Towns like using sports as an economic development driver. Some drive tough deals, some don’t. All the local Jacksonville pro soccer team had to do last March was give the city $1, and they had a stadium site.

The Jacksonville Armada plans to break ground on the new stadium in January. The team will play in what is considered to be “the minor leagues” of pro soccer. It will be the first soccer-specific stadium in the region. It will have a minimum of 2,500 seats, 25,000 square feet of office space embedded in the stadium and 100 parking spaces primarily for employees. It will have the ability to expand to a capacity of 12,000.

The development team features Gilbane Construction Co., Colt-Green Construction, kasper architects + associates and Waitz and Moye Civil Engineering.