Foundation laid for residential complex built in honor of Opal Lee

FORT WORTH, Texas – A new and long-running tribute to the civil rights icon began in Tarrant County on Thursday.

An apartment complex is under construction near I-35W and Highway 170 in honor of Opal Lee, known as Grandma June.

After touring the fitness room and touring one apartment complex, Li got a good idea of ​​its promising sister property, the area that would bear her name.

The groundbreaking project was part of a Fort Worth Housing Solutions project called The Opal, which will consist of 339 mixed-income apartments in northern Fort Worth.

The construction of the complex is in full swing, at the initial stage.

“I would say The Opal is going to be, as young people say, the bomb,” Lee said.

“I said, ‘Ramon, do you think we could get Miss Opal to let us name him after her?’ So Ramon called Opal and the rest is history, but I want to tell you that we are listening and I am listening to Miss Opal,” said Terry Attaway, a member of the Fort Worth Housing Solutions Board of Commissioners.

The audience also had to listen to Lee.

The 96-year-old civil rights pioneer’s decades-long personal awareness campaign ended in 2021 when President Joe Biden signed into law a national June holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the US.

“We have to make this city the best in the whole world. People see that we are working together to get rid of these differences,” she said.

She also noted that safe and affordable housing is a core component of the overall message she has long preached, which includes improving the lives of families.

Opal will offer half of its units at the market price.

The other half will be available to households earning 80% or less of the median income in the area.

It was a breakthrough worth singing about, as evidenced by the Morningside Elementary School Choir.

“I’m glad this is happening. I’m glad they named it Opal. I want to see it when it’s ready,” Lee added.