A REIMAGINED WATERFRONT The Urban Core Redevelopment Area
PLAZA DE LUNA
INFILL DEVELOPMENT CEDAR SHARED STREET
PROTECTED BIKE LANE ACTIVE STREET FRONT
CUSTOM SEATING DISTINCT PAVING
by Morgan Cole
Despite many unprecedented challenges that impacted not only our local economy but our community as a whole in 2020, the Pensacola Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) has continued its work toward the vision for the City’s redevelopment areas, especially within the Urban Core district. The Urban Core comprises a 256-block, 1,308-acre area that encompasses the City south of Cervantes Street, bounded to the west by A Street and to the east by 17th Avenue. It accounts for about 8.7 percent of the City’s total land area. Since its establishment in 1984, the district has experienced exponential growth. The 2010 Community Redevelopment Plan serves as the guide for all projects undertaken by the CRA. In 2020 alone, the Urban Core district saw significant progress and growth, with a total of 28 projects that were either started, underway or have been completed, ranging from small-scale residential property improvements to larger-scale public-private partnership ventures. A total of $5.5 million was invested by the CRA to support projects within the Urban Core with a permitted value of $11.5 million.
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“Over the years, the CRA has worked to update the 2010 Community Redevelopment Plan for the Urban Core district to ensure the plan meets the changing needs of the growing downtown area,” Gibson said. Some of the significant and most current projects identified in the 2010 Urban Core Pan include community policing, affordable housing, infill development, targeted residential rehabilitation assistance, commercial facade improvements and park and waterfront access initiatives. Although the Urban Core has experienced many positive changes over the years, the CRA continues to work on more projects to help remove neighborhood blight and prevent its return through a series of initiatives which foster a diverse, inclusive and economically sustainable downtown district.
BIRD’S EYE VIEW DOWN PALAFOX STREET
The CRA’s Urban Core Plan identifies a multitude of strategic improvement projects aimed at preserving and enhancing the district’s neighborhoods, fostering a productive urban environment and maximizing public access to the waterfront. Major initiatives include waterfront accessibility projects, complete streets redevelopment, implementation of recently adopted urban design standards and affordable housing. More recently, a bond refinancing plan was set-forth and approved by the CRA and City Council in order to gain additional revenue to support some of the larger projects outlined in the CRA’s 2010 Community Redevelopment Plan, specifically within the City’s Urban Core. “What we did was refinance some of the outstanding bonds that we had for the downtown area,” CRA Administrator, Helen Gibson explained. “Because at this point, we had them for a while and we wanted to get a better interest rate. Once approved, we were able to not only get a better interest rate on what we already had, but it also allowed us to gain additional money because the new rates were so low.”
The CRA used the additional revenue gained from the approved Series 2019 bond issue, to do several projects that were identified in the original 2010 plan that hadn’t yet been done, according to Gibson. “Having a downtown that’s focused on being walkable with the proper amenities here, I think has the ability to be an economic engine, not just for Escambia County, but really for all of Northwest Florida,” Pensacola Mayor, Grover Robinson said. The additional revenue gained from the Series 2019 bond issue, provided a total of $17.8 million to fund four catalytic projects within the City’s Urban Core district, which include the “Hashtag” Waterfront Connector, Bruce Beach Improvements, the Community Maritime Park Day Marina project and the East Garden District-Jefferson Street Road Diet. In 2019, the City quickly signed onto the project and hired landscape architecture and urban design firm SCAPE, as well as the engineering firms HDR and Dewberry, to help make the concept a reality.
