The Jacksonville Armada Football Club can begin building its $18.2 million stadium in Downtown Jacksonville.
The city issued a permit Jan. 30 for the soccer stadium at 1041 Albert St. north of the Jacksonville Fairgrounds.
The 14,000-square-foot stadium will have 2,545 seats and an office facility, according to the construction permit. A second phase would expand 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.
The soccer team will play in the Major League Soccer Next Pro league.
On the Fleet and Foot podcast on Action Sports Jax, Walter said the team had site mobilization and soft groundbreaking Jan. 27, putting up fencing and signage. An official groundbreaking is planned in late March or early April
Stewart Green of Colt-Green Construction is leading the development team. Gilbane Building Co. is the contractor.
The project legal team is Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow, led by Steve Diebenow and Cyndy Trimmer.
Waitz & Moye is the civil engineer for the project’s site planning. Kasper architects + associates is the architect.
Land purchased
The Armada bought 34 vacant properties Downtown totaling 6.56 acres from the city of Jacksonville on Dec. 20 for $1.
Robert Palmer, Armada principal 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 the stadium.
LPT Realty offices
In addition to housing the team offices, Palmer plans to move the headquarters for LPT Realty, now in Lake Mary, to the stadium.
The brokerage is one of the fastest-growing real estate companies in the U.S., said Palmer, its owner and CEO.
It has 15,000 agents working in 46 states, he said in a Dec. 18 interview.
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.