Underwood Jewelers to Bring a ‘Showplace’ to San Marco Square

Underwood Jewelers is planning significant renovations for its San Marco location.

Permitting is currently underway for this interior and exterior renovation. San Marco-based JayCox Architects and Associates is part of the project’s design team, alongside interior designer Stephanie Maxey.

Nate Labagh, partner and principal with the architecture firm, said once permitting is complete, he anticipates a six- to eight-month construction period.

“What we wanted to do is give it a new face to the community, with it being at the end of San Marco Boulevard as you merge into Hendricks [Avenue] and head south,” Labagh said during a presentation at San Marco Merchants Association Jan. 28 general meeting. “We wanted it to be this new gateway as you enter the Square.”

The exterior renovations will encompass the entire street-front façade of the 9,000-square-foot building. Underwood Chairman Clayton Bromberg expressed his vision for the newly renovated building as a “showplace.”

“It’s going to be great for San Marco. There needs to be a crown jewel at this end of the Square, and we are glad to do it,” said Bromberg.

According to county records, Amo Corporation of Alabama, Inc. purchased the building last June for $4.86 million. Bromberg is the registered agent for Amo Corporation of Alabama, Inc. The building, originally built in 1955, sits on 0.34 acres at the intersection of San Marco Boulevard and Alford Place. The building also houses Sherwin-Williams, which is now a tenant of Underwood’s.

Underwood’s footprint will not change, but the showroom’s size in the roughly 5,000-square-foot space will increase as the company’s corporate offices move to its Avondale location. The store will remain open throughout the renovation.

According to Labagh, these updates will also include refreshed landscaping and the addition of two new ADA parallel parking spots.

Underwood’s opened its first store in Palatka in 1928 before establishing a location in Downtown Jacksonville in 1940. The San Marco branch opened in 1953, initially operating about a block from its current location in the Square. Its Avondale location, in the neighborhood’s vibrant commercial corridor on St. Johns Avenue, opened in the 1990s. The jewelry store has a third location in Ponte Vedra Beach.

Since moving into its current building in San Marco in 1992, Underwood’s has completed a few minor renovations, but this is the first major interior and exterior renovation project.

“It’s going to be a beautiful space,” said Michael Richards, who became president of Underwood’s in 2024.

Richards told Resident News that Underwood’s has been planning its renovation “behind the scenes” for more than a year. Renovations, he added, had always been the plan. Leaving the Square was never considered.

Underwood’s is more than a jewelry store: Over the years, it has established itself as a partner within the philanthropic community as well. Richards said the company has been involved with numerous charities, including Pink Ribbon Jax, for which it is a founding sponsor. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to providing free mammograms to under- or uninsured people in Jacksonville. Last November, associates at Underwood’s Ponte Vedra Beach location continued that legacy, presenting Pink Ribbon Jax with a check for $390,000.

“We have been involved with Pink Ribbon since the first year they had the golf tournament,” Richards said. “We do it because it is the right thing to do for our community.”