Augusta Leaders Unveil Plans for The Lenox Affordable Apartments

Augusta Leaders Unveil Plans for The Lenox Affordable Apartments

Augusta residents who earn up to 80% of the area’s median income will soon have access to a new housing option called The Lenox to be built on Laney Walker Boulevard.

The Lenox is named after the former Lenox Theater, a beloved 1921 historic venue that was damaged by fire and eventually torn down in the late 1970s.

Officials held a news conference Monday morning to launch the project.

The Lenox is made possible due to collaboration between the city of Augusta, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, an Athens-based nonprofit Parallel Housing Inc., and an affordable housing private developer Woda Cooper Cos. Inc.

Primary funding for the $16 million property will be provided through an allocation of federal and state low-income housing tax credits combined with private activity bonds allocated by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

The city provided a $640,000 HOME loan to the project and the Augusta Georgia Land Bank Authority is providing a long-term lease at nominal value. The Augusta Housing Authority has issued a bond inducement resolution as well as a commitment letter to provide 20 project-based vouchers. United Bank is providing a community housing soft loan of $440,000.

About The Lenox
The Lenox, developed by Parallel Housing and Woda Cooper, will include a new four-story building with an elevator.

It will have 64 units, with 25 one-bedroom and 39 two-bedroom apartments, including several units with features for those with disabilities, plus amenities such as a rooftop terrace and fitness center.

A multipurpose community room with a kitchenette will provide a space for resident social gatherings. There will be an onsite management/leasing office, laundry facility, computer room and fitness center. Outdoor amenities include the rooftop terrace offering views of historic downtown Augusta.

Woda Cooper affiliate Woda Construction will be the general contractor, and affiliate Woda Management & Real Estate will manage the property once it is built. For more information about The Lenox, email info@wodagroup.com or call 614-396-3200.

The Lenox will help address the city‘s significant need for affordable housing and positively transform a vacant property, city officials said.

It is expected to catapult economic development through new commercial space, new neighborhood business growth, related jobs, and commerce generated from an increased number of residents living in the neighborhood. Green building practices and materials will result in a highly energy-efficient building and low monthly utility consumption for residents. This is going to give some much-needed options for Richmond County residents.

“Not having the right type of housing, advice, a certain lifestyle that I don’t want to be a part of,” said Jo-Anne Saunders, an area resident.

Saunders has lived here for 30 years. While time has passed just as fast as the cars on Laney Walker, the lack of affordable housing hasn’t.

Augusta Commission member Jordan Johnson said: “Augusta has about a 24 to 25% poverty rate. We have to deliver on affordable housing.”

The options are slim for the more than 5,000 on the public housing list and 1,033 waiting for Section 8.

Hawthorne Welcher Jr. is the director of housing and community development. He said, “The main one that comes to not only this area but all around, of course, is going to be public housing. It’s going to be Section 8.”

Johnson said: “Certainly, you can find them in south Augusta.”

But in downtown, Saunders says she hasn’t seen any affordable housing. Lenox will serve people in the area making 80 percent of the median income.

Johnson said: “For the county itself is around 40 grand. But when you move into a certain size of our city, that decreases, and I know in this district, it’s somewhat lower than that. It’s our responsibility to make sure that people have somewhere safe and affordable to live. That’s no one else’s responsibility but ours.”

A proposed four-story building, Watson Pointe, for low-income residents ages 62 and older was recommended for full approval by the Augusta Commission.

“I plan to be here for a long time. And I want to see that grow. I want my grandchildren to have a place to come home to. I want a place to call home. I want people to be able to come to Augusta and not see a sore sight, not see an eye sore on Laney Walker,” said Saunders.

Source: WRDW Channel 12
Author: Alyssa Lyons and Steve Byerly
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