Abandoned house one of many demolished in Jackson

JACKSON, Tenn. — The city of Jackson takes steps to clean up areas near downtown with a renovation project that includes demolishing some blighted buildings.

“Going into the neighborhoods, you just find the eyesores of that particular neighborhood, abandoned properties that are boarded up, maybe,” Brian James, an associate with Healthy Communities LLC, said.

Lately, the city of Jackson has been demolishing some of those homes. In fact, the city has torn down 15 abandoned homes in as many months.

“We find the owner of the property and basically figure out what they’re doing with it, if they want to sell the property. If they do want to sell, we move forward in negotiations to secure the property,” James said.

The home demolished Friday was on Camden Street in east Jackson. The demolitions are all part of a grant through the Tennessee Housing Development Agency’s Blight Elimination program. THDA says the City of Jackson is the second largest area in the state to use the grant for demolitions.

“This one was boarded up,” James said. “The doors were completely open on it. I saw people going in and out, and that’s what made me interested in looking into the property.”

The construction company says someone’s belongings were left inside.

“It looks like some people had been living in it, a bunch of trash and things like that laying around,” Tucker Whitman said.

The construction company says they’ve demolished several homes like this one, and the neighbors are happy about it.

“It’s about time that they’re going to tear it down,” Sherry Bond, who lives down the street, said. She says it’s had problems since it was left empty.

“You get kids that come by and get bored and break out the windows, and the owner has to come and board it up,” She said.

Officials say they aren’t stopping with this house, and they expect the demolitions to continue.

“We are doing as many as we can,” James said. “Until this grant money runs out, we’re going to be looking for properties until then.”

If you would like to send Brian James and Healthy Communities LLC a recommendation for one of their projects, visit HealthyCommunityLLC.com or call their office at 731-554-2079.