by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
This fall promises a season of change for Jacksonville Jaguars football. Fans who fight through Sunday traffic to Alltel Stadium will be greeted by a renovated stadium, a new coach and, someday soon,perhaps a new quarterback. However, since the Jaguars first pulled on the pads in 1995, their fans have been able to count on at least one constant: the lights will be burning deep into the night at Independent Square.
As the sun dips behind the St. Johns River, each night the lights flash on, carrying a message of constant support for Jacksonville’s team. Downtown bound, coming across the Acosta or Main Street bridges, motorists need only crane their neck toward the building. The message is written in eight-foot-high letters, scrawled across more than 50 feet of the building’s south face. It reads “GO JAGUARS.”
The building’s property manager, Capital Partners, Inc.’s Dan Frey, said his staff has been turning the lights on at dusk every evening of every football season for eight years. Frey said the message runs every year, starting the week before the first preseason game. Frey turns the lights off when the season ends.
Although some downtown commuters think the message is a coordinated effort, the result of individual office holders leaving on their lights, the lights actually shine from the 21st floor, vacant except for the building’s machinery spaces.
Frey said the first step in creating the message is to paint the floor’s windows black. From there his maintenance crew carves out the letters using giant stencils. Once the letters are in place, the windows are sealed from background light using painters’ tarps. Each letter is illuminated using four halogen bulbs. Commuters may only give the words a quick glance, but Frey said it took 48 man-hours to create.
The 21st floor is Frey’s only option for the message. To use office windows would require Frey to convince people to give up their view of the river to gaze instead at a giant backward J.
“You couldn’t do this in any of our rental spaces,” said Frey as he weaved his way through the 21st floor’s crisscrossing network of air conditioning ducts and fire suppression system pipes. “The people in these offices pay big bucks for their view.”
Once the message has been stenciled and painted, it requires little in day-to-day maintenance. Frey said his staff performs periodic spot checks from the Landing to ensure the letters are distinct and all the lights are burning.
Infrequently, Frey changes the message; usually for a holiday or a charity event. He said Capital is planning “something special” for the Super Bowl.
Describing himself as “a big Jaguars fan,” Frey owns season tickets in Alltel’s North end zone. Through a couple of disappointing seasons — perhaps with another on the horizon — Frey said he’s never considered taking the message down.
“We gotta support the team whether they’re winning or losing,” said Frey. “They deserve our support, and it’s going to stay up there.”