COLUMBIA, S.C. — Columbia Housing announced Tuesday morning it will break ground on The Oaks at St. Anna’s – the former Gonzales Gardens site on Forest Drive – in April 2021 and is seeking women- and minority-owned businesses and small business enterprises to be included in the overall project. According to the announcement, when complete, the site will feature 285 “affordably priced residential rental units in a new mixed income living environment.”
A virtual workshop to encourage diversity participation is scheduled for noon Tuesday, Nov. 17, via Zoom. Interested parties may register for the workshop at the Columbia Housing website.
Mungo Construction is serving as the builder and UrbanMatters Development, a Washington, DC company, will be in partnership with Columbia Housing for the $60 million project. The 15.56-acre property is bounded by Forest Drive, McDuffie Avenue, Washington and Ontario streets, and sits across from Providence Hospital.
The site already contains 8 single family homes along McDuffie Avenue.
The original plans called for a 126-unit multi-story apartment complex, 66 attached single-family rentals, 16 senior quad apartments and a 53-unit senior assisted living multi-story building facing Forest Drive, near Lyon Street. The Gonzales Gardens community center building, dating from the original construction in 1940, will be renovated.
Gonzales Gardens was originally constructed in 1940 as affordable housing for white people. Allen Benedict Court (ABC), situated just a few blocks away along Harden Street, was a 244-unit development for Blacks.
In 2017, the Gonzales Gardens residential apartments were razed.
