Dover, Rogero to give South High construction update

Betsy PickleOur Town Leaders

Mayor Madeline Rogero and members of Knoxville City Council will join developer Rick Dover at 4 p.m. Tuesday (7/9) to deliver a report card on Dover’s work on renovating the old South High School, 953 E. Moody Ave.

And while they’re there, they’ll hang a little sheetrock.

It was 25 months ago – June 2017 – that Rogero and Dover first welcomed the media and other guests to the derelict school building, which hasn’t been used since 1991. The city purchased the property in 2015 after a speculator bought it for a song and then danced away from his responsibilities to the place.

Dover responded to a request for proposals from the city’s Community Development Department and made the winning bid. He announced plans to turn the building into a senior living facility. His June 2017 event let the media and the public see the sad state of the old school and the beginnings of his company’s stabilization efforts.

Now, with new windows and a new roof, the building is protected from the elements, and interior work is underway. At Tuesday’s event, the mayor and council members will help install sheetrock in the former gym.

Dover is also behind the transformation of the old Oakwood Elementary School into a senior living facility, with assisted living and memory care. He has the same plans for South High, which was designed by BarberMcMurry in 1932.

Dover also renovated Historic Knoxville High School, which is now Knox High Senior Living, an upscale apartment building for independent seniors, and transformed the old Farragut Hotel downtown into the Hyatt Place Hotel.

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