Dream of restoring Pensacola's 'Lost Neighborhood' possible with $25.1 million grant
After years of talks, planning and public workshops, Pensacola now has $25.1 million to make the dream of Hollice T. Williams Park greenway and stormwater park under Interstate 110 a reality.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves made finding funding for the project a priority when he came into office, and it was one of the tasks of the city's new grant writing office.
The Hollice T. Williams Park project helps address flooding in downtown Pensacola but also looks to reconnect and restore vibrancy to the historically Black and working-class neighborhoods that were split apart by the construction of I-110 in the 1970s.
On Wednesday, that focus paid off when Pensacola won $39.7 million from a Rebuild Florida Infrastructure Repair Program that will go to three projects, Hollice T. Williams Park, the Port of Pensacola and the Fricker Center. The bulk, $25.1 million, will go to Hollice T. Williams Park.
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Reeves, who made the project the focus of his Mayors' Institute on City Design and Just City Lab fellowship at Harvard University over the spring, said proposals for the park began in the wake of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and have taken years to get to this point.
"This has been 20 years in the making," Reeves said.
It was one of the top-rated projects by Escambia County for RESTORE Act funds in the wake of the 2010 oil spill.
In 2018, Escambia County and Pensacola won $1.6 million in RESTORE Act funds for the park's design, which came together in 2021 with a plan that included walking and running paths, greenspace, plazas, an amphitheater and stormwater infrastructure.
Reeves said with an actual budget in place the city will begin would updating the design and seek feedback from the neighborhood on what they want to see in the new park.
"(We want to) make it the best project we could possibly make it with an eye for our needs (to address) flooding, with an eye for our needs to reconnect the community and to make sure that the community that we're reconnecting continues its authenticity," Reeves said.
The Lost Neighborhood
Today, the only thing that documents the history of the neighborhoods is a metal marker next to a concrete pillar that supports I-110 on East Jordan Street that dubs the area "The Lost Neighborhood."
Pensacola City Councilwoman Teniadé Broughton knows the area well. Her family members bought a home in the 1870s that stayed in the family until it was demolished to make way for the interstate.
Broughton, also a local historian, has been working with the University of Florida to document oral histories of the neighborhood.
Broughton said she is thrilled the city won the funding and hopes whatever changes are made to the project will help restore some of what was lost.
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"The community has to be the greatest beneficiary of whatever is put there," Broughton said. "… What can we do to boost the impact, economically and socially."
Brought said she'd like to see opportunities for local business owners to use the area, such as food trucks or an outdoor market.
Reeves said the interstate cut through 18 city blocks and dissected a historically minority neighborhood, and its commercial core has never recovered.
"When you talk about generational opportunity, this is the city's chance to reconnect this lost neighborhood and make it a gathering place for all," Reeves said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola's Hollice T. Williams Park project could restore neighborhood
