A redevelopment example for Jacksonville’s Eastside

[thelakelander]

Located in West Palm Beach, the ongoing revitalization of the historic Northwest Neighborhood should serve as an example of what could happen in Jacksonville’s Historic Eastside as a result of Community Benefits Agreement funding.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/a-redevelopment-example-for-jacksonvilles-eastside/

[Charles Hunter]

Very cool. I hope Jacksonville is paying attention.

[Tacachale]

Very cool. I hope Jacksonville is paying attention.

We in the mayor’s administration certainly are!

[Charles Hunter]

Very cool. I hope Jacksonville is paying attention.

We in the mayor’s administration certainly are!

Now if you can certain council members' grubby hands off of it.  (Can a certain member be redeployed ... maybe to the ISS via a Boeing transfer vessel?)

[CityLife]

These are some great projects, but keep in mind that the Northwest neighborhood is included in West Palm Beach's downtown CRA, where more development has happened in the last 5 years than has happened in Downtown Jacksonville in 30+ years, and there is a lot more coming. There are also huge projects happening just outside of the Northwest neighborhood including the $1 billion Nora District opening in 2025 and One West Palm, which is two 30-story towers and is nearing completion. 

The WPB CRA doesn't have to provide REV grants and incentives for development and is basically printing money. In FY 22-23, it had revenue of $70 million. For comparison, the Northbank CRA in Jax had revenue of $17 million in 23-24 and the Southbank CRA had revenue of $7.6 million in 23-24. However, about half of Jax's CRA revenues go towards REV Grants. Basically, the WPB CRA is rich and the Jax CRA's are poor. Yes, I know the CBA comes from the general fund, but I believe the CBA will only pay out the Eastside $30 million over 3 years from the general fund, where the WPB CRA generates $70 million a year and a large amount gets pumped into the Northwest neighborhood.

One great lesson can be learned from the WPB CRA though. Just because you have what seems like an endless supply of money, you can't be wasteful with it. The Sunset Lounge project in WPB has been a huge political debacle and it's future is still up in the air.

https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2023-11-16/sunset-lounge-west-palm-beach-reopening

https://www.wpbf.com/article/west-palm-beach-florida-deciding-terminate-negotiations-vita-lounge-sunset-lounge-black-venue/60640816

Jax has done a horrendous job with it's CDBG money historically, so it really needs to be smart and targeted with whatever goes to the Eastside. $30 million sounds like a lot of money, but one or two bad projects can quickly negate it's impact.  The City should study what went wrong with Sunset Lounge and make sure it isn't repeated.

[thelakelander]

The CBA....if its not cut down, while provide the Eastside with $150 million. The city portion would include an immediate infusion of $30 million. The Jags protion would be spread out equally over 30 years. There's also discussion of a TIF that would include the industries in the neighborhood along Talleyrand. Ultimately, that neighborhood is looking at a lot more than $30 million.

So the general point of this is that investments done in the Northwest neighborhood are an example of what could be done in the Eastside, when there's an infusion of cash to move neighborhood initiatives forward. Now that doesn't mean spend $22 million on the Sunset Lounge. Practical management of resources and projects will still be necessary. However, there is an opportunity to upgrade commercial corridors, stimulate infill development, strengthen economic opportunity for small business, etc. In general, that is happening in the Northwest neighborhood at a level that's very uncommon in similar neighborhoods across the country.

[CityLife]

Yikes. I forgot about the Jags portion of the CBA. Though, that is still only $5 million per year, and with inflation will likely be much less than the present value of the $150 million (shoutout to JaxDeveloper). The West Palm Beach will generate $2.1 billion over 30 years simply based on 2023 TIF values. That will obviously end up being substantially higher with inflation and TIF from new development's added. So the point is still remains. The Eastside will not have nearly the spending power of the Northwest CRA and maybe most importantly, is not located in an area where major redevelopment's are happening. The northside of WPB isn't as affluent as the southside, but you are still about a mile from Palm Beach Island, close to some nice historic neighborhoods east of US-1, and just a few blocks from Banyan and Clematis where there is a ton of activity. It is much, much more ripe for gentrification than the Eastside.

The Heart and Soul Park is located immediately across the railroad tracks from the $1 billion Nora District. https://norawpb.com/gallery/

It's 2 blocks from this building. It would be the Jax equivalent of this being built at the Fairgrounds.



