had counted on backed out. Thai and I, the Bunnell restaurant on State Street, was slated for the Promenade but chose a different Bunnell location, the former Chicken Pantry building on State Road 100. A veterinary clinic also withdrew. The Flying Biscuit Cafe was in talks with the brokers in April, and that possibility remains unclear.
The biggest gap is the space meant to keep Town Center busy after dark. The brokers and the city both made a taproom, pub or bar a priority. According to FlaglerLive, a request for proposals the city issued earlier this year for a 5,250-square-foot space drew no interest. FlaglerLive suggests that restaurateurs may doubt Town Center has enough customers yet to support a space that size. Meanwhile, the restaurants along State Road 100 already enjoy high visibility and steady traffic that doesn't drop off at night the way Town Center's does.
The Promenade's first tenants open in the morning and do their best business in daylight. The use that would bring people to Central Avenue at 8 p.m. is the one nobody has signed for.
What the City Put on the Table
Palm Coast didn't leave this to chance. In November 2025, the City Council approved a Downtown Urban Core Tenant Improvement Grant to help restaurant and retail businesses with build-out costs in the Town Center area. The Palm Coast Observer's coverage of that vote shows which businesses the program was designed to attract:
- Full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, "retailtainment" shops and taprooms qualified
- Restaurants were the primary focus because their build-outs are so expensive
- A taproom could receive $40 per square foot on up to 5,000 square feet
- Covered work included electrical, plumbing, lighting, HVAC, ADA improvements, kitchen equipment, seating and life-safety upgrades
The Observer reported that the program was set to end in September 2026. At the vote, Councilman Ty Miller described the Promenade this way:
"The Promenade is the first domino that needs to fall for it to hit critical mass in this area, to become a viable working downtown area."
FlaglerLive reported that all six new tenants are using the city's incentive program. The incentives worked. They just brought in a running store and a golf simulator faster than a taproom.
Why Critical Mass Is Still Under Construction
Timing explains part of the gap. When the Promenade broke ground in July 2024, the plan called for shops, restaurants and apartments to open in May 2026. According to FlaglerLive, as of late September half of the project's six buildings were still an off-limits construction zone. The pool and pickleball courts still needed finishing work, though the interior parking lot had been surfaced and striped. Apartment leasing has started in the three buildings closest to Bulldog Drive.
Those 204 apartments are the built-in customer base any evening business would count on. Today, most of them are either just starting to fill or not finished. A restaurant deciding whether to take 5,250 square feet is looking at a building that is only partly lived in.
The ground floor has room for that story to change. FlaglerLive reported that the commercial level was designed for roughly 40,000 square feet of retail and 25,000 square feet of medical and office space, which can be divided into 16 individual spaces. Total commercial square footage varies by source. FlaglerLive cites 68,000 square feet, while the leasing announcement and the Daytona Beach News-Journal both use about 53,000. Either way, six leases leave plenty of storefronts open.
What to Watch Through the Holidays
On Sept. 22, the leasing team told FlaglerLive that stores would start opening within 45 to 60 days, which would put the first openings between early and late November. As of the News-Journal's Oct. 5 report, the developer, Persimmon Capital Partners, had not announced an official opening ceremony. A city spokesperson told FlaglerLive that a grand opening has been discussed for months but repeatedly delayed, with nothing on the schedule.
Over the next two months, the evening question gets its answer in three steps:
- The first doors opening. 6th Street Deli and Fleet Feet will show how much morning traffic the park-and-trail side of Town Center can produce.
- The next tenant announcement. The leasing team expected another one within 30 to 60 days of late September, with several letters of intent in progress.
- Whether any new name is a restaurant or taproom. The developer's own update from Oct. 13 lists the same six tenants. The space that would change how Central Avenue feels at night is still waiting for a tenant.
For now, the clearest plan for an outing at the Promenade is a morning one. Get a bagel and a Lavazza latte from 6th Street Deli, then take the path to Central Park and the lake.
Town Center's growth shapes the value of homes from Grand Haven to the Intracoastal, and the team at Coastal Pros follows it closely. If you'd like to talk through what Palm Coast's downtown could mean for your property, schedule a private consultation.
