Community Redevelopment Agency
The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is a City of Pensacola agency established in 1980 and tasked with guiding the redevelopment of the downtown Pensacola neighborhoods that make up the Urban Core Community Redevelopment Area.
History
The advent of shopping centers like Town & Country Plaza and Cordova Mall north of downtown Pensacola resulted in an exodus of businesses from the downtown area. Over the years, the once-bustling retail sector became dilapidated, lowering property values. Seeking to reverse this trend, the Pensacola City Council adopted a resolution on September 25, 1980 to revitalize the city's blighted core.
On March 8, 1984, the City established a Redevelopment Trust Fund to collect revenue for improvements within the Urban Core Community Redevelopment Area.
Boundaries
The Urban Core Community Redevelopment Area is a 256-block, 1,308-acre area that encompasses all of the city south of Cervantes Street, bounded to the west by A Street and to the east by 17th Avenue. These boundaries are similar (but not identical) to those of the Downtown Improvement Board's taxation district. It accounts for about 8.6% of the City's total land area.
Funding
The Community Redevelopment Agency is funded by tax increment financing. When the Redevelopment Trust Fund was established in 1984, a 'snapshot' was taken of the area's 1983 taxable property values. As capital improvements and other developments take place within the CRA district, these values rise. The difference ("increment") between the 1983 values and current values is collected by the taxation authority and deposited in the Redevelopment Trust Fund.
Administration
The Community Redevelopment Agency is made up of the ten Pensacola City Council members, as well as an administrator and staff. The current administrator of the CRA is Becky Bray.
David Bailey, the former administrator, served the CRA starting in 2003, until tendering his notice of his resignation on June 17, 2007, and continuing to serve until August 3, 2007.
Capital projects
The CRA has completed more than 35 capital construction and streetscape improvement projects since 1984. Some of these include:
- Plaza de Luna
- Palafox Pier
- Aragon
- Belmont-Devilliers revitalization
- Five Flags Downtown Trolley
- Historic Pensacola Village
- Pensacola Cultural Center
- Seville Harbour
- Jefferson Street Parking Garage
- Wayside West Park
