The small community of Hastings in southwestern St. Johns County moved a step closer to a more promising tomorrow on Friday, July 11, with a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Dunkin’ franchise.
Following a brief presentation by John Griffey — who, with wife Jean and business partners Brian and Beth Ramos, owns the franchise — a tractor (rather than a group of people wielding shovels) “broke ground.” The tractor was a salute to the community’s historically agricultural roots. Hastings has been called “The Potato Capital of Florida.”
The ceremony concluded with a $10,000 check presented by the franchisee to Hastings Main Street. This organization, which serves in an advisory capacity and works toward revitalization and economic redevelopment of the community, will apply the funds toward a streetlight initiative or other project.
Jena Dennis, board director for Hastings Main Street, praised the franchise for its willingness to work with the group. This cooperation helped to ensure that the store’s design is compatible with the town’s architectural goals.
“He (Griffey) took the time — and a lot of time — to really listen to the feedback from our organization, from our community, to see what matters most, to try to maintain that historic feel,” Dennis said. “That speaks volumes about the character of this company.”
“I said to Jena, ‘We want to be your neighbor; we want to be a part of this community,’” Griffey said. “So, we worked hard to do that and came up with a design that we’d never built.”
The new Dunkin’ will be located at the intersection of South Main Street and S.R. 207. The property occupies three parcels sold to the franchise, 207 Donuts LLC, by Kenneth F. DeFord Jr. for $900,000. The property, once the site of a gas station, had been in the DeFord family since 1937.
Griffey said he expected the new store to open before the end of the year.
Hastings’ roots go back to the 1890s when Henry Flagler enlisted his cousin Thomas Horace Hastings to raise vegetables on a rural tract of land to be served in Flagler’s hotels. The community grew over the following decades, eventually becoming a major agricultural hub.
But hard times came to the small city and, in 2018, the municipality was dissolved and responsibility for the community fell to St. Johns County.
But a kind of reawakening is now underway. A $5.75 million wasterwater facility and $2.8 million in sewer upgrades have been completed, and further infrastructure improvements are planned.
A new St. Johns County branch library is under construction and the old Hastings High School building is slated to become a First Coast Technical School campus. Within sight of the future Dunkin’ location, the First Baptist Church is building a community center.
The site of the new Dunkin’ is important to Griffey, as he is a Hastings native who graduated from St. Augustine High School and still has family in the town.
“This is home for me,” he said.
The Griffeys launched their company in 2000 and opened their first local Dunkin’ franchise in 2010 with a store on U.S. 1 in St. Augustine. The Hastings store with be their 19th.
To learn more about Hastings Main Street, go to hastingsfl.org.
