The Rail Yard District Business Council: Organizing Businesses for Economic Growth and Community Benefit

Back Story

Jacksonville’s New Town community and Beaver Street Industrial Corridor are two contiguous neighborhoods located immediately to the west of downtown.

In 2009, former Mayor John Peyton partnered with the Jacksonville Children’s Commission, local philanthropic leaders, the historic African American anchor institution Edward Waters College, LISC Jacksonville, and HabiJax (Jacksonville’s Habitat for Humanity affiliate) to create the New Town Success Zone (NTSZ).

Modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, the NTSZ sought to enhance the lives of New Town’s children by generating a range of new opportunities. NTSZ, with its partners, also launched a comprehensive community revitalization effort. From 2011 to 2016, HabiJax built and sold over 300 homes, completed 190 home repair projects and raised and invested over $16 million in the revitalization of New Town.

Local leaders were hopeful that economic development efforts might result in similar success. Their economic development strategy sought to revive the community’s Kings Road commercial corridor, which had experienced severe decline over several decades. In 2014, LISC Jacksonville commissioned a study by MetroEdge, a consulting practice of LISC Economic Development team, performed by Joel Bookman and Larisa Ortiz. While the MetroEdge analysis offered some strategies for small business development and improvement along Kings Road, its most significant finding was that the strength of formidable retail competitors a mere 9 minutes away coupled with New Town’s low income levels and low density did not bode well for the return of Kings Road as a vibrant, community-supported, retail corridor. There was however a collateral discovery that could/would prove to be an economic development “game changer”.

The “Discovery” – Hiding in Plain Sight!

Adjacent to New Town to the south and west of downtown lies the Beaver Street Industrial Corridor. Driving through the 100+-year-old corridor leaves most unimpressed.  It’s totally lacking curbside appeal. Many older buildings seem in need of a facelift. The district is littered with vacant structures. The terms “old and run-down” would not be an exaggeration when describing the current common perception of the Beaver Street Industrial District.

As part of the research, we quickly learned that the outward appearance belied the strength of local businesses. The analysis shifted focus to measure the strength of this corridor. It found that in 2016, this sleepy, unsung and somewhat forgotten Beaver Street Industrial Corridor[1] was home to:

• 346 businesses
• An aggregate base of 6,289 employees

Like most cities, the prevalent economic development wisdom in many corners of Jacksonville centers around the acquisition/expansion of Amazon warehouse facilities, or the development of destination retail and high-end housing to the east of downtown near the Jacksonville Jaguar’s stadium, TIAA Bank Field. But, from our analysis, it was apparent that the strength of the Beaver Street corridor exceeds the economic yield that many more high-profile projects promise. Its discovery has surprised many. And, from a community development perspective, this “find” could not be in a better location – right next door to New Town.

(Industrial District) Organizing – Relationships, Relationships, Relationships

Based on this finding, in the summer of 2016 LISC Jacksonville engaged Joel Bookman and Jim Capraro to work with Beaver Street District businesses to begin the organizing process. LISC Jacksonville Program Officer James Coggin joined with Bookman and Capraro to form the business engagement team. They met with local businesses to understand their interests and concerns and test their willingness to create a new industrial business organization.

Using the deep relationships that had been nurtured over decades by LISC Executive Director Janet Owens and the LISC Local Advisory Board, the team met with 40 businesses.

To engage and recruit businesses into the organizing process, the team used the technique of activelistening. “Listening and only listening” (as in: not pitching) generated an understanding of each of the businesses, including their current state, aspirations, and challenges. During several interviews, the roles were reversed, as representatives of businesses questioned the LISC team about topics such as expansion, growth, labor needs, infrastructure concerns, available financing, and zoning constraints.

The conversations built trust between the LISC team and businesses as it convinced them that engaging in a relationship with the team and their neighboring companies would prove meaningful to them.

As discussions ensued, the need to organize became clear. Several common issues emerged as barriers to business growth and could better (perhaps only) be confronted through joint action. These included:

• Addressing deteriorated and inadequate infrastructure
• Overcoming zoning constraints
• Negative perceptions of the district and the benefits of creating a common marketing and promotion strategy
• Identifying and developing local sources of supply
• Creating “district” relationships with critical government agencies and elected officials
  

The Threefold Challenge

Despite strong economic metrics, it was apparent that these common issues presented a three-fold challenge:

1. Could this geography that contains a wide array of disparate businesses become organized into a cohesive force that would advocate for the district’s common good and support both individual businesses and the stability and growth of the district as a whole?
2. When organized, would the district partner with the New Town Success Zone to support economic advancement for their neighbors to the north and others needing the income benefits that industry jobs would provide?
3. Could a system be put in place that would assist New Town residents and others to become members of the “employment-ready” labor supply needed by their business neighbors?

