MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Officials in charge of fixing up the Memphis home where Aretha Franklin was born say they are working with the DIY Network to move the crumbling structure to a safer location and make it more attractive for visitors.
Jeffrey Higgs, president of the LeMoyne-Owen College Community Development Corporation, told a judge Thursday he has been in discussions with a producer at the remodeling and home improvement cable network on a plan to repair and move the house for one of its programs.
The boarded-up house sits in a blighted neighborhood filled with abandoned homes. A judge had ordered it demolished, but he put that order on hold after preservationists stabilized the house.
Franklin was born there in 1942. Her family moved to Detroit about two years later.
