JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the Jacksonville Jaguars stadium undergoes millions of dollars in renovations, residents of the city’s historic Eastside say they’re caught between promises of revitalization and fears of displacement.
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The Together Eastside Coalition, a neighborhood group pushing for housing protections, says while improvements such as new storefronts, community spaces and even sports fields could benefit the area, they also come with higher costs.
“Property taxes are going up,” Denise Hunt said, the coalition’s chief financial officer. “That could lead to displacement of the people who live here because they can’t afford to pay for the rising prices of the properties.”
Hunt said she worries about families on fixed incomes, heirs’ property disputes, and generational households that have called the Eastside home for decades.
“I’m afraid for the people that live here…I’m really just afraid of displacement here," Hunt said.
Dennis Sanchez, a consultant for the coalition who has worked in real estate for 17 years, said outside investors are profiting while local families lose out.
“These properties are being bought for peanuts, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, and flipped for $400,000 or $500,000,” Sanchez said. “None of that is actually given to the community… It makes sense why they’re angry.”
While filming, News4JAX noted a handful of new construction projects on Union Street. Some were priced as high as $273,000, while historic homes in the area are priced well under $100,000.
Both Hunt and Sanchez argued that the only way to preserve the Eastside’s historic identity is through stronger community involvement in development decisions and more support for homeowners.
The coalition is pushing for tax relief programs, heirs’ property assistance, and legal aid to help families stay in their homes.
“Displacement is gentrification,” Hunt said. “It’s when people with more money take over an area, drive up property values and push out the people with cultural ties to this neighborhood.”
City officials say they are considering ways to support low-income homeowners as property values rise.
Hunt said she wants to see more “attainable housing” in the area.
“We believe that even if you work at McDonald’s, you should be able to attain a home and be able to keep your home if you live here,” she said.
Advocates, meanwhile, want to ensure residents have a permanent seat at the table as the Eastside changes in the shadow of a modernized stadium.
News4JAX contacted the City of Jacksonville for comment on the concerns of Eastside leaders and residents, and received the following response:
The City of Jacksonville encourages smart growth that preserves the character of neighborhoods and makes it possible for current residents to continue living there. We provide many programs that keep citizens in their homes from rehab and repair efforts to eviction diversion initiatives to heirs’ property support, which ensures that homes are properly willed to family members and kept off the market when a loved one passes.
Eastside community organizations have been included since the very beginning of stadium development and the community benefits agreement (CBA) planning. The CBA is designed to limit the impacts of development and structured so that Eastside residents make the decisions about millions in economic and workforce development, affordable housing, and homelessness funding that will be invested Out East.
One clarification: the property tax rate has not increased. It is property values that increased in the years after the covid pandemic. Over the past couple of years, average home values have decreased by 1% annually. Under state law, the taxable value is only allowed to increase by 3% annually for homesteaded properties.
Phil Perry, Chief Communications Officer