Armada FC Scores a New Home, Complex
Jacksonville now has its first glimpse of what its new soccer stadium will look like through renderings shared by the Jacksonville Armada Football Club.
The designs were posted on the club’s Instagram page on Nov. 15, the day after the Jacksonville City Council unanimously approved the rezoning for a mixed-use Planned Unit Development (PUD) for the roughly seven and a half acres on A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, bordered by Albert, Grant and North Georgia streets, that will house the new stadium.
The property in question is currently vacant and used as off-site parking for nearby venues in the sports and entertainment district.
According to the Soccer Entertainment Complex PUD written description, the stadium will have a minimum of 2,500 and a maximum of 30,000 seats.
Earlier in November, the football club announced its inclusion in a Major League Soccer (MLS) NEXT Pro league along with details regarding the new stadium, which Armada Team President and General Manager Nathan Walter said “will become the first professional soccer-specific stadium in the history of Northeast Florida.”
The stadium will also be “a first of its kind,” added Armada Owner Robert Palmer.
“One of the challenges we saw with building a stadium for a soccer team is all the nights it’s unused, so we had this novel idea to create coworking space inside of the stadium,” he said.
To that end, designs for the stadium include 25,000 square feet of coworking space “embedded inside the stadium.” That office space will be used by Palmer’s real estate brokerage – LPT Realty – “as well as our local companies that want to be close to those real estate agents and other financial services, and other real estate-related entities.”
Palmer shared that construction crews are expected to break ground on the new stadium this January and his goal is to have the stadium completed in time for the Armada to play there in the MLS NEXT Pro in 2025.
Mayor Donna Deegan spoke at the early November announcement as well.
“I also believe that teams can be economic engines that create jobs and opportunities for neighborhoods where they play, while driving increased tourism and revenue for the city at large,” she said. “These positives are not a given, though. It takes a team that is truly embedded into the community, a team that truly cares and embraces its fans [and] a team that brings out the best in all of us. The Jacksonville Armada is certainly one of those teams.”
The developer for this project is RP Sports Investment, Inc. The architectural firm is kasper architects + associates. The project engineer is Waitz & Moye Engineering.
By Michele Leivas
Resident Community News
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