Downtown Jamaica is known for its mom & pop shops, family owned restaurants and single family houses. However, residents who have been living in the vibrant community for years are starting to notice changes such as big chains like Subway and Chipotle, high rise building developments, and a spike in rent costs.

New Yorkers sometimes joke that the arrival of a Starbucks is the first sign of gentrification. The first Starbucks arrived in Jamaica in 2016. The chain chose Jamaica to kick off its national initiative to uplift low income neighborhoods by opening Starbucks stores, the program’s first store opened on Sutphin Boulevard.

“Jamaica Avenue has always been an avenue known for small and family owned businesses when you see larger corporations come in like Starbucks, it’s alarming,” says Koshik Bhuyain, resident of Jamaica, Queens. “It makes you think this could have been someone else’s family business and now there is a corporation here.”

Zara Realty is one landlord that has built 40 apartment buildings in Queens, including dozens in Jamaica, making them the largest landlord of the borough. Since the 1980s they have been selling luxury apartments. “One sign of gentrification can be luxury apartments coming to an area,” says Dwanye Baker, Urban Studies Professor at Queens College.

All the changes has made some residents fearful that the soul of Jamaica will be lost because of gentrification. Over 60 percent of the population in Jamaica consists of African Americans, but transportation routes such as the LIRR, the E, J subway lines and Air Trains have attracted several immigrant communities to the area as well. “Jamaica has always been special to me. My neighbors are from everywhere,” says Courtney French, general manager at Jamaica Arts and Learning Center. “Living in Jamaica you can feel that the world can live together.” He added later: “Anyone wishing to gentrify the neighborhood should know many cultures have coexisted here for years.”

However, not all residents are viewing these changes as a problem in the community. “There is a Starbucks a few blocks away from me, so I am not complaining,” joked Tahera Akhtar, 22, who has lived in a single family home on Jamaica Avenue since 2006. “My sisters and I love going to the Chipotle on the weekend, so we don’t mind.”

In a gentrifying neighborhood, median income levels tend to shoot up. By definition gentrification is the “upscaling of a neighborhood which once was a place affordable to low income; now being replaced with higher income people,” says Dr. Melissa Checker, professor of Urban Studies at Queens College. The median income in 2016 for District 12 (Jamaica and Hollis) was $61,268, a 3.48% increase since 2010. Although the median income level is considered to be middle class, 14% of residents in the District are still living in poverty.

Jamaica was one of the many neighborhoods that fell under the city’s Inclusionary Housing Designated Areas program, passed in 2016. Under this program 30 percent of units are set aside for those whose income level falls below 80% of the Average Median Income (AMI) of the neighborhood. However, this program comes with an incentive for building developers. Buildings are allowed to increase their Floor Area Ratio (FAR), or the maximum amount of floor area allowable on a lot, allowing for buildings to expand resulting in more units.

Long time residents are noticing high rise buildings drastically changing the landscape of their neighborhood once dominated by single family homes. “The builders bought our neighbors house and now it’s a building. It’s kind of  claustrophobic at this point because before we would have neighbors and backyard spaces. People would have barbeques. Now it’s just a lot of buildings and a lot of people coming in,” says Akhtar.

Tahera Akhtar’s family home crowded by high-rise buildings.

Although programs such as rent stabilization and inclusionary zoning protecting low income families are in place, residents are at risk of facing displacement pressure due to high costs of rent. Today, an average 1-2 bedroom apartment in Jamaica costs approximately $2,000, according to Zillow.

In 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio made inclusionary zoning mandatory for certain areas that had been rezoned. Rent stabilization units protect tenants by placing restrictions on the amount a landlord can increase rent by. Earlier this year, de Blasio launched the Neighbor Pillars program, to protect neighborhoods that are “fast-changing” and where rent regulated apartments are at risk of turn over. The program seeks to build 7,500 affordable units throughout the city over the span of 8 years.  However there are ways around it for landlords.

“You can’t just increase rent on rent stabilized apartments, so landlords tend to stop fixing things, turn the heat off, use intimidation and once that tenant leaves the [new] tenant doesn’t have to be rent stabilized,” says Baker. “That could lead to displacement pressure.”

There has been limited research published on displacement caused by gentrification since it can be difficult to track the number of people moving out of a neighborhood. “Displacement does happen if you look at it over a period of time. How can it not be happening? It’s not just housing that becomes unaffordable, it’s everything around. People can’t go to their cheap bodega, cheap Chinese take out restaurant, there’s so many aspects to it,” says Checker.

Jamaica is an area which has faced severe rezoning under plans such as South Jamaica Rezoning passed in the 2000s. These city policies allowed for greater density buildings to be built in the the zoned areas. “Rezoning and gentrification go hand in hand,” says Checker, “developers have been waiting for restrictions to be lifted in area.” There are not many situations where rezoning does not lead to gentrification.

The upside is that local residents are finding their community to be safer than ever. According to a study by NYU Furman Center the crime rate in Jamaica has gone down by 4.1% decrease since 2006. “My sister did not take night classes because she didn’t want to walk home alone at night and now I see people walking around the area at 11 pm, carefree,” says Akhtar.

There is still much debate about whether gentrification serves as a positive for any community. “Gentrification is inherently detrimental to existing neighborhood residents but if no displacement is happening and the neighborhood is just upgrading that means that property values are increasing, causing an increase in property taxes which leads to street lights, police protection, etc. Increased taxes go back into the neighborhood and that is positive,” says Baker.

Positives still come with risks. “Problem is,” warns Checker, “it’s for new people not the older residents living there.”