Unique Nature of Corridor Businesses  

The team observed that the Beaver Street Corridor contained businesses with three distinct attributes:

1. Longstanding, strong, and growing large businesses, providing the backbone of the Beaver Street “Export Economic Engine.” Here are two examples:
   • Beaver Street Fisheries, which started as a seafood retail stand 60 years ago, now operates as an importer, manufacturer, and distributor of quality frozen seafood, sourcing products from the USA and around the world. Their Sea Best® retail frozen seafood brand is available at major grocers such as Walmart throughout the country.
   • Load King has designed, fabricated, delivered, and installed retail store display and operations packages in over 8,500 stores. Their customers include Starbucks, AMC Movie Theaters, Einstein Bros. Bagels, TCBY (The Country’s Best Yogurt), and Mrs. Fields.
2. Innovative retail businesses were repurposing formerly obsolete warehouse spaces for new, creative uses in growing market sectors. Here are four instances:
   • Eco-Relics uses a formerly vacant 100,000 sq. ft. warehouse to store and sell architectural salvage, reclaimed and discounted building materials and antiques. Eco-Relics draws customers from Atlanta to Miami.
   • Engine 15 Brewing Company converted two formerly vacant Pittsburgh Plate Glass warehouses into two new production/retail uses: The Engine 15 Brewery and Taproom in one building and the Glass Factory banquet facility in the second building.
   • Peterbrooke Chocolatier, also boasting a trade area from Atlanta to Miami, has renovated a former bacon processing plant into a space to manufacture chocolate products, operate a wholesale store, and conduct public tours.
   • The Beaver Street Commissary repurposed a formerly vacant warehouse and filling station as a commissary/industrial kitchen used by forty-five food trucks servicing consumers throughout Jacksonville.
3. The businesses within this corridor are extremely “civic-minded”.
   • Load King has routinely purchased foreclosed homes in the surrounding neighborhood and donated the properties to HabiJax. Load King also purchased an adjacent vacant warehouse and donated the space to ReThreaded, a non-profit that employs survivors of human trafficking in making gifts within its donated space.
   • Beaver Street Fisheries operates the oldest and largest farmers market in Northeast Florida as an eleemosynary venture. This market attracts consumers from throughout the greater Jacksonville region
     

Organizing: A Council “Tipping Point” - Engaged Business Leaders Become Engagers

Throughout the interviews, several themes were raised repeatedly that could not readily be addressed by any business alone: support for business expansion, increasing local supply vendors, accessing a readily employable labor pool; and, concerns such as deteriorating and inadequate infrastructure, negative district perceptions, and the hazardous condition of vacant property.

The need to organize a Business District Council – an association to unite local industry to create a better business environment -- became self-evident to Beaver Street business leaders. The leaders who had become engaged eagerly accepted the responsibility to reach out to others within the district. They organized the first district wide convening in May 2017.

At the first district convening the original cadre of engaged business leaders presented the case for organizing a Business District Council. A facilitated discussion identified the priorities that would become the work of the council. These priorities were organized into four committees:

1. Governance – formation (incorporating the new council)
2. Infrastructure
3. Marketing
4. Business to Business (B2B) relationships

Throughout 2017 and into 2018 the team and engaged business leaders organized quarterly district convenings, each attracting more attendees than the last. Steady progress was made as the committees attended to their tasks.

The Birth of a Council

With strong support from LISC and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA), the newly incorporated Business District Council was established and celebrated in June 2018. The governance committee also applied for and received an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-emption status.

The marketing committee rebranded the area as the “Rail Yard District” – in recognition of the creation of the CSX railyard over 100 years ago that caused this clustering of manufacturers and warehouses.

At the June 2018 celebratory convening, LISC Jacksonville Executive Director, Janet Owens was declared “The Godmother of the Rail Yard.”

Working for Rail Yard Businesses and the New Town Community

Now that the Rail Yard District Business District Council (RYDBC) has been established, its leaders are busy creating new relationships and working to fulfill their priorities. LISC has provided staffing through the placement of an AmeriCorps volunteer to serve as RYDBC’s District Engagement Coordinator.

The Infrastructure Committee is identifying road, viaduct, and transportation improvements sought by area businesses.

The Marketing Committee is partnering with the Farmers Market in its “Moon Over the Market” promotion to increase customer traffic and increase awareness about the Rail Yard District.

Regular District meetings are growing B2B relationships among business members.

LISC staff members are meeting with business owners to offer financing alternatives to those considering expansion.

And, ever true to their good natured civic mindedness, the leadership of the Rail Yard District is beginning to plan its first job fair in cooperation with the New Town Success Zone and LISC’s newly established Financial Opportunity Center in the heart of New Town.

This is only the beginning; we look forward to reporting future progress about the Rail Yard.[i]