Take a look at newly released plans, latest demo timeline for Chase Homes

New details have been released about the mixed-income apartments that will replace Chase Homes, one of the last traditional public housing projects in the city.

Housing Authority of Columbus board members on Wednesday got their first look at preliminary designs for the apartments, tentatively named Mill Village.

The $20 million, 102-unit project is being designed by JHP Architecture out of Dallas, Texas. It will replace the 17 apartment buildings that were constructed in 1952 between Second Avenue and the Chattahoochee River, just north of the TSYS campus.

The intent is to demolish the old buildings and erect four new structures, shifting the project north on the property and along the Second Avenue corridor.

The shift will move the apartments further away from an electrical power substation and a railway, as well as out of a re-drawn Federal Emergency Management Agency flood plain.

Architects said Wednesday the redesign of Chase Homes will result in a loss of only six units. The units will be one, two or three bedrooms and an average of 1,052 square feet.

Preliminary designs include three residential buildings and one building that will include a leasing office, amenities such as laundry and a health clinic, and some residential units. A playground and mail area will be located next to the leasing office and amenities building.

The units are being designed to fit into the Mill District aesthetic and emphasize the views of the river while downplaying the disturbance of the substation and railway. 20th Street, which dissects the property and dead-ends at the river, will be closed off at its intersection with First Avenue. There, it will turn into pedestrian access to the Riverwalk.

What’s next

In November, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs approved low-income tax credits for the project. With funding secured, the next step should take place this week as the authority sends in an application for demolition to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

HUD must approve the demo before relocation of residents can begin.

“(HUD) is aware that it’s coming....they encouraged us to send it in because of all the issues with the power station and the train and railroad tracks,” Housing Authority of Columbus CEO Len Williams said.

Ninety-nine of the 108 units at Chase Homes are currently occupied. Once demolition is approved, residents will have the option of obtaining housing vouchers and choosing where to move next, or transferring to one of the Housing Authority’s other properties.

They will also have preference to come back to the new Mill Village when it is completed if they want, though Williams says generally only 12-to-15% typically return.

“It goes usually much better than people think, they think it’s going to be controversial and a problem but we always take care of the residents, we provide moving expenses and that sort of thing,” Williams said.

It should take 60 to 90 days for the demolition to be approved, and then the Housing Authority will notify residents of the impending move. Williams said demolition should start toward the end of the summer, and construction will likely take a year and a half.

From public housing to mixed-income

Chase Homes is one of three traditional public housing projects still left in Columbus. Public housing means that all of the residents pay 30% of their adjusted income for rent.

Residents in the new mixed-income units will have a few different options.

Some will have project-based vouchers that mean the residents pay 30% of their adjusted income, so any Chase Homes residents who decide to move back in would still pay that for rent.

Others will pay an amount based on their income and the authority’s use of tax credits, while some will pay the market rate for the apartments.

Williams said that tax credits are necessary to fund renovation or redevelopment, and in order to obtain the tax credits, the housing must be converted to mixed-income.

This is the fourth such project the authority has undertaken since 2004, when the Housing Authority was awarded a HOPE VI grant to demolish Peabody Apartments. It was replaced with Ashley Station, a 367-unit mixed-income rental housing project that cost nearly $48 million to develop.

Arbor Pointe replaced Baker Village Apartments beginning in 2009. Built in three phases, Arbor Pointe has 416 units and was developed at a cost of more than $55 million. Patriot Pointe, which replaced Chapman Homes, was completed in 2016 at a cost of $17.2 million for 100 units.

The most recent project was Columbus Commons, built on the site of the former Booker T. Washington Apartments across from the Civic Center. The residential piece was completed in 2017 at a cost of $21.5 million for 106 units.

Projects left to be redeveloped into mixed-income properties are Warren Williams Homes off Wynnton Road and Elizabeth Canty Homes off Cusseta Road.

Ledger-Enquirer archives were used in this report.