New-old house article in T-U this past Sat

[zoo]

Here's the link and a blurb re: one they covered in Springfield. Kudos to neighbors in the 'hood, Matt & Jessica Rice!

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102508/lif_347932864.shtml

The Rices' two-story

The Rices grew up in the 'burbs of Baltimore, but have since acquired a taste for old houses and close-in neighborhoods. After moving to Jacksonville seven years ago, they rented in Riverside and then looked to buy there or in Avondale or San Marco. But they kept running into similar problems: small rooms, not much storage and houses that needed repairs. And neither of them wanted to spend weekends doing home repair.

The answer: a new-old house in Springfield, which they bought two years ago from another couple who moved to a bigger new-old house in the neighborhood.

The Rices have a two-story house that's a little over 2,000 square feet, with three bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a half-bathroom tucked under the stairs, complete with sloping roof. Jessica Rice likes that old-fashioned touch.

All the bedrooms are upstairs. The master bedroom has its own bathroom and a big walk-in closet. French doors open to a balcony with views of downtown's biggest skyscrapers. Outside, the house has exposed rafters in the eaves, lap siding and vertically shaped windows. There's a wide porch and a picket fence out front. The garage is in the back, on an alley: Having big garage doors at the front goes against everything new-old house design stands for.

The Rices' home is among four houses built in a row, close to the sidewalk, as tradition dictates. All four have front porches, and they're close enough to each other that neighbors can easily chat - or even toss each other a packet of sugar.

They're all products of SRG Homes and Neighborhoods, which has built about 70 homes throughout Springfield. They're all designed to fit in with the historic neighborhood, a once grand place that slipped into decline and is slowly but steadily gentrifying.

SRG sells houses ranging from one-story 1,200-square-foot bungalows to two-story 3,000-square-foot houses. The bungalows start at around $205,000, before upgrades such as fireplaces and garages.

Rice likes the close-knit neighborhood and her old-fashioned house. "I couldn't see myself living in a cookie-cutter neighborhood with a stucco home. That's just not for us."

Per Lisa Simon, Rices have the Sheftall model, which can be seen in more detail at http://srghomes.com/home-type/semi-custom/.

[sheclown]

gen⋅tri⋅fi⋅ca⋅tion
   /ˌdʒɛntrəfɪˈkeɪʃən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [jen-truh-fi-key-shuhn] Show IPA Pronunciation
â€"noun
1.    the buying and renovation of houses and stores in deteriorated urban neighborhoods by upper- or middle-income families or individuals, thus improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small businesses.
2.    an instance of gentrifying; the condition of being gentrified.

BTW "gentrification" is not something to brag about.

[Joe]

^ The anti-Gentrification argument was pretty stunningly debunked this year by a recent demographic analysis. It was very comprehensive, and quite convincing.

Basically, it showed that gentrifying neighborhoods do NOT increase the rate of low-income resident turnover compared to non-gentrifying neighborhoods.

I'm sure someone has a link to it. Sadly, I don't.

[sheclown]

I'd like to have more info on this.  Who, what? Where?  When?

[fatcat]

Gentrification is nothing to brag about?! Is it not better to rehab old houses and rebuild new houses in old neighborhood than turning good farmland into subdivisions? Who wouldn't want to see reduced crime, new investment in buildings and infrastructure, and increased economic activity in their neighborhoods?

there is  gain and  lose with every change. But Gentrification is mostly positive thing. Following is an article from NPR

http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/flagwars/special_gentrification.html


BTW, I was not able to find the same dictionary quote post above. Ca we have the name of the dictionary please.

[thelakelander]

I'm not crazy about total gentrification.  Areas become sterile and lose a lot of the quirks that make them appealing in the first place.  I'm also not in favor of seeing communities remain distressed.  I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.  Find a way to attract higher income earning familys to the community without purging it of its original assets.  When properly combined, you'll end up with a special place.

[civil42806]

I'm not crazy about total gentrification.  Areas become sterile and lose a lot of the quirks that make them appealing in the first place.  I'm also not in favor of seeing communities remain distressed.  I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.  Find a way to attract higher income earning familys to the community without purging it of its original assets.  When properly combined, you'll end up with a special place.

