Welcome to About Town, where we take a deeper dive into one neighborhood each week while also highlighting the latest news, developments and back stories from Memphis’ neighborhoods. This week’s focus: College Park.

Months after senior citizen residents of College Park received letters that they needed to temporarily move out due to building renovations, the site’s new owners hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, March 14. 

The step signals a transition from subsidized housing to affordable housing. College Park, previously a government-subsidized housing complex in South Memphis, is one of seven sites in North and South Memphis being converted through a federal program known as RAD, or Rental Assistance Demonstration.

The development, as well as South Memphis’ Askew Place and properties in Uptown, has been transferred to a partnership between MHA and BGC Advantage, a private developer working in affordable housing.

The College Park residents will be relocated for up to a year while renovations are performed.

For the full story: College Park, Uptown transition to affordable housing program begins

The owners say the renovations are needed because maintenance issues continue at College Park and the other developments. BGC Advantage will inject a $70 million capital investment to address those needs.

Bill Dries, city and county government reporter for The Daily Memphian, said if BGC Advantage’s promise to maintain the properties on a regular basis is true, this arrangement with MHA should be good for decades. 

“Anything’s possible,” Dries said. “But the private developers specifically pointed at being required to have a certain amount of money set aside for maintenance. Intentions and what happens over the years can sometimes be two different things. But at the outset, the money is supposed to be there for the maintenance.”

But relocating the residents poses a host of problems, including finding temporary affordable housing during times when rents are increasing across the city. Finding available, quality housing can prove difficult, as was seen when residents of Foote Homes were relocated ahead of its 2018 demolition to become Foote Park at South City apartments.

“We’ll see how this goes,” Dries said. “Promises are made on the front end. But there’s this thing called reality that rears its head. And some of this is subject to market forces in terms of the availability of housing. Our problem in Memphis is not that we have a shortage of affordable housing. Our problem in Memphis is that we have a shortage of quality, up-to-code affordable housing.”

More from About Town:

Bari Ristorante e Enoteca moved to a new location at the corner of Peabody Avenue and Cooper Street, leaving 22 Cooper St. vacant and LPI Memphis wondering what will fill it next. (Neil Strebig/The Daily Memphian)

LPI Memphis to turn 22 Cooper into ‘Gateway to Overton Square’

“We want it to be inviting,” Jack Dawson of LPI Memphis said of the former home of Bari Ristorante e Enoteca. “This is the entrance to the space. It needs to be worthy of that sort of greeting.”

The former MLK Transition Academy/Porter School at 620 S. Lauderdale St. will be transformed into a museum space honoring South Memphis history. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)

South City Museum to preserve neighborhood's rich history

By the summer of 2024, the South City Museum & Cultural Center will celebrate the people and landmarks of the Historic South Memphis area.

Malone Park construction enters second phase

The Uptown development got underway last year with the first phase completing 11 cottages in June.

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