17 townhouses are coming to Earlewood
Seventeen townhouses will be coming to the Earlewood neighborhood, filling an empty lot at the corner of Park and Beaufort streets.
Columbia’s Design/Development Review Commission unanimously approved Lafaye Custom Homes’ plan, which will include 12 three-bedroom and five two-bedroom townhouses.
In its application to the commission, Lafaye Custom Homes said the buildings would be two-story structures with design features like entryways and roof shapes consistent with other homes in the neighborhood.
Some of the townhouses will also include underground garages that will not be visible from the street.
Over email, resident Northrup Davis expressed concerns about the development disrupting Earlewood’s wildlife and harming the many large trees that he said set the neighborhood apart. Davis lives next to the new development.
Wyam Bowers, who represented Lafaye Custom Homes at the Thursday meeting, said developers plan to preserve as much plants and vegetation as possible in the remaining open space of the development and work with the city’s landscaping planner to address any concerns.
When finished, the townhouses will join another recent development project at the nearby intersection of Benton Street and River Drive that was approved by the commission in 2022. The 56-unit apartment building was described as “affordable multi-family workforce housing” that would reserve most of its units for residents making 60% or less of the area’s median income.
Lafaye Custom Homes has yet to decide whether the townhouses will be available for purchase or rent and have not established a price, Bowers said.
