At first glance, Market Creek Plaza might look like a typical commercial development project, but there is more than meets the eye. Beginning as a partnership between community residents and the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation (JCNI), an operating foundation supported by the Jacobs Family Foundation, to redevelop an old factory site, Market Creek Plaza evolved, through the creativity of hundreds of community stakeholders, into a project focused on building community building skills, building assets, and building ownership while residents rebuilt 
their neighborhoods.
Project Overview
Project Location
- 10-acre site at the corner of Market Street & Euclid Avenue
- Easily accessible to Highways 805, 94 & 15
- 5 minutes from downtown
- Next to Trolley & Bus Transfer Station
- State Enterprise Zone, Federal Enterprise Community
Financial Overview
- Total project cost $23.5 million
- Total Jacobs Center investment to-date $28 million
- Land doubled in appraised value in the first two years
Project Innovations
- Development of an innovative network of community teams coming together to build a community vision
- Broad community involvement in design and development of a commercial project
- Creation of innovative program-related investment tools for social-purpose investors
- Design of an owner-builder, mentor-protege construction program which is comprehensive in scope and is providing a vehicle for more than half the project to be built by the neighborhood
Economic Impact
- More than 1,700 new jobs in the neighborhood
- 360 construction jobs with training for emerging contractors, supported by contractor working lines of credit
- Nine working teams, involving thousands of residents and businesses, build skills in every aspect of project
- Community ownership strategy; hundreds of committed community residents investing their own capital in the project, building wealth by rebuilding their neighborhood
Social and Cultural Impact
- Chollas Creek restored (part of City’s plan), natural vegetation, walking paths
- 500-seat outdoor amphitheater
- Unique architectural character created by multicultural team
- Multi-cultural values expressed in MCP through community art estimated at $ 1.4 million
- Safe place for intergenerational and multi-ethnic interactions
Via:(Market Creek Plaza)
