SHEFFIELD – It  is a far cry indeed. Back in the 1950’s people in town called the apartment complex on South Atlanta Avenue, “The Project”. Clean, sanitary… Public housing in that day was hardly more than a place to warehouse families, mostly minorities. It was pretty much the same all over America in the day. This Post-World War II public housing was  clean. It was structurally sound… Built to last. And for the next few decades, this sort of project was the norm in most places. But the projects lacked heart. And the residents, in time began to feel like they were just being warehoused. Pretty much, it wasn’t a great existence.
Fortunately, thinking has changed. The Sheffield Housing Authority recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony over at Long Lowe Apartments. By the looks of things at this now-beautiful complex, there’s a new paradigm for housing in Sheffield. The place is beautiful.
Directory of Sheffield Housing Authority, Shirley Whitten had this to say about the renovations at Long Lowe Apartments:
“Our $1.2 mil renovation project was financed by Compass Bank (Steve Nesbitt, before he went to First Bank). Ledford Engineering and Planning, LLC from Arlington TN, represented by Kevin Ledford, was our design firm. Nathan Lubin from Lubin Enterprises, Inc. from Memphis, TN was the construction company. Other partners included, Steve Hargrove from Sheffield Utilities, Mayor Ian Sanford and the City Council, represented by Mary Stevens, District 4 and Steve Nix, District 3.  Sheffield Housing Authority Commissioners present were: Pam Fleming, Chair; Tommy Barnes, Vice-Chair; Tim Leigh, Board Member; and Dallas Vaughn, Board Member.
The Courtyard of Long Lowe originally had 50 units. The project started with the demolition of 4 buildings with 16 units in the center of the complex, where the new parking lot and green space are now. Exterior renovations on the remaining buildings provided new storage units, porches and sidewalks for the remaining 34 units. Sheffield Housing Authority is now in the process of renovating the interior of the remaining 34 units. This work is being done by the Sheffield Housing Authority Modernization Crew, led by Danny Joe Bracken. A unit recently renovated was open for inspection during the Open House.Â
Long Lowe Apartments were built in the early 1950’s and the units themselves have been remodeled several times since then, but this project provided a new façade to make the complex look like any other market-rate apartment complex. Sheffield Housing Authority hopes to be able to do similar face-lifts to our other properties, as funding permits.”
