The apartments once known as Franklin Arms were a notorious hot spot in the Eastside for crime, drug dealing and building code violations before the Jacksonville Housing Authority bought the site in 2023 with plans for renovating the 55-year-old building.
The housing authority still intends to make one of the biggest residential investments ever in the Eastside, but it has changed course on how to do it. The strategy now calls for tearing down the four-story building by the end of the year and constructing a new apartment complex geared toward residents 55 and older in its place.
“The demolition of this is really about a new beginning for not just the residents here, for not just only those on the Eastside, but for everyone,” Jacksonville Housing Authority CEO Cheron Corbett said while walking on the sidewalk next to the fenced-in site. “This should be a model property.”…