JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – In a unanimous vote, the Jacksonville City Council approved a plan for the Jacksonville Armada FC to build a soccer-specific stadium in the sports complex.
All 18 council members voted to approve the land option agreement that was previously approved by the mayor’s office in December.
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“It’s a next step for us to re-emerge,” Armada president and general manager Nathan Walter said. “We know the stadium is massively important. It’s important to the community. It’s important to long stability of the club.”
Since forming in 2015, the Armada has played home matches in EverBank Field (now TIAA Bank Field), the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, UNF’s Hodges Stadium and Patton Park, where the team has trained.
The deal would sell five acres of land near the Sports Complex to RP Funding, the owner of Jacksonville Armada FC, for $1. RP Funding would eventually build the stadium and office complex for its business in an area is located in parking lot Y off of A. Phillip Randolph Boulevard.
“Today was a good vote that now allows us to do our due diligence on the site and really work out what can happen on the site,” Walter said. "Over the next three to four months we’ll be finalizing that.
The agreement calls for the stadium to have a minimum of 2,500 seats, but an Armada spokesman said they were planning for 10,000 seats.
RP Funding would make a $5,000 payment with the option to hold the land for three years. If RP Funding moves ahead and decides to build, it can buy the land for $1 but the stadium would have to be completed by 2025.