JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Out on the Eastside of Jacksonville, just off Franklin Street, Esau Lollis can almost see Everbank Stadium from his front yard.
He said since stadium renovation talks started, he’s received countless text messages from investors wanting to buy his home.
So many, in fact, he started replying stop. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t considering selling.
“If it gets there and I am given a respectable offer, I may take it,” Lollis said.
So what will the future of home buying, selling, or renting look like on the Eastside in the coming years?
Nancy Bass of Bass Professional Realty said once the $1.4 billion stadium is approved, many investors are going to look close to that area.
In the last 10 years, Bass said she estimates a 130% increase in calls from potential homebuyers to her office. The new project would only add to those numbers.
“I think it makes Jacksonville overall exciting as a city,” she said.
While it may offer people looking to sell the opportunity to pocket some cash, a large number of people living in the Eastside spoke at the city council meeting Monday evening wanting to preserve the historic Eastside and not price people out who are currently living there.
“Out East, neighborhoods like La Villa, neighborhoods like Brooklyn, when I grew up there most of the kids that ran around looked like me. Neighborhoods like Sugar Hill that no longer exist, many of these neighborhoods the downfall of these neighborhoods was massive development, but not development itself but development that did not complement the development with investments to stop the negative impacts of development,” Travis Williams said during a council meeting on Monday.
According to Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, homes built within a 1-mile radius of a new NFL stadium could see a jump in home value of 4.7%, while rent could increase by up to 9%.
“Anything downtown around the stadium has gone up in value,” Bass said. “The Southbank has totally gone up in value. St. Vincent, St. Nicholas, San Marco, Riverside, anything by the river is going to continue to go up.”