View Comments
The development company responsible for two school projects currently underway will be a partner in the affordable housing construction and neighborhood revitalization in the areas around those schools, thanks to a grant and multi-agency collaboration.
In early 2021, Healthy Community, LLC submitted a $1 million grant proposal to build affordable homes around the renovated 6-12 Jackson Central-Merry High and the new Madison Academic High, both of which Healthy Community is overseeing as construction crews work overtime to finish for their August openings.
The Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) has approved the grant through the Southwest Community Development Corporation even though THDA is still in the final stages of the grant process.
A year ago, workers started the long-anticipated construction of the new Madison Academic High and renovated Jackson Central-Merry High with plans for an August 2021 opening, which is now less than four months away.
Registration has filled around 700 seats at the 6-12 grade JCM that’s been closed since May 2016 just as Madison Academic accepts hundreds of students from its randomized lottery. Last school year, Madison had more than 400 students, but the new school’s capacity is for 600 students.
The agreed-upon completion date, which hasn’t changed despite the pandemic, is July 31 – two days before school starts.
As Crocker Construction works overtime to get the projects done, Jackson-Madison County School System leadership prepares for the schools’ opening, and board members – who were a part of approving the public-private partnership to construct the schools – express their excitement and eagerness, even more so after the March 30 tour of the facilities.