Between June and August 2026, five apparel and lifestyle shops opened under one roof at 19 Plaza Way in Watersound Town Center. In the same stretch, the St. Joe Company signed Anthropologie and started building the space it will move into. By St. Joe's August figures, the center is about 98% leased at roughly 170,000 square feet. The plan calls for about 400,000. If you live in Watersound and know the center as the Publix at the top of Watersound Parkway, that plan is the bigger story. What filled in this summer is less than half of what is coming.
That changes the trip down US-98. It also changes the corner at the entrance to Watersound Origins, which will keep acting like a construction site for a while.
One Building, Five Doors
The newest building on Plaza Way filled up in order, one suite at a time. Here is the roster from the center's own directory:
- FP Movement, Suite 100
- Monkee's, Suite 102
- Johnnie-O, Suite 103
- Hemline 30A, Suite 104
- Sunset Shoes & Lifestyles, Suite 106
St. Joe's June 30 announcement said FP Movement, Hemline, Monkee's and Sunset Shoes had "recently opened their doors." It expected Johnnie-O to follow later in the summer. The company announced Johnnie-O's opening on August 20. Neither release gives an exact first day for any of the five shops. "Over the summer" is as precise as the record allows. When we checked, Hemline's directory page said "Now Open" but still showed "Coming Soon!" in place of hours. Call ahead before you plan a trip around it.
The June release listed more. Jersey Mike's Subs opened at 11299 US-98, and Lagree 30A opened a studio upstairs at 74 Origins Main Street, Suite 201. Art-of-Fact(s), a shop selling home décor, gifts and artwork, also joined. By August, St. Joe was also listing J.McLaughlin among the center's retailers.
St. Joe describes several of these as national and regional brands that are "new-to-market." William Brock, St. Joe's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate, put it this way in June:
"Established brands like these are deliberate in their site selection process. Their decision to invest in this Center is a strong validation of our market and contributes to the continued momentum occurring here."
What the New Shops Sit Beside
For most households nearby, the center's day-to-day role hasn't changed. The official directory still lists Publix Supermarket, with its pharmacy, deli and bakery, as the anchor, and Publix Liquors as a separate store next door. For coffee, the directory names Starbucks Cafe and Sweet Henrietta's. For food it lists Scout Sports Tavern, Friends 30A Burger Bar, Nigel's Bananas, Marco's Pizza, Village Market and Ambrosia Prime Seafood & Steaks, and now Jersey Mike's. That directory page carries a June 5 date, so take it as the center's roster rather than a live guarantee that every business is open today.
The mix is what's new. Before this summer, an errand at the center meant groceries, a prescription, coffee or dinner. Now the same parking lot also has a premium men's and boys' line in Johnnie-O, activewear at FP Movement, boutique apparel at Hemline and Monkee's, and footwear at Sunset Shoes. Shopping that used to mean a longer drive can happen on the same stop as the Publix run. St. Joe says that was the goal. Rebecca Waters, its Director of Commercial Sales and Leasing, said in June that the openings "bring new energy and consumer traffic." In August she described the center as "a destination for the broader 30A community and its visitors."
The Arithmetic of the Next Building
The square footage St. Joe reported in two releases eight weeks apart shows the pace, and how far the center still has to go.
| St. Joe release | Retail, restaurant, service and office space | Leased |
|---|---|---|
| June 30, 2026 | approximately 160,000 sq ft | 98% |
| August 20, 2026 | approximately 170,000 sq ft | approximately 98% |
| Planned build-out | approximately 400,000 sq ft |
The center added space between June and August and the leased share held at about 98%. In other words, new space has been filling about as fast as it opens. In June, St. Joe said two more buildings were planned to break ground in 2026 "to meet growing demand from other national apparel brand stores." By August one of them was under construction. It will hold Anthropologie and other tenants not yet announced. The second was described as "anticipated to break ground later this year."
We found no public update between September 1 and today, October 4, that gives an Anthropologie opening date or confirms the second groundbreaking. St. Joe's August release said only that store opening details would come "at a later date." Until there's a new announcement, treat both as plans.
Where the Plan Points
The specific Anthropologie lease says something about the center's direction. It's an approximately 9,000-square-foot store, and it will include an Anthropologie Weddings bridal shop. The release calls that format "a dedicated in-store bridal experience offered only at select locations nationwide," with appointments with wedding stylists, gowns, bridesmaid dresses and accessories. Waters linked the choice to the local economy. She cited "the strength of the destination wedding business throughout the 30A trade area." WJHG covered the lease in late August.
Three weeks later St. Joe announced Watersound Weddings & Events, a centralized event-planning service that is available now. It expects to open a storefront at Watersound Town Center in early 2027. Put together, the next phase of the center points at weddings: a bridal shop inside a national store and a planning office down the walkway. Shoppers coming to Watersound for that reason will share the parking lot with people making the Thursday grocery run. That's the clearest picture of how the corner will feel once the next building opens.
The Pavilion Calendar Is the Other Half
The center's lawn and stage at The Pavilion have their own busy fall. The Cultural Arts Alliance and 30A.com's venue page list the Pavilion at 85 Origins Main St. 30A.com's Flutterby Arts Festival listing gives 170 N Watersound Parkway instead. Both mean the same lawn. Here is what's on it this fall:
- Sunday, October 4, 2–6 p.m.: The Watersound Block Party, with live music, food trucks, lawn games, and face painting and balloon art for kids. That's this afternoon.
- Sunday, October 11: Watersound Origins Porchfest moves the music onto neighborhood porches and lawns, with food trucks and lawn games.
- Friday, November 6, 6–8 p.m.: A free First Friday concert with the Webb Wilder Trio and opener Jessica Willis Fisher.
- Sunday, November 8, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.: The Flutterby Arts Festival returns with children's art activities, performances, student art, a butterfly parade and a Holiday Artist Market. Admission is free, and some activities are ticketed.
- Friday, December 4: The Michelle Malone Trio plays from 6 to 8 p.m., and a free Art Bazaar runs from 4 to 8 p.m.
The two November dates fall on the same weekend, a Friday evening concert and a Sunday festival. Expect the plaza and its parking to be at their fullest that weekend. The new Plaza Way shops are a short walk from the lawn, so concert nights put foot traffic past the newest storefronts in the center.
All of this happens while one building is going up and another is expected to start before year-end. For the next stretch of seasons, the center will be an open shopping plaza and a construction site at once. The known pieces so far are the Anthropologie lease, the early 2027 target for the wedding storefront, and a second groundbreaking St. Joe has called anticipated but not confirmed.
If you own in Watersound or nearby Inlet Beach, the build-out at the top of Watersound Parkway is something we follow closely as neighbors and as advisors. If you want to talk through what the next phase of Watersound Town Center means for your property, Randy Carroll and the team are glad to help. Contact the CJB Group for a private consultation.
