A new outdoor entertainment venue that could hold as many as 50,000 fans for concerts may soon rise on Jacksonville's Westside.
The venue, tentatively called The Grounds, would cost in the neighborhood
of $120 million and would be privately financed by Blasen Market Group, a New York equity firm, and Jacksonville financier Kyle Kane.
It would feature a large lawn that could hold as many as 50,000 fans for concerts or festivals. The Grounds would also include facilities for on-site RV and tent camping and luxurious "glamping" sites for fans attending events. The main venue would include terraced seating and be at least partially covered by a canopy of mirrored glass panels.
Developers are looking at sites on the Westside of Jacksonville but reportedly also looked in St. Johns and Nassau counties and at sites outside of Florida, but no specific site has been identified for the project, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal, which first reported the story on Aug. 27. Renderings of the venue shared with the Times-Union show it near I-10, with downtown Jacksonville in the distance. Renderings also show at least three designs for the venue.
Organizers plan to privately fund the project, according to documents provided by Kane. Phil Perry, chief communications officer for the city, said no one from the city has negotiated anything with Blasen, Kane or anyone associated with the project.
If built, The Grounds would be a major addition to Jacksonville's entertainment scene.
The largest indoor venue in the city is VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, which seats up to 15,000 fans for a concert. The St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Daily's Place, which is closed for the next two seasons, are outdoor venues that hold fewer than 6,000. EverBank Stadium has held more than 50,000 for concerts in the past but won't be used for the next two years while it undergoes reconstruction.
The new Jax Amphitheater, which will hold about 10,000, makes its debut in November when the Jacksonville Fair comes to town. Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, which holds large multi-day music festivals that can draw 10,000 or more, is in Live Oak, about 80 miles from Jacksonville.
Organizers plan to hold around 28 concerts and one three-day music festival on the site every year, ultimately attracting more than a million visitors annually, according to their reports. The venue could also be used for corporate events, conferences, sporting events and community festivals. A study conducted by the developers found that the venue could generate an economic impact of $480 to $600 million annually and employ as many as 6,500 workers.
The study states The Grounds could attract 28 concerts averaging 25,000 fans, a three-day festival drawing 49,000 per day, plus entrepreneurship summits, conferences, corporate retreats, fairs, sports and community events totaling 102 days and 1.2 million fans per year. A little more than half of those fans would come from the local market. The project could generate about $20 million in state sales taxes.
The report states that the venue would need a parking lot capable of handling as many as 24,000 vehicles and roadways that could deal with that level of traffic. The Westside location, not far from I-10, I-295 and the new First Coast Expressway, would seem to check those boxes.
Developers told the Business Journal that they hope to settle on a site by Oct. 1, and the first events at The Grounds could happen in 2028.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: $120 million, 50,000-seat concert venue proposed for Jacksonville
