Jerome Williams, who has lived in the Old South End for more than 20 years, was checking out segments of a modular house delivered by a truck to a lot at 434 South Ave. on Wednesday.

“I think it will uplift the neighborhood and increase the property values in the area,” Mr. Williams said of the new houses. “It’s a good way to attack the overgrown, open fields we have out here. This was just a vacant lot. Now a new house is going to be placed on it.”

A crane placed the house on its foundation Thursday morning along with another new modular house at 439 Maumee Ave., adjacent to the South Avenue site.

The houses are being built by the Historic South Initiative, a nonprofit whose primary goal is to rehabilitate housing in the Old South End.

The two-story modular houses are identical, with

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