What are they building at Dunlawton and Ridgewood in Port Orange? We've got the answer.

PORT ORANGE − This past month marked the 45th anniversary of the popular Aunt Catfish's on the River restaurant here, but owner Brendan Galbreath is focused these days on expanding the family business's future.

Galbreath and his wife Shannon are developing a multi-tenant retail building next door to complement the seafood restaurant his parents opened on Feb. 1, 1979, when he was just six years old.

The planned Catfish Commons project could add a pair of "fast-casual" eateries as well as two other businesses such as a hair salon, boutique apparel shop or Pilates studio.

"Aunt Catfish's is the anchor tenant. We're going to build around it," said Galbreath. "My dad (Jim) is excited about it."

If all goes well, Catfish Commons could open for business by September, he said.

Galbreath and his wife took over Aunt Catfish's from his parents in 2010. The restaurant currently employs 110 workers.

Where is it being built?

Catfish Commons is being built on a roughly one-acre site on the southeast corner of Dunlawton and Ridgewood avenues, across the street from Aunt Catfish's at 4009 Halifax Drive. The restaurant is at the west end of the Dunlawton Bridge.

The site is also across the street from the highly anticipated Riverwalk mixed-use development on the intersection's northeast corner. Decades in the making, the 10-acre Riverwalk complex is expected to begin construction at the end of 2025. It would add 450 multi-family residential units, 35,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space and a public park.

Galbreath and his wife, doing business as "Commons 4075 LLC," bought the property where Catfish Commons is planned for $1 million in May 2021, according to Volusia County property records. The site has been vacant for more than a decade. It was last home to a Shell gas station.

What exactly are they building?

The single-story retail strip center will offer a total of 6,404 square feet of space and will be divided into four storefront spaces. It will have 36 surface parking spaces as well as a lane for drive-through service on the building's east end-cap unit.

The general contractor is Coleman Goodemote. The architect is Brian Fredley of BPF Design.

Will it affect parking at Aunt Catfish's?

No, said Galbreath. "We have a main lot (for Aunt Catfish's) with 67 parking spaces as well as an additional 75 parking spaces at the La Cantina (Cocina Mexicana) restaurant (located directly south of the future Catfish Commons)."

The Galbreaths own the land for the separately owned La Cantina Cocina Mexicana which they lease to that restaurant's operators.

Have any tenants been signed yet?

So far, no tenants have signed on, said Galbreath, but he doesn't expect that to be the case for long.

"We are deep in negotiations for unit 101, an end-cap space with a drive-through," he said, adding, "Both end-caps are targeted for food users."

Once those spaces have been leased, Galbreath expects the others to be snapped up fairly quickly.

How much is the project expected to cost?

Galbreath estimates the total cost of the project will be $3.5 million including what he and his wife paid to acquire the land.

Mayor calls project a welcome addition to the city

Port Orange Mayor Don Burnette said he is thrilled to see the project finally break ground.

"Brendan moves very slowly and methodically," he said of the project that received its approvals from the city in April 2022. "It's on a high-profile corner of a high-profile intersection. The area is becoming a destination.

"(Galbreath) is a very successful local businessman who's expanding his reach. You want people like that to succeed."

Family has long history in the restaurant business

The Galbreaths also own a restaurant called "casualbird" at 109 Dunlawton Blvd., Daytona Beach Shores, on the other end of the Dunlawton Bridge. The breakfast/lunch eatery opened in November 2021 and is managed by the couple's daughter Brooke, 27.

The family has been in the restaurant business for four generations starting with the old Marko's Drive-In at 5420 Ridgewood Ave., which opened in 1954 and was run by Galbreath's grandmother Ann.

After Marko's closed in the 1990s, it briefly became a restaurant called Marko's Chick-fil-A Heritage Inn. The owner of that short-lived restaurant was S. Truett Cathy, founder of the Chick-fil-A fast-food chain. Cathy, who died in 2014 at age 93, lived part of the year in New Smyrna Beach.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: What are they building at Dunlawton and Ridgewood in Port Orange?