WPLN: When an entire community must move
Pastor Glenda Sutton embraces Michael Moore as he moves into his new apartment.
Photo by Tasha A.F. Lemley
Residents of Berkshire Place Apartments in East Nashville are finally moving — years after they were first told their units would need to be vacated and either renovated or torn down.
Last summer, they say they were asked to pack their bags to relocate to Birchstone Village — a brand new, 228-unit affordable housing property 7 miles away that’s been in the works for roughly four years. Because of the pandemic, a complicated mix of a half-dozen sources of funding and tax credits — plus applications and waiting periods — developers say finalizing the project has been a juggling act.
But it went live in early February.
Pastor Glenda Sutton says, "can you imagine what it's like — how hard it is for people inside of a housing community to watch things change all around them? You pull out of the gate and you see the beautiful new house built across the street. You see all the pretty new apartments and things that are being built all around you.
There's an opportunity for a mama who's sitting in her apartment down there with babies, just looking out of the window, to now look out and see something different, to be a part of something different."
I pitched, interviewed, produced, and photographed this piece. Hear the full feature, here.