SPRINGFIELD, Fla. – Known for its colorful homes and wraparound porches, Springfield is one of Jacksonville’s oldest neighborhoods. Once overlooked, the historic community just north of downtown has become a magnet for new residents and businesses.
The neighborhood’s tight-knit character is part of what’s drawing people in. Amanda Searle, a local realtor, says it’s a feeling visitors pick up on quickly.
“We really are a front porch community. We do all know each other,” she said. “Once people get here and they see the community and they really feel it... that’s when they feel, ‘Oh, this place is cool. I want to live here,’” Searle said.
However, revitalization is coming at a cost as longtime locals say the price of that popularity is a rise in home prices and the potential loss of what made Springfield special in the first place.
With new businesses like Tulua Bistro opening alongside local staples like Crispy’s, home prices have followed suit. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median property value in Springfield is now $424,500.
In 2020, it was $272,700, which is raising concerns of gentrification.
“It is a very attractive place for people at a certain price point, but it’s becoming much less affordable,” said Jill Naponelli, a Springfield resident and community organizer who relocated from the Bay Area six years ago. “It’s not really a place anymore where somebody can come in and get a starter home and do like a fixer-upper.”
Naponelli says that the surge in prices threatens to displace longtime homeowners and first-time buyers alike.
“It’s gonna make things harder for people... I think a lot of the people who would have qualified as a first-time home buyer, like, it’s not really available to them anymore,” she said.
Still, she says Springfield’s community spirit hasn’t changed.
“When someone says, ‘I need help moving,’ and posts in the neighborhood group, like 10 strangers will just show up and do it,” she said. “It has, like, a very small town vibe.”
Naponelli now runs a nonprofit called Project May Day that supports local causes and while she believes in the neighborhood’s promise, she worries about its future.
“There are opportunities here,” she said. “It’s just becoming less more so for people that have lived here for a long time.”
As demand for Springfield grows, so does concern over who will be able to stay.