A home on Camellia Street is being bulldozed, and neighbors are watching with smiles.
“It’s great,” said Vicky Clark, who lives directly across the street from the soon-to-be-gone house. “I’m just so glad it’s being done.”
The house at 1416 Camellia St. has sat empty and neglected for at least two decades n the windows covered, rotting holes in the roof covered with a blue tarp. The lot is overgrown and dark n a spooky contrast to other well-manicured, welcoming lawns in the neighborhood.
“The kids wouldn’t even trick-or-treat over here because of how creepy it is,” Ann Claire Avant said as she passed the lot on an afternoon walk Monday. “It’s been an eyesore for as long as I can remember.”
The home was owned by John Paul Ricks until last week, when contractor Kenneth Thompson bought it and immediately began demolishing it.
Thompson, president of Kenneth R. Thompson Jr. Builder, Inc., plans to clear the lot and build four one-bedroom or two-bedroom homes. He intends to make the homes “LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified properties,” which are more energy efficient than other structures of similar sizes.
Thompson said they will be ideal for elderly couples wishing to downsize their living arrangements in North Greenwood.
“I knew there was a need for something to be done,” Thompson explained Monday. “And I finally got the opportunity to do something.”
The Greenwood City Council unanimously approved the construction of the four homes in February.
The home is in Ward 2. According to John Lee, who represents that ward on the City Council, the home had been in Ricks’ wife’s family for years. And though the couple didn’t reside there, Lee said, Pamela Ricks wanted to keep it for sentimental value.
Lee said he’s received numerous phone calls about the home, since he took office in 2005. He said a recent conversation he had with Ricks led to the sale of the property.
“Something needed to be done,” Lee said. “And I’m glad we got it done.”
Ricks could not be reached for comment.
Thompson’s crews began ripping the home apart last week, trucking the debris to the Leflore County Landfill. Other than some fine china that Ricks picked up last week, the debris being hauled away includes many possessions that were left inside.
Clark said the home has progressively gotten worse in the 18 years she has lived across the street from it.
She welcomes the demolition.
“I feel like it will help our property values,” she said, adding that she’s glad to see the home gone for personnel aesthetic reasons also.
Said Clark, “I’ve sat on my couch and looked out at a blue tarp for too long.”
