by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
It’s been a year-and-a-half since over two dozen rail cars pulled into what’s known as Adams Street Station. At the time, the plan was to create an atmosphere similar the Cockabooses in Columbia, S.C. — a concept that has become immensely popular during South Carolina Gamecocks home football games.
In Jacksonville, the ownership group of Adams Street Station sought to take advantage of 10 Jacksonville Jaguars home games a year, the annual Florida-Georgia game, the Toyota Gator Bowl and the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game. Adams Street Station also included a lease-purchase program with the idea being that owners could use the rail cars for business meetings and private parties.
So far, business has been tepid, but Bill Sistare, who manages the property for Rail City Junction LLC, remains optimistic that business will pick up based on the resurgence of Downtown and a Sports Complex that is home to a renovated football stadium and a new baseball park and arena.
The station, a few blocks from the southeast corner of Alltel Stadium, houses 25 rail cars that are used for entertainment and office space, according to Sistare. The cars are zoned industrial light meaning you can’t live in them but, according to Sistare, the cars make a “great second office in Downtown” and a “great place to entertain.”
Rail City Junction LLC offers a lease-purchase program, straight leasing program and opportunities to purchase the cars that range from $242,936 up to $299,936. So far, only 11 of the 25 rail cars have been sold since December 2004.
The concept of Adams Street Station has been done successfully elsewhere. Rail cars make for entertainment facilities in St. Louis, Mo. and Columbia, S.C., along with two other locations in the U.S.
It’s the Columbia scene, however, that spurred the interest in the four investors who brought the project to Jacksonville.
“Some of the investors were in South Carolina and saw the ‘Cockaboose’,” according to Ken Kuester of Lumber Unlimited and co-developer of the project. “They decided to bring them down (to Jacksonville).”
In March 2004, Kuester, Sistare and the three other investors formed Rail City Junction LLC here. They bought 20 of the cars that were used on the Carolina Southern Railway in Chadburn, N.C. and transported them to Jacksonville for the Adams Street Station project. Later that year, the Adams Street Station was established; selling began in mid-2005, according to Kuester.
Today, there are six caboose cars and 19 rail cars. Each has its own private entrance and most are equipped with a rail gate, full baths and combination bar/kitchen. Eleven have been leased or sold, six have been made into cars for entertaining and five are offices. Most are owned by local companies.
Will Alson of W.A. Homes and Wak Developers closed on a car at Adams Street Station two weeks ago. He said the car was bought as a place to entertain clients and will be used during football games at the stadium.
“(The station) is centrally located to Downtown and the waterfront. They’re (the cars) really nice,” he said. “It’s like a marina, like River City. They’re all inter-linked.”
Kuester said his company uses the rail car frequently.
“We have our staff meetings there every month,” he said. “It’s a great place to have private functions and meetings and it just happens to be close to all the activities Downtown.”
Lumber Unlimited has had the car for just over one year and Kuester said it’s the privacy, convenience and location that makes the station so unique.
“It’s multi-dimensional,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun and festive.”
Kuester said the homeowners association will provide entertainment and transportation to venues for members in due time.
Sistare said the project may even make it to Tallahassee.
“There are some lawyers who are looking to put them on the campus at Florida State,” he said.