SARASOTA, Fla. — The Newtown neighborhood, nestled inside the city of Sarasota, is the largest Black historic district in Florida. The district is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In Newtown, there are 15 markers throughout the district highlighting significant places, as well as plans for the area.
There's one placed outside of BayFirst Bank. It says in order for the community to thrive there must be physical and economic changes.
Commissioner Kyle Battie serves District 1 and says he grew up in Newtown. He says it is a rich piece of history.
“Newtown, when I was growing up was self-sufficient and self-reliant,” Battie said. “They say love thy neighbor as you love thy self and that was huge. There was ownership by Black people and that's something that we have to basically get back to the idea of.”
Battie does, however, say the district has its ups and downs. He believes its overcoming challenges as property values are increasing, but he wants more.
“There's food desert up there,” he said. “My vision is to try and spawn any type of economic growth and redevelopment.”
Newtown native Terrill Salem owns multiple properties in the district.
“It feels good to be able to do something like this and also make a living doing it,” he said.
Salem hopes to transform his hometown and buy more homes.
“What we're going to do is we're going to come to this house and we're going to literally renovate the whole house. We're going to take some walls down. We're going to take the roof system off the house,” Salem said.
He recently closed on three homes, and plans to make them affordable housing rentals.
“My goal is to try and find a balance where I can keep the rents reasonable and so that more people that want to stay in the area can stay in the area,” Salem said.
Salem is working with BayFirst Bank to get this done.
“It's not just about loans and bank accounts. The financial literacy part was a huge part of what we are here to do,” said Joe McKenzie with BayFirst Bank.
BayFirst opened in 2022. It's conducted financial counseling, provided more than $6 million in loans for local projects and it's expanding to become a full-service bank.
“We've opened around a hundred accounts so far since we've opened our doors about six months ago. Many of the accounts we've opened so far have been for people who have either unbanked or underbanked,” McKenzie said.
As the only bank in the district, the bank is serious about helping its neighbors.
“I want to help people. It's not even about Black and Brown, everyone in the economy is struggling in some way,” McKenzie said.
BayFirst Bank said its provided more than $1 million in construction loans to the Newtown community and there are eight single family homes being developed right now in the district.
Salem is responsible for three of those eight homes under construction. He said he hopes to have them available by December.