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Housing complex being built for deaf in East Nashville | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
A redeveloped former nursing home on the corner of Porter Road and Eastland Avenue will soon be the site of the state’s first apartment complex for low-income, deaf and hearing-impaired residents.
Construction crews are currently completing the façade of 701 Porter, a retail and residential development.
Seven retailers including a bakery, salon and a new local restaurant, Cooper’s on Porter, will open this month, said Brent Elrod, project manager with Urban Housing Solutions, which operates eight other low-income complexes in Nashville.
Elrod said he expects to lease the apartments by December.
The development also includes Montessori East, a primary and elementary school that opened in August 2009.
Elrod and a Colorado-based architect John Dickson, who is deaf, developed the 26,000-square-foot, special-needs housing and retail project, Elrod said.
Grants and loans from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, Metro Development and Housing Agency, The Housing Fund and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati made the $1.6 million first phase of the project possible.
The second phase, which is years in the making, will add 10 additional apartments and office space.
“We have people from Kentucky, Florida and Georgia interested in living here, because there are not any options like this in the Southeast,” Elrod said. “We want to create a design that can coexist with retail and a unique place for our deaf community.”
The project began in July 2008 when owners Aubrey and Forrest Preston donated the building, formerly the Cornelia House nursing home. Baron + Dowdle began construction in November, transforming the nursing home rooms into 20 apartments and retail suites, Elrod said.
The apartments range in size from 400 to 700 square feet, and will feature a multi-strobe light fire alarm system and flat-screen videophones. Community members advocated having a four-way stop and pedestrian crosswalk in front of the development.
“The East Nashville community has embraced this project, because they see that this will benefit the whole community,” Elrod said.
The project opens doors for both the hearing-impaired and local business owners, said Cooper Brunk, owner of Cooper’s on Porter and an East
Nashville resident. His restaurant will offer moderately priced American food and a selection of microbrews.
“I think this is great,” Brunk said. “I drove down here thousands of times and saw this whole place boarded up. We’re all excited to see it become something.”
Even with all the benefits to East Nashville, the deaf community has the most to gain in the completion of 701 Porter, said Eric Workman, Hearing Bridges director of programs. Hearing Bridges serves many of the more than 77,000 deaf and hearing-impaired residents in Davidson County, he said.
The Nashville organization assisted Urban Housing Solutions with researching the needs of deaf individuals. Hearing Bridges currently provides resources such as after-school and outreach programs for the hearing impaired.
Workman said he hopes that the apartments can provide housing and even employment for some of those in the deaf community.
“This is a big need,” Workman said. “They’re living in a hearing world, so the possibility of being around people who are like them is a great one.”
A redeveloped former nursing home on the corner of Porter Road and Eastland Avenue will soon be the site of the state’s first apartment complex for low-income, deaf and hearing-impaired residents.
Construction crews are currently completing the façade of 701 Porter, a retail and residential development.
Seven retailers including a bakery, salon and a new local restaurant, Cooper’s on Porter, will open this month, said Brent Elrod, project manager with Urban Housing Solutions, which operates eight other low-income complexes in Nashville.
Elrod said he expects to lease the apartments by December.
The development also includes Montessori East, a primary and elementary school that opened in August 2009.
Elrod and a Colorado-based architect John Dickson, who is deaf, developed the 26,000-square-foot, special-needs housing and retail project, Elrod said.
Grants and loans from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency, Metro Development and Housing Agency, The Housing Fund and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati made the $1.6 million first phase of the project possible.
The second phase, which is years in the making, will add 10 additional apartments and office space.
“We have people from Kentucky, Florida and Georgia interested in living here, because there are not any options like this in the Southeast,” Elrod said. “We want to create a design that can coexist with retail and a unique place for our deaf community.”
The project began in July 2008 when owners Aubrey and Forrest Preston donated the building, formerly the Cornelia House nursing home. Baron + Dowdle began construction in November, transforming the nursing home rooms into 20 apartments and retail suites, Elrod said.
The apartments range in size from 400 to 700 square feet, and will feature a multi-strobe light fire alarm system and flat-screen videophones. Community members advocated having a four-way stop and pedestrian crosswalk in front of the development.
“The East Nashville community has embraced this project, because they see that this will benefit the whole community,” Elrod said.
The project opens doors for both the hearing-impaired and local business owners, said Cooper Brunk, owner of Cooper’s on Porter and an East
Nashville resident. His restaurant will offer moderately priced American food and a selection of microbrews.
“I think this is great,” Brunk said. “I drove down here thousands of times and saw this whole place boarded up. We’re all excited to see it become something.”
Even with all the benefits to East Nashville, the deaf community has the most to gain in the completion of 701 Porter, said Eric Workman, Hearing Bridges director of programs. Hearing Bridges serves many of the more than 77,000 deaf and hearing-impaired residents in Davidson County, he said.
The Nashville organization assisted Urban Housing Solutions with researching the needs of deaf individuals. Hearing Bridges currently provides resources such as after-school and outreach programs for the hearing impaired.
Workman said he hopes that the apartments can provide housing and even employment for some of those in the deaf community.
“This is a big need,” Workman said. “They’re living in a hearing world, so the possibility of being around people who are like them is a great one.”