Despite neighborhood opposition and efforts to delay, demolition crews razed a more than century-old building in LaVilla owned by Bravo TV personality Capt. Sandy Yawn.

Workers with contractor ELEV8 Demolition were on site March 29 taking down the remaining exterior walls of two-story, 109-year-old structure at 618 W. Adams St. to clear the way for what Yawn says will be a new nautical-themed restaurant.

The demolition is a loss for historic preservation advocates working to save what is left of LaVilla’s post-civil war architecture present when the neighborhood was a sanctuary for Black culture and commerce.

Read the rest of this story at the Jacksonville Daily Record, a Jacksonville Today news partner.