THE MAKING OF A NEW DOWNTOWN DISTRICT How Placemaking is the Key Element in East Garden District by Gina Castro Where do you stay when you visit vibrant cities like New Orleans or Miami? Do you stay in a hotel eons away from all of the action? Of course not. You find a spot a couple of blocks from interesting landmarks, inviting bars and restaurants and whatever else the city has to offer. Whenever there is a city heavy with history and culture, you can’t help but want to explore it. The element that lures you to those busy, welcoming parts of towns is placemaking. Placemaking is designing a city or community with the intention of catering to people. “You certainly can seek out a place to stay that just checks the box of a hotel room, but then there are other places to stay that will check more boxes of being ingrained within the district or the community that it serves as a magnet for the district,” Henderson said.
That people-centered aspect is what Chad Henderson is hoping to accomplish through the East Garden District (EGD). Henderson hopes to make the East Garden District hotel the space Pensacola visitors will gravitate toward to feel ingrained within the district and Pensacola community. Henderson calls the hotel “the anchor” of this development because it will not only draw tourists to EGD and the rest of downtown but also it will be a space for locals to enjoy. “I travel quite a bit throughout the country. For me, when I’m traveling, I always seek out the local experience,” Henderson said. “I want this hotel to be that for the folks traveling to Pensacola. If you want great local flavor, this hotel within the East Garden District would be a place to stay and not only explore the East Garden District but explore the greater downtown and all it has to offer.”
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Although Henderson and his team are not ready to announce the brand or soft flag of the hotel, Henderson did share more details about their plan for the hotel. The hotel, which will be at the corner of Chase and Jefferson Street, will have at least six floors, approximately 150 rooms, some event space, a rooftop bar and a very inviting lobby with food and beverages available for tourists and locals to enjoy. Henderson’s plan for a street diet, which narrows the street and expands the sidewalks, for Jefferson Street is making progress with the City. This diet will increase the walkability and safety of EGD for visitors. Henderson recently announced that construction for the first EGD building is underway. The Well, which shares a wall with the brewery Perfect Plain, is a wood cellar aging program that will serve aged beer and cocktails. DC Reeves, the owner of Perfect Plain and Garden and Grain, decided to be a part of the EGD development by opening The Well. Reeves
opened Perfect Plain in November of 2017, which was before Henderson’s plans for EGD came to the surface. “We feel like we took a leap of faith by not being on the main drag,” Reeves said. “We were not 100 percent sure how we would be embraced in the beginning. We certainly envisioned that area [EGD] has the potential to be a new downtown district. We feel like East Garden District makes a lot of sense to be this new, up and coming place for people to gather. I’m really excited about EGD and even more excited that somebody like Chad, who is passionate about our community, is stepping up and investing in an area we want to make great.” Reeves has a history of tying the historical background of Garden Street to his businesses. Perfect Plain was named after the way Rachel Jackson, wife of Andrew Jackson, described Pensacola in 1821. The name Garden and Grain was inspired by the law in the 1760s which gave property owners north of Garden Street a residual
