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Marie Jefferson has scraped out a living for 20 years in Little Haiti running a botanica — a distinctly Haitian combination of variety store and vodou dispensary. (THREAD)
Now, at age 62, Jefferson is struggling to hold on to her business. “Rent is up high. … I feel stress, terrible. I don’t have enough money.” hrld.us/2oCOikX
What happened? Investors, lured by cheap land prices, purchased the strip of shops on Northwest Second Avenue. They cleared out all the tenants, including Jefferson, another botanica and a fried-chicken eatery, and renovated the building.
Jefferson and another tenant got a little help. The investors moved the tenants to a set of redone shops in the heart of Little Haiti, on Northeast 54th Street. It might have been a happy story.
To cover costs, the investors tripled their rent. Jefferson says she’s lost much of her local clientele. What is happening to Jefferson is just a snippet of a bigger picture: the gentrification of Little Haiti. 
Investors in some sections of Little Haiti have pushed out small, longtime commercial tenants. Many have gone out of business or been forced into shaky situations elsewhere. And the problem isn’t just limited to mom-and-pop businesses. hrld.us/2n4Y7HO
A big chunk of the single-family homes and duplexes in the neighborhood are now owned by limited liability corporations with names like Vulture Property Investments, Strictly Profits LLC and World Domination Enterprises.
While there is so far little evidence of widespread residential turnover, advocates for Little Haiti residents say it’s only a matter of time. hrld.us/2ovFaOT
Different versions of the story are playing out in several other urban-core neighborhoods in Miami, including historically black Overtown and West Coconut Grove. #PricedOutofParadise hrld.us/2mVYrc8
And while a development boom has made Miami a global city, for longtime locals, their hometown is hardly a paradise, at least not one they recognize. #PricedOutofParadise hrld.us/2XfblOs
Herald reporters @AndresViglucci, @rjwile, @ReneMiamiHerald and @taydolven will continue to cover the affordability issues in South Florida that matter to you. Support their journalism by subscribing to the Miami Herald today. hrld.us/2wABbRY #ReadLocal
