With lots of TLC and $40M in investment, is Brownsville turning a corner?
Melvin Turner grew up in downtown Pensacola but left when he joined the military and life took him other places.
He returned eight years ago and worked with a real estate agent to buy the house he has now in Brownsville.
Turner’s home sits across from the Brownsville Community Center, and he loves his big yard where huge live oaks shade the gazebo he built and windchimes sway in the hot breeze. Turner works hard to maintain his home and yard and notices most of his neighbors do, too.
“I cleaned it up and I had one lady come back here and she stopped, and she says, 'I've lived here for 60 years, this is the best I've ever seen this place.’ That makes you feel good because that's a lot of work keeping up your yard.”
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The first time he saw his home was in pictures.
“I didn't really pay that much of attention to the area until after I bought the house and then I noticed the area and it's pretty nice,” said Turner. “It's a lot better than across Mobile Highway on the other side.
“Up and down Mobile Highway, it's got a reputation for all the prostitutes and drug dealers and stuff like that,” Turner continued. “I've noticed it has kind of cleaned up a little bit as far as that's concerned, but certain parts it’s still there. From what I've noticed since I've been here, it's getting better.”
Escambia County Commissioner Lumon May has been working for years to encourage new growth and change people’s perception of Brownsville. The results are starting to show.
A lot has already been done and is underway – like new sidewalks, a new park and a huge septic to sewer project for business development that will cost between $7 and $9 million. It's part of a bigger effort to revitalize the area around its hub, the Brownsville Community Center.
In about four months, the county will start renovating the old Masonic Lodge building across from the Brownsville Community Center. The first floor will be a library and the second floor will have meeting rooms for the community.
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May said there are also plans to build a business incubator on the empty lot next to the Masonic Lodge the county bought in 2020, and give new businesses a chance to grow. He said work on that project will start sometime in the next two years, after renovations to the Masonic Lodge building are finished.
“We're just trying to build up the neighborhood,” said May. “We'll have the library here. We'll have small businesses go out front and be startups. In the meantime, we're looking at possibly allowing food trucks to come out there until we can get the building up. But really the community center is the hub.”
The Brownsville Community Center partners with organizations like Community Health Northwest Florida, IMPACT 100 and Oakcrest Elementary School to provide resources and different programs for people who live in the neighborhood. There’s yoga, senior programs, after-school programs, food and clothing giveaways, as well as general meeting space, to name a few.
“We're breaking down that reputation that says this is a dangerous area,” said Leroy Williams, manager for the Brownsville Community Center. “At the end of the day you don't hear as much as about it as you used to, people thinking that this is a not a good area. This has definitely become a very good area, a safe area.”
May agreed, “If you look at the crime stats, Brownsville is safe.”
Growth has already sprouted around the Brownsville Community Center, which is squarely located between DeSoto, Shoemaker, Gonzalez and Z streets.
About two years ago, the senior living complex Brownsville Manor opened a few blocks away. It provides 88 units for seniors and rent is income-based. The project was the first new development in that area and the result of a public-private partnership between the county and Brownsville Church.
Across from the back of the community center, the county recently renovated a three bedroom, two bath home with the help of AMIkids, a nonprofit that empowers at-risk youth to learn new skills, including carpentry and other trades, to put themselves on a path to a better future.
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“We thought this was a great opportunity and it gives kids an idea of what they can do, especially when they see the project before and after,” said Assistant County Administrator Wesley Hall. “Getting the kids to have skills and realizing what they can do and then creating an affordable housing market for our people in Escambia County, that's what we want to do. Housing now is going through the roof so if we can create affordable housing it changes a family's life forever.”
The home is all but finished and May said he'd like it to be the anchor for some new houses in the empty lots next door, where there's also a brand-new park with playground equipment, benches, and large, spreading oak trees.
May said ultimately, he hopes to build eight homes in that space and make the newly renovated house available to a first responder.
“My vision is we take this house, maybe we keep the building for someone like EMS or police, but we’ve got this beautiful park so we have parceled this off to build other houses and have this park central to it, and save these trees,” said May.
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The housing part of the vision could be funded with SHIP monies and will require zoning changes as well as approval from fellow commissioners. Mays said it's at least two years out, but he believes it’s what’s best to keep revitalization moving in the right direction and provide affordable housing opportunities for middle and lower income residents who are getting priced out of their own neighborhood.
Growth and development is spreading west from downtown Pensacola so demand is on the rise, along with housing prices. May said he wants to do what he can to ensure people who grew up in Brownsville can afford to bring up their own families here.
“It's a balance between the appreciation of values of properties and maintaining the affordability,” said May. “I think that we have to be conscientious as we do development and improve the neighborhood to identify people who are in the neighborhood who want to remain and live in the neighborhood, to give them an opportunity to live the American dream.”
Money for the various projects is coming from different sources including CRA funds, as well as RESTORE Act funding, a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The septic-to-sewer project is being funded with an $11 million grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to switch from septic tanks to a central sewer system in some areas of Brownsville and Warrington.
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“Altogether, this is probably about a $25 million investment in Brownsville,” said May. “If you include the assisted living program with the partnership with the church, we put about $40 million total in the last five years. When we're finished, it'll probably be a $40 million investment into Brownsville and I believe Brownsville is the western gate to the city.”
May said they are also working closely with the city to clean up the area. He said the city is in contract to buy the old Motor Lodge.
Melvin Turner is glad to see improvements in his neighborhood and some of the drug problems he's seen move off his street. Most of all, he’s looking forward to the day when Brownsville loses the stigma that it’s anything other than a nice neighborhood.
“It's getting better,” Turner said.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia County Brownsville Community Center anchoring area growth
