Chris Pike may have taken over as the new executive director of the Jackson Redevelopment Authority with little public fanfare, but the Georgia native has big, if only simple, plans for the Jackson area.

In one of his first public moves since taking over in February, Pike was instrumental in teaming with 2 Degrees Mississippi and the U.S. Forestry Service to secure $1.5 million in funds that will go toward green spaces on Farish Street in Jackson that have been labeled as heat islands.

Farish Street was actually one of the things that intrigued Pike most when the Jackson Redevelopment Authority was recruiting him to leave South Fulton, Georgia to come to Jackson.

“I had read about all of the things going on in Jackson with the water and the trash and everything,” Pike said. “But I also read about Farish Street and all of the failed attempts at redeveloping it over the years. There is definitely a lot of history there, but I kind of felt like I could make a difference. So, I decided to give it a try.”

The JRA dates to 1968 with a mandate of eradicating urban blight and fostering socio-economic progress within Jackson and creating more opportunities for economic development.

Before assuming the role at JRA, Pike founded Urban Pulse Universal, a multifaceted firm specializing in economic development, governmental services, real estate, and sustainable community initiatives. While there, he also served as a commercial real estate broker, focusing on land, government representation and mixed-use development endeavors.

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“So, I am doing what I was created to do, which is economic development,” Pike said. “So, everyday feels like Friday to me.”

Having said that, Pike said he knows there us a large challenge ahead of him in many of the areas that JRA is in charge of, particularly Farish Street, which seems to have had dozens of press conference over the years promising big things from movie complexes to transforming it into the next Beale Street of Memphis.

“The reality is those plans were destined to fail because they lacked a key component and that was community involvement and input,” Pike said. “And since I have been here, no one who lives here has said they want another Beale Street on Farish Street. That is not authentic to the historical integrity of what Farish Street originally was.”

Pike said he does believe there could be entertainment components on Farish Street, but that should be part of a more organic growth component, instead of trying to remake something in Memphis or New Orleans with big bars and neon lights.

In fact, Pike said that if he were trying to remake anything for Farish Street, it would be from Jackson.

“What I do think is that it can be and should be a collection of mom-and-pop businesses that are doing very well that have a synergy that thrive and work with each other,” he said. “It’s not a far-fetched dream or you have to go far to figure out what Farish Street should be or can be. Just go to Fondren. If you took Fondren and put it on Farish Street, everyone would consider that a huge success.”

His stance is that Fondren is a good collection of businesses that has been built with local folks that have steered the neighborhood in the direction they have wanted and it has not been pushed by outside economic development forces.

“I love going to Fondren,” Pike said. “In essence, that’s what Farish Street should be.”

Moving forward, Pike said the JRA is already working working with five local developers for opportunities specifically on the 200 block of Farish Street. While he is not ready to make an announcement of who those are, he believes this is the first step in the redevelopment of historic area.

“The reality is people aren’t beating down the door with redevelopment projects,” he said. “So, we are creating home-grown developers to do some of these projects and then when we prove the market, outside investors will come and help grow the market that we have created and envisioned. It’s not going to happen all at once, but we have the ball rolling and we can see a future where Farish Street is growing.”

How Pike got to Jackson

Pike was the inaugural Director of Economic Development for the City of South Fulton, a growing municipality incorporated in 2017 and within the landscape of metro Atlanta. He orchestrated the establishment of the South Fulton Development Authority and Downtown Development Authority, while managing the development of the city’s first economic development strategic plan and oversaw the creation of two Tax Allocation Districts.

In addition to his pivotal role as economic development director, Pike assumed leadership positions as the executive director of the South Fulton Convention and Visitors Bureau and the South Fulton Downtown Development Authority. He earned a degree in criminal justice from Albany State University in Georgia and a Master’s in management with a from Troy University in Alabama. He has three children.

What’s next for Jackson?

Pike says he believes all of the entities within the borders of Jackson need to share a similar vision.

“You can’t do economic development within silos. This is a team sport and we all need to be working together,” he said. “Everybody wants Downtown Jackson to be a thriving area. No one is against that, and people generally have a good perception of what that looks like. It’s just a matter of working from the same plan and working and speaking with one voice. I want to see all of partners working to figure out what that is to get a Jackson heading in the right direction.”

As for working together with the state of Mississippi and any view on if there is a schism between leaders of Jackson and Gov. Tate Reeves, Pike said there is work to do.

“I don’t want to get into the politics, but when you are talking about the state providing resources, I don’t think that anybody thinks that $9.5 million (in annual appropriations) being invested from the state level is enough to expect the change that everyone seems to expect,” Pike said. “But I understand there are some dynamics that exist there. So, if we all have the same voice in Jackson, we can speak out for the same things, then we can get more of the resources we need.”

What’s different now?

Despite the many challenges of the future and failures of the past, Pike is bullish on the belief that he can get the job done and make a difference in Jackson.

“Sometimes, its just about the right person for the right job and the right time,” Pike said. “You can have all the money in the world, you can have all the resources and the people, but if you don’t have the right leadership to activate all of that, it doesn’t matter. If you give a fool $50 million, it doesn’t change anything. You have just given a fool $50 million. So, leadership is vitally important to our mission. When you don’t have resources, like with the challenges we have here in Jackson and the JRA, leadership is even that much more important.”

He believes he can change the course of Jackson with his experience and his vision.

“The JRA has just needed someone with those intangibles that in many cases you can’t define,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do, but we have the right team in place.”

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Jackson MS Redevelopment Authority director Chris Pike shares vision