Gone but Not Forgotten: 10 Jacksonville Places We Still Miss, From the Landing to the Coliseum and Wolfson Park

Every city has places that live on mostly in memory. In Jacksonville, that list includes a riverfront mall where the city celebrated getting an NFL team, an arena where Elvis and Lynyrd Skynyrd played, and a ballpark where the Suns played for more than 40 years.

Here are 10 Jacksonville places we still miss, what made them special, and what's on the spot today.

1. The Jacksonville Landing (1987–2019)

For three decades, the orange-roofed Landing was downtown Jacksonville's front porch on the St. Johns River.

• Opened: September 1987
• Built by: the Rouse Company, the developer behind Baltimore's Harborplace, for about $37.5 million. The City of Jacksonville put in $20 million to build a "festival marketplace" that would bring people back downtown.
• Size: about 126,000 square feet on a 9-acre site at Independent Drive and Laura Street, with 65 stores at its peak
• Inside: the first floor had mall staples like Foot Locker, The Gap and Victoria's Secret. Upstairs, the Founders Food Hall had 18 restaurants.

The Landing was where Jacksonville went to celebrate. On Nov. 30, 1993, when the NFL announced Jacksonville had won an expansion team, Jaguars boosters packed the Hooters there to cheer.

But foot traffic never hit the numbers planners hoped for. Within four years of opening, about a third of the food court had closed. The Avenues Mall opened in 1990, and the Landing picked up a reputation as a tourist spot. Rouse sold it in 2003 to local developer Sleiman Enterprises, and years of disputes with the city followed.

The end: in February 2019, the city and Sleiman settled for $18 million, including $1.5 million to buy out the remaining tenants and $1.5 million for demolition. The Landing closed after the Fourth of July 2019 celebrations, and demolition began Oct. 8, 2019.

There now: Riverfront Plaza, a park nicknamed "The Lawnding," at 333 Jacksonville Landing. The address is a nod to the old mall.

2. The Jacksonville Coliseum (1960–2003)

If you saw a big concert in Jacksonville before 2003, you probably saw it here. The Coliseum was known as "northern Florida's most historic concert venue."

• Dedicated: Nov. 24, 1960, after two years of construction at a cost of $3 million
• First event: the first ice hockey game ever played in Jacksonville

Over 43 years, the Coliseum hosted Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, the Grateful Dead, the Jackson 5, Bob Dylan and Billy Joel. Jacksonville's own Southern rockers came home to play it: the Allman Brothers Band in 1970 and 1979, Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1975, Blackfoot in 1980, 38 Special in 1982 and Molly Hatchet in 1985.

It was also home to most of the city's indoor teams:

• Jacksonville Rockets hockey, 1964–1972
• The Floridians of the old ABA basketball league, 1971–1972
• Jacksonville Barons hockey, 1973–1974
• Jacksonville University Dolphins basketball, 1969–1999
• Jacksonville Lizard Kings hockey, 1995–2000. Fans nicknamed the building the "Reptilian Pavilion."

The end: by the 1990s, promoters were having trouble filling its seats. It was torn down in 2003.

There now: VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, which replaced it.

3. The old Gator Bowl stadium (1928–1994)

Before the Jaguars, Jacksonville's big stadium grew one section at a time.

• 1927–28: it was built as Fairfield Stadium, with 7,600 seats. It was the home field for Robert E. Lee, Andrew Jackson and Landon high schools.
• Jan. 1, 1946: the first Gator Bowl game was played there.
• 1948: the stadium was expanded to 16,000 seats and renamed the Gator Bowl.

Over the years, it hosted the Florida–Georgia game, the World Football League's Jacksonville Sharks and Express, the Jacksonville Tea Men soccer team and the USFL's Jacksonville Bulls.

The end: most of the old stadium was torn down in 1994 to build a new NFL stadium for the Jaguars.

There now: EverBank Stadium, home of the Jaguars and the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.

4. Wolfson Park (1955–2002)

For almost half a century, minor league baseball in Jacksonville meant Wolfson Park.

• Built: 1954 for about $400,000
• Opened: March 16, 1955
• Seats: about 8,200

Its teams included the Jacksonville Braves (1955–1960), the Jets (1961) and the Jacksonville Suns (1962–1968 and 1970–2002).

