People Incorporated showcase 'Mary Street Revitalization Project'

Bristol, Va. – People Incorporated is working to renovate Mary Street – one house at a time.

People Incorporated, a nonprofit community service agency based in Abingdon, Va., has bought seven houses on Mary Street to renovate and resell to low to median income inhabitants, and are still looking for more to buy,

For what they call the “Mary Street Revitalization Project,” the organization has purchased and renovated three houses on East Mary Street, three on West Mary Street and one on Clinton Avenue.

These include both houses, available for sell, and apartment complexes, with units available for rent.

On Tuesday, Greg Vannoy, the Homeownership Program Coordinator for People Inc., gave a tour of the first house they bought for the project in August 2009.

The house is now completely renovated and ready to sell.

Vannoy said the house is energy-efficient, including low-heat windows, and built to the specifications laid out by EarthCraft, a residential green building program in Atlanta, Ga.

The residence, which looks brand new, includes two bedrooms and a bath. Vannoy said the original house included three very small bedrooms, but they decided to change the layout.

People Inc. also added on about 300 square feet to the back of the house. “The whole back half of the house was about to fall off,” Vannoy said of the previous condition of the house.

While they are trying to renovate the houses, they are still preserving the original architecture of the homes.

“I like that you are trying to maintain the architectural integrity in these houses,” Johnson City, Tenn., Community Development Director Steve Baldwin said during the tour.

Despite the appraised value of $75,000 - $80,000 for this residence, Vannoy said they are trying to sell it through a real estate agency for $59,000.

This house must be sold to a resident who makes under 80 percent of the median income for the area, he said.

Some of their other houses, which received funds through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), must be sold to residents who make under 50 percent of the median income, Vannoy said, and will be sold for less than the 101 East Mary residence.

This $1.5 million project has received funding through numerous sources, including the NSP; the Northeast Tennessee and Virginia Home Consortium; the City of Bristol, Va.; and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta.

Jan Detrick, the community development specialist for Bristol, Tn., said the Consortium is required to set over 15% of the money from HUD they receive each year, which is usually over $1 million, for projects such as this one. Bristol, Tn., is currently the lead entity in the Consortium, which includes the Tri-Cities, Jonesborough and Sullivan and Washington Counties.

The few renovated houses along Mary are just the beginning. As soon as these houses are sold, Vannoy said they will immediately put the profits into purchasing and renovating more houses in the neighborhood to expand their project.

They are also looking at empty lots along the street to purchase and build new houses on, he said.

Vannoy hopes this project will positively affect the normal residents in the neighborhood as well.

“If we can effect change from this corner, we will have made this area new,” Vannoy said of the section of houses on East Mary, adding “we are bringing the value up in the neighborhood.”

“We would like the other houses to improve their property now,” he said.

“This is allowing people who would not normally be able to to buy houses,” said Robert Bright, the Housing Program Specialist for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is in charge of the NSP and Consortium funds for the project.

“They are doing a great job here, they are doing what needs to be done,” he said.

For more information, contact People Inc. at http://www.peopleinc.net.

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