KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — It’s gone from an abandoned high school to a home for dozens of Knoxville seniors, and its developers just won an award for its transformation.

South High Senior Living was chosen for the mayor’s award for the top historic preservation project in Knoxville by Knox Heritage.

South High opened as a senior living center last July. Dover Signature was contracted to work on the transformation by the Barber McMurry Architects that originally built the building back in the 1930s.

“So many other people would have look at this building and just scrapped it all together, and so the the incredible vision that they had from the beginning to be able to recreate and repurpose it. For me its really neat, because that’s the same vision we want for our residents. We want them to move in and we don’t want them to be bored and think this is the last step. It’s about repurposing them. We want to knock stuff off their bucket list and really just bring that quality of life to them and bring back that vibrancy and joy of life.”

Helen Porter – Executive Director, South High Senior Living