The end: it was torn down in 2002.

There now: the team moved next door in 2003 to what's now VyStar Ballpark. The Suns became the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in 2017.

5. May Cohens department store downtown (closed 1987)

For generations of Jacksonville shoppers, "going downtown" meant Cohen Brothers, later May Cohens.

The store was in the St. James Building, which opened in 1912 at 117 W. Duval St. It was designed by Henry John Klutho, the architect who rebuilt much of downtown after the Great Fire of 1901.

The end: the downtown store closed in 1987, the same year the Landing opened.

There now: the building survived. The city bought it in 1993, restored it and reopened it as Jacksonville City Hall in 1997. If you've been to a City Council meeting, you've been inside the old department store.

6. Regency Square Mall (1967–2025)

Arlington's Regency Square was Jacksonville's big suburban mall for decades.

• Opened: March 2, 1967, at a cost of about $12 million
• Original anchors: JCPenney and May Cohens, plus Ivey's, Woolworth and Piccadilly Cafeteria
• At its height: Belk, Dillard's, JCPenney, Montgomery Ward and Sears

Newer malls, including the Avenues and the St. Johns Town Center, gradually pulled shoppers away. The anchors left one by one.

The end: the mall closed in June 2025.

There now: a Dillard's Clearance Center and Impact Church remain on the property, which is owned by Blackwater Development LLC.

7. The Haydon Burns Library (main library, 1965–2005)

This bold modern building was downtown Jacksonville's main public library for 40 years.

• Opened: 1965, at a cost of about $3.7 million
• Architect: Taylor Hardwick, one of Jacksonville's best-known midcentury modern architects
• Named for: Haydon Burns, Jacksonville's mayor at the time, who later became Florida's governor

The end: the main library moved to the new building on Laura Street in 2005.

There now: the old building was saved and restored. It's now the Jessie Ball duPont Center, home to local nonprofits.

8. The Jacksonville Terminal (passenger trains until 1974)

For decades, travelers arriving in Jacksonville by train stepped off at the grand Jacksonville Terminal in LaVilla.

The end: the station's last day was Jan. 3, 1974. Amtrak moved to a smaller station on the Northside. The terminal was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

There now: a public-private partnership led by former CSX chairman Prime F. Osborn III turned the terminal into the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center, which opened Oct. 17, 1986. Some of the massive concrete bumper posts from the old train tracks still stand inside the convention center's concourse.

9. The Jacksonville Tea Men (1980–1984)

Before the Armada, Jacksonville had the Tea Men, a pro soccer team that played at the Gator Bowl.

• 1980–1982: the North American Soccer League, the same league as Pelé's New York Cosmos
• 1983: the American Soccer League
• 1984: the United Soccer League

The end: the team folded after the 1984 season.

There now: pro soccer came back with the Jacksonville Armada.

10. Durkee Field (now J.P. Small Memorial Stadium)

This one isn't gone, but its old name is. Durkee Field opened in 1912 and was rebuilt in 1936. Today it's J.P. Small Memorial Stadium, one of the oldest ballpark sites in the country still in use.

What we kept

Not every story on this list ends with a bulldozer. The St. James Building is City Hall. The Haydon Burns Library is a nonprofit center. The Jacksonville Terminal is a convention center. And Durkee Field still has baseball.

The places that were torn down left new ones behind: VyStar Arena, VyStar Ballpark, EverBank Stadium and Riverfront Plaza.

Quick answers

When did the Jacksonville Landing close?
After the Fourth of July celebrations in 2019. Demolition began Oct. 8, 2019.

What's where the Landing used to be?
Riverfront Plaza, a downtown park nicknamed "The Lawnding," at 333 Jacksonville Landing.

When was the Jacksonville Coliseum torn down?
In 2003. VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena replaced it.

What happened to Regency Square Mall?
It closed in June 2025. A Dillard's Clearance Center and Impact Church remain on the property.

What is the old May Cohens building now?
Jacksonville City Hall, in the restored St. James Building at 117 W. Duval St.

What Jacksonville place do you miss most? Tell us at [email protected], and we may include it in a future story.