The two remaining Jax 5th Avenue taverns have been sold and the College Park location, on Edgewater Drive at Par Street, is becoming Ollie’s Public House. The Lake Mary location will remain a Jax 5th Ave., with its roster of beers and sandwiches — and pickle jars on each table.

Jax was started by Jack Thompson, the name a tongue-in-cheek tweak of Saks 5th Ave. The original was on Court Avenue in downtown Orlando and had a steady stream of customers who liked the then-novel list of hard-to-find craft beers and the large, deli-style sandwiches.

The downtown location closed and Thompson took over a small spot in front of the strip mall with the Mark II dinner theater (now part of the Edgewater High School campus). A few years ago, he also bought the former Swiss Chalet in Lake Mary and converted it to a Jax.

According to the Lake Mary manager, Thompson sold that location in December; the College Park deal was finalized in April. Thompson has apparently relocated to North Carolina. The new owners of the Lake Mary Jax have previously owned nightclubs in downtown Orlando, including Cairo and Icon.

The manager said there will be some tweaking of the menu, but most of the beers and sandwiches will remain.

And, thank God, the pickles.

More on Ollie’s later.

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