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Highlands Residential Services set to close on the sale of Claude Darwin Apartments Wednesday.
The 1.5-acre property off Cookeville’s Walnut Avenue is being sold for $2 million. The board originally asked $3 million for the property. Director of Operations Chris Cassetty said the sale price was adjusted because of the market.
“It’s really close to a lot of the shopping centers,” Cassetty said. “It’s a very valuable piece of property right now, and fortunately we are going to be able to use the proceeds from that to help us with some of our other developments that are upcoming.”
$1.7 million of the money will be used to pay off the debt on Oak Tree Towers, which will leave $300,000 for future projects. Cassetty said the sale of Claude Darwin was part of a long-term goal.
“So much of what we do next depends on what happens previously, and this just frees us up to move on to the next step, and it has been a process,” Cassetty said. “It has been a couple of years. There’s been some ups and downs, market adjustments and different things. It’s always good to get one more piece closed and move on to the next piece.”
The assistance Residential Services gets from the federal government will be transferred to Hickory Valley, which is nearing completion.
“The rest of it will be used on either our upcoming development, Red Bud Village, which we hope to start this Fall or certainly early next Spring, and maybe even the next phase of our development Magnolia Ridge,” Cassetty said.
Highlands Residential Service began discussions on selling the property in early 2021. The property was put on the market in April of 2022.
“It allows us to keep moving forward,” Cassetty said. “We’re going to continue to provide good, safe, affordable and new housing for people here in the Upper Cumberland area,”
