Aaron and Cytia Jordan had their eye on the boarded-up building on Lake Forest Boulevard near Reid Boulevard in East New Orleans for years, finally purchasing it six years ago.
The Jordans’ print shop, Universal Printing, had outgrown its space in the shopping mall next door, so rather than pay rising rent for a larger storefront in the mall, they bought the eyesore from its owner and renovated it, revitalizing a building that had been in disrepair since Hurricane Katrina hit the area in 2005.
“We took on this project because we care about the East Side,” Aaron Jordan said, adding that the print shop the couple ran for 13 years was filling in for services lost when Office Depot pulled out of the area after the storm. “We thought, ‘That place is desolate. This is a way to beautify the area and give back to the community.'”
The Jordans are part of a growing number of black residents in New Orleans and across the country who are “buying back land,” or becoming property owners, revitalizing the communities where they live and work. City policy experts say such investments are key to revitalizing predominantly black neighborhoods that often suffer from declining values, speculative investment and other obstacles to economic growth.
Black neighborhoods need big, catalytic redevelopment projects, but “for every one of those, there are 10 smaller projects with much easier development budgets of $100,000 to $2 million,” Linear Richardson and Tracy Allen Law of the Brookings Institution, a think tank that focuses in part on urban policy, wrote in a July report.
In other gentrifying areas, block-buying initiatives allow longtime residents to have a say in local development, the authors said.
The Jordans are hoping that national investors will return to the east side of the city, which has long struggled to attract big-box retailers. But while they wait, they’re taking the first steps to reinvent the once-bustling area.
“You have to tell yourself you can do it and take a chance,” Aaron Jordan said. “There’s risk involved. We’re putting money on the line.”
National Movement
The “Buy Back the Block” movement has been popularized in recent years by rap artists such as Nipsey Hussle, Rick Ross and Jay-Z, who have used a variety of lyrics to urge black residents to move away from renting in their neighborhoods and towards owning residential and commercial property.
In majority-black neighborhoods like Rochester, New York, Chicago and Baltimore, local private investors have responded by putting their own cash into purchases, or local governments have created incentive programs aimed at encouraging such investment.
City officials did not respond to questions this week about similar local programs, but at least three are aimed at making it easier for longtime residents to own property in their neighborhoods.
These are the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative (aimed at increasing homeownership in the city’s Lower 9th Ward), another program of the agency, Lot Next Door (allowing residents to purchase adjacent government-owned property at fair market value), and the city’s Mow to Own program (giving residents the opportunity to purchase nearby city-owned property at below fair market value after holding onto it for at least a year).
When the “Mow to Own” program launched in 2021, Mayor LaToya Cantrell, who as a City Council member helped pass local legislation to create the program, called it “another tool to fight blight and build transferable wealth for our neighborhoods.”
The city also provides direct assistance to low-income first-time homebuyers through a variety of programs.
Fighting misconceptions
Even with willing local investors and government support, it can be hard to gain momentum in black neighborhoods, which also struggle with misconceptions about crime, limited business viability and suffer from low property values.
To address some of these issues, the Jordans launched the Greater New Orleans East Business Alliance in 2022. About 30 small business owners have already joined. Together, they work to attract major retailers and restaurant chains and raise the profile of small, family-owned businesses that serve the east region.
Benefiting from a federal tax break, the Jordans say the risk they took on the neighborhood they love has paid off. A few years after they first renovated the building that’s now home to Universal Printing, they bought a vacant office block nearby. So far, they’ve renovated three offices, housed a labor union and law firm, and opened an events venue.
As business at the printing plant continues to expand, the company also plans to move some of its operations to new space.
“Investing in Heritage”
DJ Johnson opened Baldwin & Co. bookstore and coffee shop on Elysian Fields Avenue in the Marigny, where he grew up, in 2021. He also bought the former Jeans Po’Boys building next door, at the corner of Elysian Fields and St. Claude avenues, and leased it to Credit Humane, a credit union that opened in what was once a banking desert.
The bookstore and credit union are part of Johnson’s vision to improve literacy and access to financial institutions for black and other residents, giving them a chance to escape poverty. Johnson said he hopes his success will inspire others to join in the growth of their block.
Johnson said he plans to continue investing in his neighborhood and also consider opening Baldwin & Co. stores in other Black neighborhoods in the city. Investment by longtime residents is key to development without displacement, he said.
“We have to take back ownership of the community that has been ours for so long,” he said. “This is a stand against the erasure of our culture and history. To me, it’s not just about buying a property. … I’m investing in heritage and I’m investing in the idea that this land can be a beacon of Black excellence and resilience.”