As expected, the Jacksonville Armada Football Club bought 34 vacant properties Downtown totaling 6.56 acres from the city of Jacksonville on Dec. 20 for $1.
Robert Palmer, Armada principle owner, acquired the land through Jax DowntownPro Real Estate LLC of Lake Mary.
The multiple lots are labeled “Vacant Governmental” and are on Spratt, Van Buren, Albert, Grant and Georgia streets and A. Philip Randolph Boulevard in the Sports and Entertainment District.
The city agreed to sell property for $1 to team owner RP Sports Investment Inc. for the stadium.
On Dec. 20, Palmer sold two of the properties on Grant and Spratt streets totaling 0.60 acre to JEA for $10.
In October the city issued a permit to clear about 4.84 acres at a cost of $11.5 million. In November the team applied for a construction permit to build a 14,000-square-foot stadium and office facility with 2,545 seats.
A second phase will include expanding capacity to 9,472 seats.
Armada President and General Manager Nathan Walter said in November that the team expects to have the stadium completed in time for the start of the 2026 season.
Stewart Green of Colt-Green Construction will lead the development team and Gilbane Building Co. will be the construction partner.
The project legal team is Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, led by Steve Diebenow and Cyndy Trimmer.
Waitz & Moye was named the civil engineer for the project’s site planning. Kasper architects + associates is the architect.
Besides the team offices, Palmer will base his LPT Realty company there, moving it from Lake Mary.
The company is one of the fastest-growing real estate companies in the U.S., Palmer said. It has 15,000 real estate agents working in 46 states, with two more states expected to be added by the end of the year.
It began in 2016 as Listing Power Tools, a marketing company that sold sales materials to Realtors. In 2022, the company evolved into LPT Realty. The brokerage now supplies its exclusive contract-employees with the sales materials as part of joining the firm.
It is expected that 100 employees will work at the new headquarters.
Palmer has several companies including RP Funding, HomeValue.com and RP Title and Escrow that will remain headquartered in Lake Mary.