Downtown Jackson to offer more living spaces as growth continues

JACKSON, Tenn. — Six months ago, the Jackson Chamber partnered with the Jackson Downtown Development Corporation to focus on the growth of downtown Jackson.

“Really just to focus on downtown development, there were several vacant buildings — some of which have been vacant for about 18 years — and just sort of getting those off the market, living and working down here,” said Ryan Porter, Jackson Chamber COO.

Recently, around 15 to 18 vacant buildings have been purchased in hopes of bringing more people to the area.

“Downtown Jackson obviously looks a lot different today than it did then,” Porter said. “You are seeing a lot more people live and wanting to live downtown, to the point where there’s not a lot of places available to live.”

These current and potential spaces will not only bring more money to the city, but additional residential spaces as well.

“These buildings that we were talking about being sold, they’re doing commercial retail on the ground floor and then the second and third floor will be residential, so again our focus will shift now from selling these properties to get more people living and working in downtown Jackson,” said Porter.

Downtown is growing each and every day, from new businesses to newly built lofts, the Chamber and JDCC hope to boost the area one building at a time.

“It’s an exciting time to be in downtown Jackson,” Porter said. “I think these building sat empty for a long long time and now the momentum is here, and we’re trying to capitalize off that momentum for downtown Jackson.”

The Chamber plans on continuing to expand the downtown area as time continues.

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