Vacant ‘South High School’ building turned into senior living facility

The vacant South High School’s building has been turned into a senior living facility.
The old South High School was turned into senior facility .
Published: Jul. 16, 2020 at 8:14 PM EDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -The vacant South High School’s building located at 835 Tipton Ave has been turned into a senior living facility.

The new South High Living Facility houses more than 60 seniors. The seniors got to celebrate the opening of the facility with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, July 15.

The project was overseen by Rick Dover of Dover Signature Properties.

“It’s a phenomenal building and its just a perfect set up for senior living,” said Dover.

Years ago the halls of the South High was bustling with students, now the people there are a little more seasoned. The building sat vacant since 1991.

“Literally you couldn’t walk where I was, there was no roof on the building, the walls were collapsing, the floors were collapsing, I mean it was just really a mess,” said Dover.

The new facility models another project Dover lead, converting the old Knoxville High School into a senior living facility. Both facilities have gained nation attention by the Urban Land Institute.

“When you preserve a historic building, and it’s part of the community and it goes dark, it becomes kind of a black hole for a community in terms of its energy. And what it does for a neighborhood to then restore it suddenly, it revitalizes the surrounding area and that just ices the cake for me. I think it’s great,” said Dover.

Copyright 2020 WVLT. All rights reserved.