Suzanne Pickett, CEO, Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation

June 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Suzanne Pickett, CEO of the Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation, discussed major investment, anti-displacement work, cultural preservation, and the future of Jacksonville’s Eastside. “We believe legacy residents should be able to stay and build in this community as it changes,” Pickett said.

What have been the biggest milestones for Historic Eastside Community Development Corporation over the past year?

One of the most significant milestones has been the successful negotiation of the Community Benefits Agreement for the Eastside. That work was led by The Together Eastside Coaliton which included, Eastsider residents, businesses, community  partners and .The agreement is tied to the city of Jacksonville and the Stadium of the Future deal, and it represents a $115 million investment over a 30-year period.

Within that, there is a $40 million allocation for the Eastside over seven years, which is incredibly exciting. That infusion of capital comes at a moment when there is major development happening all around us, including the stadium, the Downtown Entertainment District, the Cathedral District, Springfield, the Phoenix Arts District, and Pearl Plaza. All of that activity creates an opportunity to build a clear plan for the Eastside and ensure the neighborhood benefits from the investment surrounding it.

We have also continued to advance our Prosper in Place initiative. We are now up to 97 homes restored for residents which is part of our anti-displacement infrastructure in partnership with LIFT Jax and due to our generous supporters. That includes home repairs, heirs’ property resolution in partnership with LISC Jacksonville, Three Rivers Legal, and other partners, as well as property tax assistance and estate planning. We have processed more than 1,500 referrals through that work.

Another important milestone is that A. Philip Randolph Boulevard, historically known as Florida Avenue, is now an official Main Street through Main Street America. That brings additional focus and investment to our commercial corridor.

We also completed our first new construction home for affordability, and we now have our first renter in that home. In partnership with LiftJax, we created the Eastside Housing Collaborative, which includes properties received from the city, as well as additional LiftJax properties, to support more affordable housing in the neighborhood.

How is the Eastside positioned to benefit from the momentum around sports, entertainment, and downtown investment?

Right now, we see the largest number of people coming into the community during NFL games. Historically, the Eastside has often been used for parking, but we are so much more than a parking lot. There are still plans for the Armada and soccer stadium activity to come into the neighborhood, particularly on the east side of the sports and entertainment district.

Jacksonville is booming, and as the Sports Entertainment District expands, as shipyard development moves forward, and as downtown investment radiates outward, the Eastside is the first neighborhood in that path. That is how we turn proximity into development with our partners.

Keeping residents rooted in the neighborhood remains extremely important. We want to identify employment opportunities connected to the Four Seasons Hotel, new hotels, concerts, entertainment activity, tourism, hospitality, and other sectors that are growing in Jacksonville. We believe legacy residents should be able to stay and build in this community as it changes.

We also have an initiative called Soul Capital, which is designed to identify the natural talents of residents, understand their goals and endeavors, and connect them with opportunities around us.

What workforce opportunities are being created for Eastside residents?

We have a strong partnership with Goodwill of Northeast Florida, which is one of the leaders in workforce development for youth and adults in our community. One of our flagship programs is FUSE Youth Soul Capital Academy, which serves ages 14 to 24. It teaches entrepreneurship, business basics, and career readiness.

The program is anchored in arts and culture as the entry point. It is more than an after-school program. It is violence and crime prevention, workforce infrastructure, and economic development all in one.

We are using culture as a curriculum and building entrepreneurs, not just employees. As we build up our commercial corridor and bring new entities and businesses into the Eastside, we want residents to be owners and workers in those businesses.

The Community Benefits Agreement is designed to build up the Eastside, but it also creates opportunity for all of Jacksonville. It is an opportunity for people to come into our neighborhood, find jobs, develop workforce skills, build businesses, and pursue entrepreneurship.

We want to connect those who wish to start businesses or work at a business with the new developers and opportunities coming into the city.

How are you working to preserve the Eastside’s cultural identity amid new investment?

We are working to make the Eastside an arts and culture district. That is one way we continue preserving the community and ensuring that people know where they are when they visit the Eastside or come into Jacksonville.

We are working with cultural tourism partners, including Visit Jacksonville, Visit Florida, and the Chamber of Commerce, so they understand and support the importance of place. We also have our Legacy First initiative. When development comes into the Eastside, we want partners to know they are in the Eastside, to understand the place they are in, and to respect its importance.

That work includes physical anchors, places that cannot be bought out and can be preserved. We have our cultural center, and I have personally invested in a community center in the neighborhood. I also have Arts Village Eastside, which includes six historic homes one block from the Sports Entertainment District.

We are also focused on creating more cultural events and activities, reinstating what was once here, developing cultural heritage trails, building on our historic designation, and using the Out East name. Another initiative is the 147th Block, which connects to the Great Fire of 1901. The fire burned 146 blocks in Jacksonville, but when it reached the Eastside, the marshland and Hogan’s Creek helped preserve the neighborhood. Those stories matter. Continuing to use narrative as art and infrastructure is important in our work.

How are you working with stakeholders to ensure investment benefits existing residents?

That is part of what we call our “with-gentrification strategy.” When developers or interested parties want to come into the neighborhood, we come together to determine how the community can be a beneficiary of that development.

That includes preservation, education, heritage tourism, entrepreneurship, and collaboration with for-profit developers. There are many small for-profit developers in our community, and it does not always have to be a large developer. We need a mixed-income strategy.

We know that the neighborhood needs investment. We know that the neighborhood needs new people to come into the community, but the strategy of keeping Eastside Eastside as it grows is extremely important for us.

It is about threading together development benefits, workforce, and cultural preservation into one cohesive place and one cohesive narrative. We want to come together with new developers and find solutions that allow residents to prosper in place.

The Eastside is still one of the most intact African American neighborhoods in the state of Florida on the National Register, and it is still the only remaining Black neighborhood around downtown and the Sports Entertainment District. We are working to elevate the dynamic culture of the Eastside, and of Jacksonville as a whole.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities for the Eastside over the next three to five years?

The major year everyone is looking toward is 2028, when the stadium is expected to reopen with larger seating and expanded activity. By then, the Armada Soccer Stadium, the Four Seasons Hotel, and waterfront activity are also expected to be part of the broader development landscape.

In three to five years, we see ourselves deep into the master plan for the development of the Eastside, with current residents still here and residents positioned as owners. We talk about revitalization, transformation, activation, and ownership.

Revitalization is visible changes and more investment in the community. Transformation is improvements along the commercial corridors, in older homes, streets, and infrastructure. Activation means creating new spaces that are not just parking lots but places for cultural identity, cultural tourism, community enjoyment and economic development.  Ownership is retention of ownership by legacy residents and business ownership, both internally and externally, with Eastsiders as part owners of that future.