Comedian Mike Epps began renovating his childhood home long before the plans for this HGTV show "Building Back the Block" were finalized. He posted a photo of the completely revitalized property to Instagram in August 2020, writing, "A lot of people claim a Hood a city or a block but don't own it this is my block in Indiana the before and after." Epps wrote that he had friends who succumbed to the violence and drug activity that led to the neighborhood's decline over the decades, calling his childhood home "a full crack house in the 80's and 90s."

Although the exact addresses of the Epps' renovation sites aren't disclosed, USA Today reports that Mike grew up around 21st Street and Carrollton Avenue. Epps' wife, Kyra Epps, explained to the IndyStar that her husband bought up properties in the underfunded neighborhood back in 2003 for cheap. As the Indianapolis neighborhood slowly started to gentrify in the late aughts and early 2020s, the couple wanted to reaffirm their 60+ year legacy on the block. 

"This is not just that we're fixing the house and we want to sell it and flip some money," Kyra told IndyStar. "We would never come back to Indianapolis and do that. You're going to see us really make decisions based off of his grandmother, and how much she poured into it."