The South Street Apartments, which have been vacant since 2012, have a new owner — Warren County Habitat for Humanity.

Abraham Green, the executive director of Habitat, said Holly Springs lawyer Kent Smith has donated the building to the organization with the provision that whatever happens to the property enhances the city, the South Street neighborhood and the city’s downtown district.

“It’s a blessing for us to receive property like this and be allowed to do what we deem necessary to do with it,” Green said, adding, “At the present, we’re still puzzling our minds; scratching our heads with it.”

Part of the problem, he said, is where the building fits in Habitat’s mission.

“Habitat is not in the loan business, it’s not in the apartment business,” he said. “It’s not necessarily in our mission scope.”

Habitat is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with families in need to build or renovate simple, decent homes that are sold at no profit through no-interest loans.

One of the options the Habitat board has is to sell the building and use the money to enhance its mission in the county, and Green said at least two people have asked about buying the property.

“It can really pick our pace up,” he said. “We’ve discussed how it fits in our projected strategy. In terms of being able to convert that building and what proceeds we can get from that building, it will only help to position us to do better things. We’re trying to get all our ducks in order.

“If it (a sale) matures, it will allow us to do better things; be a little more progressive with our work.” If it cannot sell the building, he said, the Habitat board will look at some other options for the property.

“When we first heard about it (plans to donate the building) it sounded too good to be true, so we checked it out,” Green said. “We were cautious. Once we met (Smith) and saw how sincere he was, we were really happy and proceeded from there. The city inspection department checked it and cleared it.”

Also known as the Triple Six Apartments, the South Street Apartments, 1201 South St., were condemned by the city in 2012 as uninhabitable. The apartments and the Crawford Street Apartments, 1111 Crawford St., about two blocks north, were acquired by Smith in 2014.