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<\/p>\nA troubled Eastside apartment complex is set to be demolished, paving the way for 130 affordable senior apartments as Jacksonville redevelops the longtime property.<\/p>\n
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A longtime Eastside apartment complex with a troubled history is coming down, making way for a new affordable housing community for seniors.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Housing Authority plans to demolish the former Franklin Arms Apartments, now Downtown East Apartments, at 888 Franklin St. The four-story building will be replaced with about 130 affordable apartments for people 55 and older as part of a roughly $50 million redevelopment.<\/p>\n
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For longtime residents, the demolition marks another change in a neighborhood that has evolved over decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cKind of sad to see it go,\u201d said Leroy Perry Jr., who grew up across the street and has watched the Eastside change for nearly 70 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat wasn’t always like what it turned out to be. A lot of killing was going on over there,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n
The property became known for crime, drug dealing and building code violations. The city declared it a public nuisance in 2022 after documenting shootings, burglaries and other crimes at the address.<\/p>\n
JHA bought the property for $8 million in November 2023, initially planning to renovate the 98-unit building. Rising construction costs eventually led the agency to pursue demolition and new construction.<\/p>\n
The project, being developed with Paces Preservation Partners, is expected to cost about $50 million. The city approved up to $1 million to help with demolition and environmental remediation. Interior demolition has begun, with the site expected to be cleared by mid-December.<\/p>\n
Annette Pryor, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years, remembers when the apartments were occupied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember when it was, um, people were living in it, and it was nice, and then it started getting the drugs and everything,\u201d Pryor said.<\/p>\n
Still, she said the Eastside’s changes aren’t all negative.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve seen the changes and a lot of it’s good. I mean, we have got a lot of good things happening now,\u201d Pryor said.<\/p>\n
Pryor said redevelopment is also creating challenges for longtime, lower-income residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people are income-based in this area … and it’s a lot of stuff happening and it’s pushing a lot of them out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The new development is expected to feature a fitness center, movie theater, sunroom, business center, green space and other amenities.<\/p>\n
For Pryor, the senior housing is especially important.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s awesome because we have a lot of seniors that’s displaced that need a place to stay on a fixed income, of course,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
If fully funded, construction is expected to begin in 2027 and take about 18 to 24 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see the change and a lot of it is good. We have a lot of good things down here now,\u201d Pryor said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A troubled Eastside apartment complex is set to be demolished, paving the way for 130 affordable senior apartments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-396583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}