Razing of Columbia’s Gonzales Gardens complex gets federal OK

Columbia Housing Authority has received permission from the federal government to raze Gonzales Gardens, the city’s oldest, and one of the nation’s oldest, public housing complexes.

The Housing Authority is asking the city to pay half of the $2.1 million estimated cost of the tear down.

The CHA wants to demolish the 30 buildings in the 75-year-old public housing complex at Forest Drive across from Providence Hospital, Nancy Stoudenmire said.

Plans are to have moved all 616 residents and begin demolition by the end of the year, she said. Delays in moving the 274 families who have received federal housing vouchers could postpone demolition into early 2017.

“In a month, we’ll have it down,” she said of the process of razing the complex.

Housing Authority Director Gil Walker on Tuesday asked City Council for help with the tear down. He said he also asked Richland County Council to waive demolition dumping fees, which he said are likely to amount to about $500,000.

City Council decided to put off a vote until the Housing Authority gets commitments from Richland County and others to share demolition costs. Council plans to discuss the funding request during its spring budget decisions for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The CHA has a design plan for a $60 million complex to replace Gonzales Gardens but no construction money, Stoudenmire said.

That raises the prospect of the 19.5-acre site sitting idle until the housing authority raises the funds.

Stoudenmire said there is no immediate prospect for how to finance a new complex. “We have not a clue,” she said of where the money will come from. “We’re looking for some sort of government funding or some sort of public/private partnership.”

After three years of planning to rebuild Gonzales Gardens, the housing authority received permission two days before Christmas from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, she said.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Razing of Columbia’s Gonzales Gardens complex gets federal OK."