Perhaps the biggest example of differences between WPB and Jax is the project you cited that is half "workforce housing". The median income is $104k in Palm Beach County, not because of that big of a cost of living difference, but because there is a much more well developed upper middle class with high paying jobs. Half the units in that building are reserved for 80% to 140% of AMI, which is up to $2,800 for a one bed and up to $3800 for a 3 bed. That is hardly affordable for the truly working class people that have lived in that area for a long time.

All that is to say, I'm not sure if the investments in Northwest are being done as withintrification as I know you are a strong proponent of or if they are efforts to stimulate gentrification and open up new areas for redevelopment. Definitely a good case study to look at for Jax, but it's important to understand the fundamental differences between the neighborhoods and economics at play.

[thelakelander]

I intentionally did not use the term "withintrification" in the editorial, as income into the neighborhoods are being generated and managed in different manners. I believe places like Chicago's Bronzeville and the Deuces in St. Petersburg are better examples for that type of neighborhood organizing.

I also understand WPB's economics, know and acknowledge its downtown is more successful than DT Jax's. However, that isn't a factor in the point of the editorial. Regardless of everything else, the Northwest has had funding to fix up a park, invest in renovating a historic AME church, help a legacy business get a revamped storefront and a new A/C system, help local small businesses grow into brick and mortars, in a manner that fits within the historic integrity and scale of the neighborhood and in a way that aligns with its traditional culture.

All of these things are applicable in the Eastside with the amount of funding that could come its way via the CBA. As such, it serves as a good example of how a CBA could benefit Eastside churches of similar scale, parks, infill housing, small commercial buildings and a commercial corridor like A. Philip Randolph Boulevard. All this assumes CBA funds would be utilized in a proper manner and not mismanged.

Historic Eastside will be able to achieve everything the Northwest has done to date through the CBA, the TIF and ongoing investments being made there today. Unfortunately, there aren't to many historic Black neighborhoods in the state that can say the same thing. So for the Eastside, the Northwest can serve as a example of what some of the things it wants to accomplish could look like upon completion.

Also, I don't think any of these neighborhoods actually want concentrated poverty. That doesn't work out to well economically. So affordable housing takes on a different lens within them, in comparison to the discussions happening outside of them. You want to get convert people into homeowners instead of renters, as that's the easiest opportunity for a family to began to build generational wealth. Eastside currently has a higher percentage of homeownership, which is a benefit to it. Yet, ultimately, mixed income is the goal. They can't have viable commerical areas within them if all the residents are living in poverty. So having higher income levels is a good thing and not necessary gentrification. I guess its all about balance.

[Tacachale]

I think the Eastside will be the model to follow for true withintrification, rather than just less detrimental gentrification. But you can find good lessons anywhere. Hell, at we were discussing about Parramore in Orlando the other day, a Black neighborhood eaten up by a soccer stadium. Even there, it’s a useful example with the Jags on what not to do.

[CityLife]

I think the Eastside will be the model to follow for true withintrification, rather than just less detrimental gentrification. But you can find good lessons anywhere. Hell, at we were discussing about Parramore in Orlando the other day, a Black neighborhood eaten up by a soccer stadium. Even there, it’s a useful example with the Jags on what not to do.

Agreed. Knowing how WPB is developing, I think Northwest will ultimately be a historically African American neighborhood eaten up by gentrification like Paramore and others. The Grand project referenced in the article has a few units available for rent currently. The cheapest you can get is a 590 square foot 1 bedroom for $1,950 a month. The 700 square foot 1 bedrooms are going for $2,200-$2,400. Even if you adjust those prices 10-15% for cost of living differences, those are still fairly expensive. People would lose their mind if the CBA was used to help fund a project like that on the Eastside.

Like you said, the Eastside can carve it's own path and learn from other cities mistakes.

[thelakelander]

People would lose their mind if the CBA was used to help fund a project like that on the Eastside.

With every potential opportunity, the devil will be in the details. Union Terminal Warehouse will have units that not all Eastside residents will be able to afford. It will also have some affordable units. It will also have a significant amount of commercial and office space, including a local Black-owned coffee roaster who will operate a retail coffeeshop in the building. On the other hand, it's quite possible that future large scale projects like the Grand and Union Terminal Warehouse could require their own CBAs with the community that are completely separate from the COJ/Jags CBA currently being discussed.