As the bus full of
house-hunters rolled to a stop, tour guide Kevin Gay pointed to two
houses standing side by side on Pearl Street.
Operation New Hope had renovated one of them, gutting it from the
ground floor to the roof and returning it to a brand-new appearance.
Beside it, a house with virtually the same design remained in
rotting disrepair -- boarded windows or no windows at all, a sagging
porch, a weedy front yard.
"If you look over there, you can see the before, and you can see
the after," Gay said.
It's a study in contrasts that's becoming more common in
Springfield, a historic Jacksonville neighborhood north of downtown.
Gay is president of Operation New Hope, an organization trying to
woo home buyers to the neighborhood. Operation New Hope organized
yesterday's tour with a special appeal to educators, and more than
100 people braved the chilly weather to see the neighborhood.
Since 1998, property values, renovation activity, and home sales
in excess of $100,000 have all risen in Springfield, according to
city statistics.
At the same time, the overall amount of crime has dropped in the
area, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Whether yesterday's tour will lead to anyone moving into
Springfield won't be known for a while because of the paperwork
required for any home purchase. But organizers said they were
pleased with the turnout.
Many of Springfield's houses date back a century, when the Great
Fire of 1901 forced people to rebuild their homes away from the
charred downtown. Over the past 20 years, city leaders have tried
various strategies to reverse the neighborhood's decline. Mayor John
Delaney and Sheriff Nat Glover, both elected in 1995, have focused
money and police presence in Springfield.
Frank Coleman, who toured Springfield with wife, Sheryl, an
elementary school teacher, said the changes convinced him to give
the neighborhood a look.
"We've seen where Springfield was a couple of years ago, and
where it's headed," he said. "We've always kind of wanted to do
something like this. Whether we do it or not is a whole different
thing."
Among his concerns is whether future City Hall administrations
will pull back support for the effort, and the neighborhood will
have a relapse to its former state, cutting the property value of
the homes.
"It's a big factor because that's a big investment," he said.
"We've had an opportunity to live more than one place, and when you
move, it's very important that you be able to get back some kind of
return on your investment."
Statistics kept by the city Department of Planning and
Development show a trend of improvement:
Property values have risen from $30 per square foot in 1998 to
$79 per square foot today, according to the city planning
department.
In 1997, there were no deed sales in excess of $100,000, but
that rose to 9 in 1998, 22 in 1999, and 16 in 2000.
The city recorded 42 certificates of appropriateness, which are
issued before repair work takes place, in Springfield in 1997. That
has increased each year and hit 167 certificates in 2001.
"I would say it [the revitalization] is pretty much right on
target, if not ahead," said Jennie Fewell, director of the planning
department. "It's a huge area. Springfield is about 1,800
structures."
Beyond the statistics, just the fact that Springfield homes are
advertised on the cable television channel that advertises home
sales is a change from three years ago, she said.
Staff writer David Bauerlein can be reached at (904)
359-4581 or via e-mail at dbauerlein.
