HGTV ‘Buying Back the Block’: Mike Epps & Wife Kyra on Revitalizing His Childhood Community
Actor, comedian, and producer Mike Epps is joining the renovation landscape on HGTV as he and his wife Kyra Epps work to revitalize his childhood community in Buying Back the Block, a new series arriving Wednesday, November 8.
Returning to his Indianapolis suburb, Epps is on a mission to help build back his old neighborhood with the hope of giving back to people who were pushed out. “Indianapolis is home for me and there’s nothing in the world like it. That’s why I’m buying back my block,” Epps says in a featurette for the series that was shared on his Instagram.
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“I bought my whole childhood block back,” he reveals, adding that it includes “six homes that we actually got evicted from.”
As the teaser unfolds, we even learn one of these homes belonged to his grandmother. Already living in the neighborhood’s transformed firehouse, Mike and Kyra are looking to continue their efforts by restoring a sense of community with property renovations.
“Back in the day, I grew up in the ’70s. It was about family and friends. It was about community. The memories are unforgettable,” Epps reminisces. “After all the big movies, television, running around doing stand-up all over the world, Indy was calling.”
While he notes that things have changed, and homes have become rundown, he reveals, “Me and my wife Kyra, we’re on a mission to renovate these houses one at a time and to make sure people can afford them.”
When it comes to their approaches, Kyra said, “I’m very practical and realistic, and Mike sometimes has this whimsical way of thinking, so we kind of bring it together and it works.”
You won’t want to miss it. Check out Buying Back the Block when it premieres on HGTV this November, and in the meantime, get a peek at what’s to come with the featurette embedded, above.
Buying Back the Block, Premieres Wednesday, November 8, 9 am ET/PT, HGTV
