An Olive Branch-based development company wants to build three new homes on Martin Luther King Boulevard on property that once held homes demolished by the city.

Antonio Abram, executive director of Healthy Transitions Development Group, told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Monday the company plans to build three, three-bedroom, two-bath homes valued between $90,000 and $100,000. The homes will be built on tax-forfeited lots that at one time were held by the State of Mississippi and later returned to the city.

In a related matter, the board declared the three lots surplus and deeded them to Healthy Transitions.

“This will take these lots and put them back on the tax rolls,” city attorney Nancy Thomas said.

“Two of the lots are together and the other is a separate piece of property,” City housing director Gertrude Young said, adding the potential owners for the homes have been pre-cleared by U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development officials.

Abram said after the meeting Healthy Transitions is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 company.

“What we do is partner with Rural Development, Renaissance Bank and other lending institutions,” he said. “What we try to do is walk people through the entire process of homeownership.”

Abram said the company decided to come to Vicksburg after meeting Young through the mayor of Aberdeen, where Healthy Transitions was building some homes.

Abram said a construction date for the homes has not set because the company is working with Rural Development to complete the approval process for the potential homeowners.

In another matter, the board awarded a contract to Suncoast Infrastructure of Florence to examine and assess one-tenth of the city’s sewer system for $421,767.70.

The city is required to assess, repair or replace one-tenth of its sewer system under a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency, reached after an EPA investigation indicated raw sewage was draining into local streams, including the Mississippi River.