HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When the property known as Twitty City was damaged by the December tornado, the owners considered tearing it down.
Before the tornado, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) was already making plans to build a new production studio and housing for seniors somewhere on their property. They bought Twitty City and some of the surrounding buildings nearly 30 years ago.
The Christian TV network thought if it demolished the home that Conway Twitty lived in they could use that land.
On Tuesday night, TBN took a proposal to the Hendersonville Board of Mayor & Alderman. Officials expected it to include the elimination of most of the structures on the property including the Twitty's house.
Surprisingly, the network had changed their plans last minute to save the well-known home.
"We heard the sentiment of the city," said Frank Amedia of TBN. "We prayed about it. We met with some people... and we just felt this was the right thing to do. It's going to cost us more money, but that wasn't the issue."
Hendersonville Mayor Jamie Clary called the addendum a smart move.
"I think that we end up with a good compromise," Mayor Jamie Clary said. "This is going to be preserved, but there's also going to be some use to it, and I think that's going to make some people happy and at the same time have some usefulness."
The revised plans call for the mansion to be restored and used by management.
We reached out to TBN about the changes. So far, we have not received a response.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
