A developer tells CNN he has 45 days to come up with a plan to save the birthplace home of Aretha Franklin.
(CNN) — A developer tells CNN he has 45 days to come up with a plan to save the birthplace home of Aretha Franklin.
Jeffrey Higgs, a developer with South Memphis Renewal Community Development Corporation, tells CNN an Environmental Court judge gave him until October 16 to present a plan to the court to preserve Franklin’s former home.
The shotgun-style house at 406 Lucy Avenue in South Memphis was the first home of the legendary singer. In recent years, the house has fallen into disrepair.
Franklin told WREG News Channel 3 in Memphis in 2014 that her family moved from Memphis when she was around two years old.
“It’s wonderful just to be back in the neighborhood and go through the home where I was born and to see where my parents, what they provided for us and where my mom cooked and my dad came home after a day’s sermons,” Franklin said at the time.
The singer, who died earlier this month at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, will be funeralized Friday in Detroit, where she lived most of her life.
While the Memphis house has a current owner, who reportedly would also like to preserve the home, Higgs told CNN he took receivership of it about two years ago to prevent the house from being demolished.
According to Higgs, a vigil is scheduled to be held at the house on Friday in honor of Franklin.
