Scott Ford houses
These homes in Jackson’s Farish Street district tell a history we don’t often hear.
Alferdteen Harrison/Special to Clarion Ledger
It might sound like deja vu, but a recent development has city officials hopeful about the the once vibrant Farish Street Historic District, and with it, a gradual return of the area’s prominence.
The Jackson City Council on Tuesday approved a masterplan for the possible redevelopment of a 40,000-square-foot building on the south end of the district. The building may be turned into a mixed-use facility for retail and office space featuring a culinary hub with multiple restaurant vendors. City officials hope the project will spur further development and investment in the area, in its heyday dubbed Mississippi’s Harlem for its economic vibrancy.
The project represents a new approach to development in the abandoned district, incremental and organic growth over multi-million dollar investment plans that have fizzled time and again.
“We have the benefit of hindsight to see where we have failed, where there have been missteps,” Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said.
It will take patience to redevelop the area, Lumumba said, something in short supply given the years of dashed hopes and stalled efforts to realize the district’s economic revitalization.
The question is, after nearly a half decade of failed attempts, will this project be successful?
The recent history of Farish Street: Farish Street plans march on but to where?
A troubled history
Farish Street was booming in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Once the epicenter of Jackson’s Black community, the street represented a self-sufficient economic island during the Jim Crow days of segregation.
But the businesses faded over more than a half-century and with them the number of shoppers and visitors, leaving behind abandoned, dilapidated and decaying buildings. In some areas, all that remains is crumbling infrastructure hidden beneath outgrowth. Many residents — fearful of crime — refuse to travel anywhere near Farish Street after dark.
Various attempts at revitalization over the past 20 years have been thwarted by the inability of the city, developers and investors to get on the same page. What may have begun as good-willed discussions about how best to revitalize Farish Street and the Farish Street Historic District have broken down into seemingly endless legal wrangling.
Changes in city leadership, economy have left vision unclear
Jackson has had five mayors in 10 years, and each has made attempts to tackle Farish Street.
Harvey Johnson Jr. was mayor in 1997 when the city tasked the Jackson Redevelopment Authority, a quasi-public urban development agency, with managing the area’s revival, giving the authority $1.9 million to purchase 17 properties on Farish Street. About five years later, Jackson Redevelopment Authority hired Memphis’ Performa Entertainment, which manages real estate on Beale Street, for a $12 million project to help transform one area of Farish Street into an entertainment district.
The project was supposed to be up and going by 2006, but two years later, nothing had happened. In 2008, during Mayor Frank Melton’ administration, David Watkins and the now-defunct Farish Street Group, which Watkins led, took over Performa’s mortgages and debt.
Watkins was plagued by cost overruns on what was to be the centerpiece of the entertainment district, B.B. King’s Blues Club. Estimates to repair the club’s foundation ran in the millions and would require the help of additional partners, according to The Farish Street Project, a University of Mississippi study of the area’s historic and cultural significance.
Chokwe Lumumba, the current mayor’s father, was mayor in 2013 when the Jackson Redevelopment Authority canceled its lease with Watkins. But when Lumumba died unexpectedly five months later, plans for the street’s future were put on hold.
Today’s Mayor Lumumba, elected in 201, released his administration’s strategic plan for the city in 2018. In the ambitious and comprehensive plan, developing Farish Street was considered one of several initiatives to grow Jackson’s tax base.
Since then, the city has been reviewing legal injunctions, organizing stakeholders and determining which incentives would boost community reinvestment. Initial development was expected to begin in 2020, according to the plan’s outline, but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed the work.
Farish Street development: Plan for Farish Street property could bring culinary food hall to historic district
Skepticism abounds
Given the long history of stops and starts, there is a good deal of skepticism over whether or not talks of the revitalization of Farish Street will lead to anything tangible.
“The potential is there, and I’m all for it, but we’ve heard this all before,” said Brad Franklin, part of the original efforts to overhaul the district in 2010. Franklin was the director of entertainment and community engagement for Watkins Partners and the Farish Street Group. He now heads Mississippi Black Pages, an online directory and print publication that publicizes and advocates for Black businesses in Mississippi.
“There’s probably no one more familiar with the history of Farish Street and where we are now,” Franklin said on Wednesday. “Until we see an actual ribbon-cutting and walk into a building and see something going on, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic.”
He said the key to the district’s revival is to eliminate the red tape and bureaucracy that often come with government intervention. Franklin said he is also troubled by the involvement of Jackson Redevelopment Authority, which had a role in past development attempts that went nowhere, and is again working with the city on plans for Farish Street.
The authority owns about 26 parcels in the district, making it key to the overall development of the neighborhood.
Will new JRA director turn things around?
Latoya Cutts, formerly the downtown manager and head of development in Albany, Georgia, was appointed director of the authority in July of last year. Cutts has vowed to turn Farish Street around and hopes to spur a grassroots revival.
She said the newest proposed development, which would house multiple vendors in one space, will serve as a business incubator. Several local businesses have signaled interest in the development, but she declined to identify them.
“This project proposes a concept of multiple businesses at the same time,” Cutts said. “If you put one business there, it will take time for that business to flourish and survive. It’s a place where they can grow up and grow out of there, like an incubator, and open the door for them to possibly open up in another space adjacent to the building.”
Jordan Hillman, director of the city’s Department of Planning & Development, called the review of the building, located at the intersection of Farish and Amite streets, a ‘catalyst project’ for the whole of the district. The central premise is take the lessons learned from past development failures and pursue a new approach, one that involves local businesses, he said.
“We don’t see a master developer coming in,” Hillman said. “What we do see is to getting a piece of the puzzle together that will lead to another piece of the puzzle. That is what has worked in other parts of the city in the past, such as Fondren, and also would be more respectful of the Farish Street history.”
Time will tell
The masterplan approved by the council on Tuesday will detail ways to turn the empty building into a mixed use facility with retail and office space and possibly a culinary hub featuring multiple restaurant vendors.
Franklin says he is 100% behind sensible revitalization efforts, so long as local businesses and the community are involved.
“We’ve been duped too many times,” Franklin said. “This is the sixth, seventh time.
“The most important thing at the end of the day is getting people in the buildings. If that happens — and I hope it will — the foot traffic will come.”
Contact Justin Vicory at 769-572-1418 or jvicory@gannett.com. Follow @justinvicory on Twitter.
