3 years after demolition, Columbia’s Gonzales Gardens housing project to be redeveloped
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that Ivory Mathews laughed at a question about building a wall between the development and the rest of the neighborhood. Mathews laughed at a question about implementing a curfew for residents.
Columbia Housing unveiled plans for an upcoming development called The Oaks at St. Anna’s Park at a public meeting on Monday night. The $58.3 million dollar project will create 285 units and will replace the Gonzales Gardens public housing complex, which was demolished in 2017.
A third of the units will be designated as senior housing. The rest will be two- and three-bedroom townhouse style apartments meant for families.
In a major departure from the previous development, which was reserved exclusively for subsidized housing, 19 of the townhouses will be leased at market rate and another 19 town homes will be unsubsidized units for renters who make 60% of the Area Median Income.
The remaining 152 townhouses and the 95 senior units will be subsidized and reserved for residents who make 50% of the Area Median Income.
Rent will range from about $900 a month for a one bedroom to $1300 for a three bedroom.
“Experience has found throughout the affordable housing world that when you have a mixed income community you have more of a traditional neighborhood,” said LuCinda Herrera, the Housing Authority’s senior vice president of development.
Aside from improving quality of life for residents, having economically diverse residents would make it easier to attract investors, since the project is being built entirely with private capital, Housing Authority officials said.
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development no longer provides any funding for affordable or public housing and Columbia Housing does not have funding sources to do new development,” Herrera said.
Funding will come from a variety of sources including multi-family housing revenue bonds issued by the housing authority, federal and state low-income housing tax credits and a grant from the S.C. Department of Mental Health.
One commenter on the Facebook livestream of the meeting said that homeowners in the area were concerned about building a development with such a high percentage of low-income renters. Another suggested that they “build a wall” to separate the project from the neighboring houses along McDuffie Avenue.
Ivory Mathews, the executive director of the Housing Authority, responded by saying that a wall was an unwelcome symbol of the “not in my backyard” mentality that has traditionally posed challenges for low-income developers.
“Just because your economic situation might be different, doesn’t mean that you should be treated different,” she said, adding that the Housing Authority’s residents would be “good neighbors.”
Herrera said the Housing Authority would respect homeowners’ concerns about issues like traffic and street parking and would continuously ask for their feedback throughout the development process.
According to a timeline presented by the Housing Authority, construction is expected to start in February 2021 and will be completed in September 2022. Residents will be able to move in by June 2023.
Once that happens, former Gonzales Gardens residents will be given preference for a space in the new complex.
The original Gonzales Gardens was built in 1939. Before the complex was demolished in 2017, it was the oldest public housing complex in the city and one of the oldest in the country. When Gonzales Gardens opened, it was meant primarily for non-commissioned officers families stationed at Fort Jackson. At the time, only white families were permitted to live there .
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 10:49 AM.
