Former Hattiesburg High and Hattiesburg American bldgs. under renovation

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Hattiesburg High School and Hattiesburg American buildings downtown off main street are scheduled for a new make over.

Over the past several months city officials have awaited the arrival of Tax Credits to renovate the former Hattiesburg High School building on main street. "We closed the deal with the sale of the old high school with developer Steve Nail out of Jackson, to convert the old high school, here behind me, into residential apartments. Age restricted apartments,” Executive Director of Historic Downtown Association, Andrea Saffle said.

Owner of Intervest Property Management, Steve Nail, recently obtained Tax Credits to rebuild the former building into senior apartments. “He’s utilizing Mississippi Home Corp Tax Credits, as well as State and Federal Historic Tax Credits to revitalize the building. The building will look like just as it does now on the outside, only completed," Saffle said.

She also shared that location wise, the upcoming renewal projects on main street could attract more economic development. “It’s been a lot of talk about the Hattiesburg American building becoming a community arts center. These two properties could really play off of each other so well," However, no scheduled renovation project dates are confirmed for the former Hattiesburg American building.

“There’s a lot of pieces and parts that have to come together but, I think there’s in interest in seeing it happen. So we’ve got some momentum going... out of that really came the realization that we really need to all focus on moving that forward if we want to promote the arts in Hattiesburg as an arts center," Saffle stated.

Plans for the former Hattiesburg American Building is still underway as city council and other officials move forward.