J Magazine Winter 2019
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS<br />
By Lilla Ross<br />
Building a<br />
Downtown<br />
community<br />
Creating a vibrant neighborhood is<br />
a calling for Cathedral District-Jax<br />
n the 1960s, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral<br />
I decided to invest in Downtown Jacksonville. The<br />
initial efforts occurred under the leadership of<br />
Dean Robert Parks, who built three high-rises for seniors<br />
and a rehabilitation center.<br />
GINNY<br />
MYRICK<br />
WORK: President & CEO<br />
of Cathedral District-Jax<br />
FROM: Syracuse, N.Y.<br />
LIVES IN: St. Nicholas<br />
They have continued under<br />
Dean Kate Moorehead with the<br />
establishment of Cathedral District-Jax,<br />
a nonprofit under the<br />
leadership of Ginny Myrick.<br />
The mission of Cathedral District-Jax<br />
is to help develop a residential<br />
neighborhood around the Cathedral. Its first project was the acquisition<br />
of the old Community Connections property at 325 E. Duval St. The<br />
property was entangled with loans in default and state restrictions that<br />
limited how it could be developed. Myrick was able to untangle it all,<br />
and Vestcor has now taken on the project to develop workforce and<br />
affordable housing. Vestcor has bought 75 percent of the property<br />
and is working toward closing on the remaining 25 percent.<br />
I sat down with Dean Kate and Ginny to talk about their<br />
vision for the Cathedral District and Downtown.<br />
Dean Kate: It’s a fascinating time Downtown. We have people<br />
who are leaving and people who are expanding and developing. We<br />
are standing strong, especially with First Baptist selling 10 blocks. The<br />
Cathedral has really been about feeling called by God to be Downtown.<br />
We believe God is calling us to create a community and a neighborhood.<br />
In the ’60s and ’70s, the Cathedral stayed when all that urban<br />
flight was going on. We built all these nonprofits around us in an effort<br />
to do Jesus’ work, but what we didn’t realize was we were creating<br />
urban blight because there was no tax base. So, all of our properties<br />
92<br />
J MAGAZINE | WINTER <strong>2019</strong>