To explore the potential for the area surrounding Engine 15’s new Myrtle Avenue facilities, it would be helpful to compare the historical context and physical conditions of two bustling food districts: Pittsburgh’s Strip District and Detroit’s Eastern Market. Both areas share striking similarities to Jacksonville’s Myrtle/Beaver corridor.
The Strip District
The Strip District in Pittsburgh, PA is a one-half square mile, narrow strip of land marked by industrial buildings. It is located northeast of the central business district between the Allegheny River and a steep hill leading into a historic African-American neighborhood aptly named The Hill.
In the 19th century, mills and factories were constructed throughout the area that produced a variety of goods that would be loaded on ships along the Allegheny River and transported to various domestic and international destinations. The influx of industrial uses and the accompanying laborers, that filled factories operating at full capacity, spurred an influx of enterprising merchants opening restaurants and grocery stores to feed hungry workers.
By the 20th century, the Strip District became the economic center of Pittsburgh as hundreds of wholesale warehouses opened to distribute fresh produce, meat and poultry across the Northeast. After World War II, companies preferred to ship goods by truck instead of by boat and rail, leading to many manufacturers and wholesalers to leave the district for property with easier access to a growing network of highway systems.
Image Credit: Seriouseats.com
The physical form of the neighborhood was left mostly intact during this downturn, and today the large, raw open spaces of the bygone industrial building stock has drawn a new breed of specialty food-related manufacturers, wholesalers, restaurants, nightclubs and bars to setup shop. This new wave of redevelopment has turned the Strip District into an authentic and culturally diverse hub of Pittsburgh’s food scene.
Image Credit: PittsburghMagazine.com
From vendors cooking and preparing ethnic foods atop grills setup along the sidewalk, to bustling seafood markets, butchers, ethnic grocery stores, restaurants of all ilk’s, to micro distilleries, craft breweries and the bustling Pittsburgh Public Market… the Strip District is a unique melting pot of gastronomy that is buzzing with commerce. A scene like this simply could not be re-created if it were not for the preserved unique collection of industrial buildings located within such a compact setting.
Eastern Market
Located one mile from the central business district, and covering 43 acres, Detroit’s Eastern Market is the largest historic public market district in the country.
Anchored by a large public market, engaged in both retail and wholesale activities, that’s surrounded by food businesses housed in historic masonry warehouses, this working food district employs more than 1,300 people and accounts for just over $1 billion in food exports both domestically and internationally. The impressively diverse scale of food processing, warehousing, retail/wholesaling businesses and distribution facilities makes Eastern Market one of the nation’s most comprehensive regional food hubs.
Image Credit: Metro Jacksonville
Like the area around Jacksonville’s Myrtle Avenue, Detroit’s weak real estate market actually preserved the integrity of Eastern Market. As the nationwide demand for urban residential living incentivized cities to upzone warehouse districts allowing developers to convert former industrial buildings into residential uses, Detroit’s stagnant growth kept the area surrounding the market off the radar of most of these types of investors..
Recognizing that the needs of the modern food industry footprint have shrunk, an effort to rezone the area to permit a broader range of businesses to operate within a historically light/heaving industrial district has led to an influx of new businesses opening in and around Eastern Market.
In a similar fashion to both Detroit and Pittsburgh, the expressway expansion that would become I-95, leading to LaVilla’s demise has served as a barrier of protection and preservation for the historical food production hub straddling Myrtle Avenue and Beaver Street. Hidden from view on the west side of I-95, it’s a forgotten area that has been spared the city’s destructive and failed urban renewal policies