Knox Housing Partnership Breaks Ground at Nevada Heights

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knox Housing Partnership (KHP) held a groundbreaking for Nevada Heights, formerly Jackson Heights Apartments located at 131 Nevada Ave. in LaFollette, Tenn., Friday morning.

“This has been a two-year process to get to this point,” KHP Executive Director Jackie Mayo said. “When we were approached to do this project we knew it was going to take a lot of money to make this work. We’ve had some great partners come in and make this a reality.”

Mayo said the Nevada Heights development will include 17 units of fully renovated affordable apartments, available to low-income households. Five of the 17 units have been set aside for seniors.

“Sixty-three years ago I was born, and my mother and father brought me home from the hospital, and we lived on Nevada Avenue,” said city of LaFollette Mayor Mike Stanfield. “Recently, when we started looking at property to rehab, we came up here and looked at Jackson Heights. We thought it would be a good partnership between Knox Housing Partnership and the city of LaFollette. This is what happens when you get good, caring people working in the community and trying to make a difference in somebody’s life.”

According to Mayo, the Nevada Heights development is scheduled to be completed in late 2015. Funding for the development has been provided by the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, NeighborWorks America and Peoples Bank of the South.

“This project is literally in our back yard,” said Logan Hickman, Executive Vice President at Peoples Bank of the South. “Jackie (Mayo) and Chris (Osborn) from KHP sold our bank on this project, and we’re confident in the partnership they put together with this deal. KHP has a proven track record, and I can assure the local people this project will be successful.”

“What really makes projects like this work is the support of the community,” said Ralph Perrey, Executive Director of Tennessee Housing Development Agency. “All of our communities need the people who need affordable housing, whether it’s young people starting their lives and looking for decent places to live, or older folks who have worked all of their lives and are looking for a safe and comfortable place to retire. And THDA is delighted to be a part of that.”

About Knox Housing Partnership

Knox Housing Partnership’s mission to strengthen communities by providing sustainable housing opportunities is accomplished by providing education to potential homeowners and tenants, offering foreclosure prevention counseling for those struggling with their mortgage, developing new apartments and single-family homes for individuals, families, and seniors that might not qualify otherwise, helping individuals and families thrive through affordable sustainable homeownership or rental housing so they can raise their children in clean, stable environments within positive and healthy communities, providing affordable rental opportunities for seniors that will allow them to have quality independent living in a quiet setting and revitalizing neighborhoods by improving existing housing or building new affordable housing. In compliance with the Fair Housing Act, KHP does not discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.