Community Redevelopment

Pensacola CRA Eyes Major Boundary Expansion—and $57 Million in New Redevelopment Funds

A preliminary Finding of Necessity has cleared the legal threshold, setting the stage for the biggest expansion of the city’s tax increment financing districts in two decades.

The City of Pensacola’s Community Redevelopment Agency, which is made up of the Pensacola City Council members, is moving toward the most significant expansion of its redevelopment boundaries in roughly two decades, with a preliminary analysis showing the move could unlock more than $57 million in new tax increment financing revenue between 2027 and 2045.

• The proposal goes before the CRA at its June 15 meeting. CRA Staff is asking board members to weigh in on proposed boundary modifications and preliminary district assignments before the project advances to community outreach. Read Memorandum (1).

The Proposal

The expansion builds on recommendations from the 2025 updates to the Eastside, Westside, and Urban Core Community Redevelopment Plans. Those updated plans called for exploring whether the existing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts—already covering portions of inner-city Pensacola—could be enlarged, particularly on the Eastside and Westside.

Staff identified three study areas for potential inclusion:

• Area 1 covers roughly 2,118 acres, stretching from Brent Lane and Royce Street in the north down to E. Cervantes Street, bounded by Bayou Texar to the east and N. Palafox Street to the west. This would largely feed into the Eastside CRA.
• Area 2 is approximately 619 acres in the Westside corridor, running from W. Jordan Street south to Cervantes, between N. Haynes Street and N. B Street.
• Area 3 encompasses the Sanders Beach and Bayou Chico waterfront area, bounded by Bayou Chico to the north and west and Pensacola Bay to the south—a largely Westside district addition.

Much of this territory is not new to the city’s redevelopment radar. The consultant’s report notes that 36% of Area 1, 93% of Area 2, and 100% of Area 3 were included in Pensacola’s original 1980 Inner City Blight Report, but were never formally incorporated into a TIF district that would actually generate reinvestment revenue.

The Legal Threshold: Slum and Blight

Under Chapter 163, Part III of the Florida Statutes, a city can’t simply draw new CRA lines. It must first document that proposed areas meet the legal definition of “slum” or “blight.” The city commissioned Inspire Placemaking Collective to conduct that Finding of Necessity study, completed in January 2026.

The study found the expansion areas clear the bar on multiple counts:

Inspectors documented brownfields in Areas 1 and 3, overgrown and fire-hazard vegetation in Areas 1 and 2, and widespread FEMA-designated flood risk in Area 3—conditions the statute recognizes as endangering life and property.

On the blight side, the study found deficient street infrastructure across all three areas—missing sidewalks, broken pedestrian networks, inadequate pavement—as well as:

• Tax delinquency rates in Areas 1 and 2 that exceed citywide averages when measured per acre, per structure, and per capita
• Commercial and office vacancy rates of 50% in Area 1, 55% in Area 2, and 42% in Area 3, compared to a 40% citywide average
• Housing vacancy rates of 13%, 17%, and 21% respectively, against an 11% citywide figure
• 911 call rates in Area 3 of 5.59 per resident—more than double the citywide rate of 2.42
• Fire and EMS call rates in Area 2 exceeding citywide averages on every measured basis

The FON also documented a stark park access gap: Area 1 provides just 3.77 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents and Area 2 only 1.95 acres, compared to the citywide level of service of 6.74 acres per 1,000 residents.

The conclusion: all three study areas satisfy Florida’s Alternative One test for CRA designation, meeting both the slum and blight thresholds required by law.  Read Preliminary Finding of Necessity.

The Money: TIF Projections Through 2045

The financial case is spelled out in a separate projection prepared by Inspire Placemaking Collective. Using a conservative 2.5% annual property value growth rate—deliberately chosen to avoid overpromising during market peaks—the analysis projects what the expansion areas would generate if brought into the CRA framework with a 2026 base year and an expiration in 2045.

The Westside expansion generates the lion’s share of projected revenue because of its larger taxable base. The base year taxable value across both expansion areas is pegged at $998.1 million. Annual TIF revenue is projected to start modestly—roughly $258,000 in fiscal year 2028—and grow to more than $6.1 million by fiscal 2046.

The projections also show what the existing CRA trust funds stand to capture in the same period: the Eastside CRA’s current district is projected to generate an additional $18.84 million through 2045, while the Westside’s existing footprint is projected to add $81.08 million. The expansion areas are additive to those figures. Read CRA Boundary Expansion – TIF Projection v2.

What Comes Next

The June 15 meeting is a discussion item, not a final vote. The CRA is being asked to review and provide feedback on the proposed boundaries and district assignments so the process can advance to the next phase: community outreach and engagement with neighborhoods inside the proposed expansion zones.

• That public input will feed into updates to the Eastside and Westside redevelopment plans, and the Finding of Necessity itself will be revised once boundaries are finalized. Plan consultant Urban Design Associates (UDA) has been retained on a continuing services basis to lead that work.

The formal adoption path requires a resolution from Pensacola City Council acknowledging blight, followed by an ordinance formally expanding the CRA—which also sets the taxable base year and authorizes TIF revenue collection from participating taxing authorities. Those authorities—including Escambia County, the Escambia Children’s Trust, the Escambia County School District, and others—must receive advance notice of any proposed actions.

• Total project funding is $279,200, split across the Westside TIF Fund ($130,775), Eastside TIF Fund ($124,770), and the CRA Fund ($23,655).