Regency Square Mall could be torn down for soccer stadium

[thelakelander]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The site of the Regency Square Mall could soon be torn down to make way for a major retail redevelopment, including a soccer stadium.

Multiple sources told Action News Jax Ben Becker that a Jacksonville-based ownership group, which includes Florida Gators great Tim Tebow, is aiming to build a soccer stadium at the site.

https://www.wokv.com/news/local/sources-regency-square-mall-could-be-torn-down-soccer-stadium-new-retail-redevelopment/BDN3IC5ZEBEITFHHYNCFW4VZHQ/

[pierre]

It says the church won’t be demolished. You’re going to be a soccer complex with a church in the middle?

[marcuscnelson]

That’s… interesting. Can’t say I hate it, honestly. Keeps things in Duval, helps redevelop a site that’s been desperately in need of investment. If they do this like a lot of soccer stadiums elsewhere it could become a pretty cool urban neighborhood.

This is just me talking but I’ve thought of the mall site as a very desirable candidate for a major TOD site if we ever get our act together enough to build decent mass transit, which I would see being quite beneficial to a new stadium development. Hopefully they might be interested in leaving just part of the site (particularly the southwest corner) open to something like that long-term.

[Charles Hunter]

It says the church won’t be demolished. You’re going to be a soccer complex with a church in the middle?

I wondered about that, too. But, parsing the wording (assuming accurate reporting)

but it’s expected that Impact Church will remain on the site according to a church source.

That could be interpreted that Impact Church will get a new building elsewhere on the very large site.

[pierre]

Daily Record has more info, and quotes from Ken Amaro. This looks to be centered around the Sears portion of the mall.

Jacksonville City Council member Ken Amaro confirmed April 18 that the ownership group working to bring professional soccer to Northeast Florida is considering the closed Sears site at Regency Square Mall for development of a new stadium facility.

Sporting Club Jacksonville, previously called JAXUSA, is part of the United Soccer League. Plans for Sporting Club Jacksonville include men’s and women’s teams. It says its name  will commonly be abbreviated to “Sporting JAX.”

“I know it is a fact that the USL folks want to get the Sears portion,” said Amaro, whose District 1 includes the Regency area.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2024/apr/18/soccer-organization-whose-ownership-includes-tim-tebow-considering-closed-sears-at-regency-for-stadium/

[marcuscnelson]

Oh, that’s interesting. I knew that TransformCo owned the Sears parcel, just figured that this would have angled for the eastern side of the mall that has the oldest buildings to demolish.

All the same, I think if they can sort out the land ownership, they’d be very well served to have a soccer stadium at one end that could then be surrounded by mixed use development, maybe a park. And again, if we ever get our act together on transit that’s a really important hub.

I wonder, given the size of the Sears building, if they would in fact be demolishing the structure or perhaps attempting to repurpose it the same way Impact Church did to Belk.

[CityLife]

This makes a ton of sense and could be a great catalyst for that area. It's really an extremely desirable location for a large mixed-use project. Maybe even one of the best in the state right now. You have a ton of space to work with and there are minimal to no single-family homes nearby, so you should be able to get some height on the site without drama from neighbors. You are 10-15 minutes from downtown, 15-25 minutes from Atlantic Beach, 10-15 minutes from SJTC, close to the port, and 20-25 minutes to JIA. There is already Lowe's, Home Depot, AMC Regency, Best Bet, Kona Skate Park, and the Arboretum nearby.

With the stadium coming, there is a real opportunity to redevelop the site into a really awesome mixed-use village. Even without transit/BRT, I think there should be a strong opportunity there, but as Marcus said earlier, the TOD aspect could really help take things to the next level.

It's a bummer (and maybe a huge mistake) that Regency wasn't included in the Arlington CRA because I think the City could have leveraged property tax abatements or TIF to really kick start something special there.