I've often heard that said and really don't understand it.  What quirks are we talking about.  Is it the small mom and pop shops or the crack head on the corner that we are talking about.    The fact is if the area is being redeveloped property and land values will rise, which will unfortunatley force out earlier residents. I lived in Savannah where that happened.  Can't be helped. 

[thelakelander]

A rise in property values is not a bad thing.  I just said I'm not in favor of seeing communities remain distressed.  Crack heads and hookers on the corners are things that need to go that align with the definition of a distressed community. 

On the other hand, its not such a good idea to run off all the mom and pops in some of these neighborhoods in hopes for chains.  Its also not a good idea to attempt to not allow a mix of housing/commercial options to fill in these type of communities.  This is the type of stuff, that when combined, makes communities like Springfield appealing.  Btw, Savannah would not be half the city it is today, without the SCAD and its students being there. 

[JaxByDefault]

Agreed, Lakelander. Well said.

Also, it's not a new-old house. It's just a new house.

[civil42806]

A rise in property values is not a bad thing.  I just said I'm not in favor of seeing communities remain distressed.  Crack heads and hookers on the corners are things that need to go that align with the definition of a distressed community. 

On the other hand, its not such a good idea to run off all the mom and pops in some of these neighborhoods in hopes for chains.  Its also not a good idea to attempt to not allow a mix of housing/commercial options to fill in these type of communities.  This is the type of stuff, that when combined, makes communities like Springfield appealing.  Btw, Savannah would not be half the city it is today, without the SCAD and its students being there. 

Oh I agree with this totally.  Your right one of the pleasures of savannah was being able to walk to the grocery store and the local watering hole.  And checking out the SCAD students, yes indeed I am a dirty old man 

[Ocklawaha]

I'm not crazy about total gentrification.  Areas become sterile and lose a lot of the quirks that make them appealing in the first place.  I'm also not in favor of seeing communities remain distressed.  I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle.  Find a way to attract higher income earning familys to the community without purging it of its original assets.  When properly combined, you'll end up with a special place.

Losing the mix of peoples would be very un-Jacksonville like. This is a dumb and dangerous move and as Lake has pointed out would lead to a sterile Springfield. My own experiences growing up was that our family was mixed, some white - some black. It didn't matter. Some of the local soul food we were fed at family events became family dishes. Yes, collard greens (sweet), boiled cabbage with pork, and 10,000 fried fish and chicken entres. This made us all rich with the experiences - the touch - taste - sounds of other peoples, races, languages and cultures.

To capture those experiences we need the private input and energy of our locals. Anyone else remember what Centre Street in Fernandina looked like "before" the make-over? I do ----DEAD! Perhaps "Learning from Centre Street" should be in our line up.

OCKLAWAHA

[thelakelander]

Fernandina Beach Downtown Photo Tour:

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/764/118/

[fatcat]

i think people changes and moves around anyway. When an area deteriorates, are people and business driven away? Of course. Well, only people who can afford move away and leave the dump to lower income is not gentrification.

As for Springfield, I know place like Carls and Chan's on main street is loved by old and new residents alike. On the other hand, I would not feel sorry if the pawn shops go away, no matter they are pop/mom owned or national chain.

BTW, I love Chan's 100 times more than PF Chang.  Voted with my wallet again and again and again......

[Joe]

I found that article that debunks many anti-gentrification arguments.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1818255,00.html?imw=Y

This was a very comprehensive study (15,000 neighborhoods over 10 years) by reputable academics - who even thought ahead of time that they were going to prove that gentrification was a problem!! But they had tons of integrity, and chose to report their findings anyway, even though it disproved their assumptions.

The crux of their argument is that pre-gentrification neighborhoods are not nearly as stable as people thought. Low-income residents are actually very transitory. There's a lot of turnover, as marginal people are constantly leaving the neighborhood for different areas - only to be replaced by equally low-income residents from other low-income neighborhoods.

Ultimately, rich people aren't really pushing out low-income residents - but rather replacing them through cycles of natural turnover. It's not that low-income people are being pushed out in large numbers. They are leaving at similar rates ... just being replaced by richer people, instead of more low-income people.

Also noteworthy is that high-school educated blacks arguably benefit the most from gentrification -taking in 33% of the gentrified neighborhood's overall income growth.

[fatcat]

Joe, thanks for the excellent research.