↓ As is the case with many neighborhoods,
than half of the area’s 5,200 residents are renters, with a medium home value of $109,494, he said. Leavins and City Commissioner Nancy Miller met with a steering committee of about 10 residents and business owners monthly for nearly a year and a half to come up with an ambitious plan. “We were engaged throughout the entire process,” said Harris, the artisteducator. On Sept. 12, the Tallahassee City Commission adopted the Placemaking plan, which includes making roads safer, improving infrastructure, creating or rehabbing affordable housing and updating zoning codes. The city also voted to use $485,000 from the sale of city-owned land for The Standard to help implement the plan’s recommendations. The steering committee will become the Frenchtown Working Group and stay involved with bringing about what it considers desirable and the Capitol appeals to residents and changes. investors. It’s less than a mile from Florida The Standard is among three big projects Agricultural and Mechanical University, a transforming Frenchtown. The new five-story historically black university founded in 1887, Casanas Village apartments at Georgia and and it borders Florida State University. Macomb streets offers what it calls “affordable “Our biggest obstacle is we’re too close to urban living” in a “modern and energy-efficient FSU,” Bellamy said. “Where else are they going five-story design.” to expand?” The Frenchtown Gateway proposal, still Residents strongly opposed The evolving, would transform an area Standard student-housing project. that includes the former site of the As part of negotiations, the developer homeless shelter on Tennessee Street FRENCHTOWN agreed to add retail space on Macomb with condos, townhouses, office space, SINGLE HOMES SOLD*: 4 and a setting for a historic monument, retail and a much-needed grocery store. AVERAGE said Devan Leavins, special projects Staying put will be the landmark SQUARE FEET: administrator at the Tallahassee-Leon Economy Drugs, which has been owned 1,351 County Planning Department. by the family of pharmacist/manager AVERAGE LOT SIZE: .13 acre To address residents’ concerns, the Alexis Roberts McMillan since 1951. city launched a special Frenchtown “We’ll spruce it up, but we want to AVERAGE YEAR BUILT: 2005 Placemaking study to define the keep the same facade,” said McMillan, MEDIAN SELLING vision and needs of the neighborhood. whose mother, Geraldine Roberts, still PRICE: $163,750 The study covers a larger area than owns the drug store. “We don’t want to *Dec 1, 2016, through Dec. 10, 2018, in the historic Frenchtown. lose the flavor of what we have.” area that residents According to the U.S. Census And that’s what drives advocates. define as historic Frenchtown Bureau, the medium income in the “We have a deep love of Source: Hill Spooner study area in 2017 was $16,860, which Frenchtown,” resident Ann Roberts & Elliott, Inc., from data collected by the includes students and elderly on a said. “We want to stay in our Tallahassee Board of Realtors' MLS fixed income, Leavins said. More neighborhood.”
PHOTOS BY SAIGE ROBERTS AND COURTESY OF MUTAQEE AKBAR / MICHAEL MACORK AND DARRYL SCOTT
Frenchtown points to no official boundaries. But according to the Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department, residents generally consider the borders of Frenchtown’s historic area as Tennessee Street to the south, Bronough Street to the east, Copeland Street to the west and Brevard Street to the north.
FOOD/ENTERTAINMENT B Sharps jazz club: 648 W. Brevard St.; (850) 766-0972; b-sharps.com Southern Velvet Café: 505 W. Georgia St.; southernvelvetcafe.com
EVENTS/FESTIVALS Frenchtown Farmers Market: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday. 524 N. MLK Blvd., (850) 270-3573. frenchtownheritage.org; Frenchtown Heritage Festival: The annual event presents food, art, music and family events. frenchtownheritage.org
What do you like about Frenchtown?
“Frenchtown is home to me. It’s where I grew up. The people, the businesses that were in the area — I can’t imagine growing up anywhere else. There have been changes over the years, but I still love it.” Darryl Scott, Frenchtown resident, chairperson of the Greater Frenchtown Area Revitalization Council
“I like the fact that I can walk down the street and speak to everybody. I like the fact that people in the neighborhood appreciate what we do as a law firm in Frenchtown. There’s still a bit of culture here I appreciate being a part of. There’s a family atmosphere here, still.” Mutaqee Akbar, Frenchtown attorney, managing partner of the Na’im Akbar Justice Center, named for his father, who grew up in a house across the street.
SCHOOLS John G. Riley, Kate Sullivan and Ruediger elementary schools; Griffin and Raa middle schools; and Godby and Leon high schools
ASSOCIATIONS Frenchtown Neighborhood Improvement Association: Jim Bellamy, jmsbellamy@gmail.com; Carolina Oaks Homeowners Association: (850) 383-9915 TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM
January–February 2019
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