Jacksonville City Councilman Ken Amaro announced on April 18 that an ownership group working to bring professional soccer to Northeast Florida is planning to move on from the closed Sears site at Regency Square Mall to develop a new stadium facility. He confirmed that he is considering it.
Sports Club Jacksonville (formerly known as JAXUSA) is part of the United Soccer League. Sports Club Jacksonville's plans include a men's and women's team. The nickname is abbreviated as “Sporting Jacks.''
“It's true that USL officials would like to acquire the Sears portion,” said Amaro, whose District 2 includes the Regency area.
“It's no secret that USL wants to develop a franchise there and buy the Sears assets. I don't know where that is,” Amaro said.
This is the area of Regency Square owned by Transformco Properties. This includes closed Sears stores and surrounding parking lots.
Action News Jax reporter Ben Becker first reported late April 17 that the Regency Square Mall site could soon be demolished to make way for a major retail redevelopment that includes a soccer stadium. Ta.
Becker said multiple sources told Action News Jax that a Jacksonville-based ownership group that includes Florida Gators great Tim Tebow is seeking to build a soccer stadium on the property. Told.
According to Action News Jax, Steve Livingstone, president and CEO of Sporting JAX, responded to potential plans for a soccer stadium:
“Our priorities are focused on identifying suitable locations to develop world-class facilities for our men's and women's professional soccer teams. We are evaluating the site and will share more information once it is finalized.”
Sports Club Jacksonville says its goal is to operate a men's professional USL Championship club, a women's professional USL Super League club, and a USL youth academy.
A closed Sears store in Regency Square Mall.
The company is working to develop a 15,000-seat community stadium and training facility to host the club in Northeast Florida.
The ownership group, led by majority stakeholder Ricky Caplin, includes Tebow, former Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor and Livingston.
Caplin said in December that the location of the club's stadium had not yet been determined.
“I think we’ve narrowed it down to the last two locations,” he said.
sears site
Transformco Properties, based in the Chicago suburbs, is selling the former Sears property and has many other properties for sale across the country.
Sears Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 15, 2018.
Sears Chairman Eddie Lampert has won a bid to buy the assets of Sears Holdings. He acquired the Regency and Orange Park Sears stores on February 11, 2019 through Transform Dove Holdco LLC.
Lampert, through TF Jacksonville FL LLC, paid $4.1 million for the approximately 200,000-square-foot Regency store at 9501 Arlington Expressway. It closed in 2016.
Shopping Center Group partner and executive vice president Stephanie McCullough and senior vice president Kelly Prignano represent Jacksonville.
TSCG had no comment other than to confirm that it was representing Transformco.
As of April 18, Transformco had not responded to comment.
The 18.38-acre site consists of a two-story former Sears department store totaling 133,542 square feet and an adjacent 15,688-square-foot Sears Auto building, according to a TSCG brochure.
It was built in 1981 on the west end of Regency Square Mall.
The Sears site has more than 344 feet of frontage along the Arlington Expressway, according to the brochure.
shopping mall may be demolished
Action News Jax said Becker also learned that in addition to the soccer stadium, there will be facilities for athletes with disabilities. Regency Square Mall may be demolished, but Impact Church is expected to remain on the site, church officials said.
Regency Square Mall is majority owned by Regency Realty LLC, a partnership of Great Neck, New York-based Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group LLC.
Ricky Caplin, Tim Tebow and Fred Taylor answer questions from the press after the JAXUSL Soccer Club announcement event on December 12th.
In addition to Sears, Impact Church and Dillard's have their own properties in Regency Square.
Lake City-based Blackwater Development LLC announced Oct. 16, 2023, that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the mall.
On April 18, Blackwater Development denied permission for Sporting Jacks to redevelop the property.
“There are no plans for a soccer team to occupy the Regency Square Mall property that Blackwater Development has a contract with,” said Rumel McGee, president of Blackwater Development.
Rumel Magee, President, Blackwater Development LLC
“We are currently in the early stages of the due diligence process. Our primary objective at this time is to conduct a thorough evaluation of the property and determine the feasibility of the project,” said Maggie. he said.
He said the sale could be completed in the third quarter of 2024 (July-September).
Regency Realty LLC paid $13 million for the majority of the 1.4 million square foot mall on February 14, 2014.
The buyers were Regency Mall Realty LLC (45%), Regency CH LLC (45%) and Regency Nassim LLC (10%).
The group currently owns about 980,200 square feet of retail space on about 74 acres within the mall, according to property records.
'This is real'
“The seriousness of the matter is real. The honesty is real,” Amaro said of his interest in Sporting Jacks.
Jacksonville City Councilman Ken Amaro
“To my knowledge, a lot of money has already been invested to make that happen,” he said.
“They think Regency is the place to be.”
Amaro and the Deegan administration “believe what is being envisioned is innovative and necessary for this very important piece of real estate,” Amaro said.
Amaro said he has contacted Namdar about the status of the sale.
Here is the short response from April 8th:
“Things are moving forward with Blackwater.”
