Renovation of a museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Completed plans call for the renovation of a museum.

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/charleston-public-housing-to-be-demolished-and-redeveloped/article_9ace11d4-9eae-11ee-8967-4ba285c300ff.html In 2024, a huge new venture could begin reshaping Charleston’s upper peninsula by replacing 286 public housing units built in the 1930s with a multi-block 1,116-apartment redevelopment for people of all incomes. As large as the redevelopment would be, it’s just an early phase of the Charleston Housing Authority’s plan to demolish, rebuild or renovate all of its public housing properties. The result is meant to be an increase in low-income housing, but also new housing for people with moderate or higher incomes — often in the same buildings in identical apartments. Achieving the new mixed-income housing would mean displacing families currently in CHA apartments so that the buildings could be torn down. “We’ll help them find places to stay, we’ll move them and they’ll be able to come back,” said Arthur Milligan, CHA executive director and CEO. The upper Charleston peninsula has become an increasingly desirable and expensive place to live, and that’s good news for the authority, which owns entire city blocks of low-income housing between Morrison Drive and Meeting Street. Redeveloping those properties means working with developers who will fund the work, and that requires a confidence that the resulting apartments would attract tenants paying market-rate rents, as well as low-income tenants with federal housing vouchers. This one redevelopment has a budget of more than $401 million. The largest public housing projects on the upper peninsula area, Meeting Street Manor and Cooper River Courts, today sit across from new hotels such as Moxy Charleston on Meeting Street or pricey apartment buildings including Morrison Yard, where most 2-bedrooms rent for more than $4,000 monthly. “Of course, nobody knew the Meeting Street Manor property would be so valuable,” said Milligan, a 1979 graduate of The Citadel, referring to the oldest housing project in the state. The authority isn’t selling any of its properties, but it expects to demolish many hundreds of two-story brick apartment houses and replace them. Some of CHA’s properties will be renovated instead, such as the historic Robert Mills Manor complex on the lower peninsula. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic places in 2021 as representing a public housing example from the late 1930s. The first large redevelopment, which hasn’t been previously reported, will involve the majority of homes in Cooper River Courts and Meeting Street Manor. Together they currently house 417 families. Atlanta-based developer Integral Group was chosen by CHA’s board to lead the redevelopment, which the company is calling Morrison Station. Contract talks on the details with the housing authority are ongoing. Brandon Lockett/Staff The demolitions and relocations of tenants would happen in phases, not all at once. “We envision Morrison Station as a revitalization movement for Eastside — a gateway to community growth and prosperity for the next century,” Integral said in its 281-page pitch to be chosen as master developer. “There is an unprecedented opportunity to provide community assets — a grocery, community gardens, public parks — at the doorstep and throughout the neighborhood.” The Morrison Station plan involves nearly 10 acres of land and a three-phase development schedule. The development would be financed by Integral, and CHA would make millions by leasing the land, which the authority would continue to own. The first phase of that planned redevelopment would take place along Morrison Drive, immediately north of Sanders-Clyde Elementary School. High Tide Flooding (copy) Cars sit in saltwater outside the Cooper River Courts housing project off Morrison Drive after a high tide in 2021. A redevelopment plan would demolish those apartments and redevelop the site. File/Staff Brad Nettles “This area is going to be changing, big-time,” said Charleston City Councilman Robert Mitchell, who has represented the area for decades. “Public housing is not going to be the public housing we knew coming up.” He hadn’t reviewed the detailed plans, but as a former housing counselor he’s familiar with the nationwide shift toward mixed-income developments. Mitchell said redeveloping the area near Sanders-Clyde could address persistent flooding issues, and Integral’s plan does call for stormwater measures and elevated housing. “That area has a lot of flooding, and it’s nasty,” said Mitchell, referring to Cooper River Courts. Morrison Station could be the start of the largest redevelopment seen on the Charleston peninsula in decades. The many remaining blocks where Meeting Street Manor sits are also planned for redevelopment, as is the 44-unit Meeting Street Extension. All together, that would involve about 11 city blocks, most of them between Meeting, Stuart and Lee streets and Morrison Drive. The redevelopment effort is expected to eventually include the more than 250-unit Gadsden Green project on the West Side. The Charleston Housing Authority plans to demolish and rebuild the 44-unit Meeting Street Manor Extension (right) at Romney and Meeting streets on the Charleston peninsula. The area has become home to increasing numbers of high-rise apartment and office buildings. When rebuilt, the housing is expected to include just as many low-income units, but also middle-income and market rate apartments. Google Street View/Provided For Morrison Station, 286 public housing apartments would be replaced with 1,116 apartments, some of them in high-rise buildings along Morrison Drive, others in neighborhood-scale buildings. Integral’s plan calls for creating 25 percent more apartments for low-income residents than would be demolished — 358 of them — and 200 “attainable” apartments for middle-income tenants. The remaining 558 would be market-rate. That combination is a key part of both the plan and the housing authority’s larger goal to create mixed-income communities while also increasing the supply of both affordable and market-rate housing. “Nobody would know which one (unit) is which,” said Mitchell. “That’s a change they are trying to make, the image of public housing being the projects.” It’s a concept that’s relatively new to Charleston but has been taking shape elsewhere for years, including Greenville and Spartanburg, and has been encouraged at the federal level since 2012. Milligan said Integral has been working on such redevelopments for decades. He had a first-hand view because Milligan was running property management for Integral in the 2000s. “By merging affordable housing with market-rate residences, Morrison Station will diversify the economic potential of the area while providing fiscal security for CHA,” Integral said in its planning document. The authority would be a development partner and would receive an estimated $28.4 million by 2031, mostly as payment for leasing the land for the development. “An important aspect of Morrison Station is our financing approach,” said Integral spokesman Rick White. “We’ve opted for conventional financing methods, which means we won’t rely on Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. “This decision not only accelerates the development process but also frees up these valuable credits for other affordable housing initiatives in Charleston,” he said. A grocery store, parks and amenities are included in the Morrison Station plan, which would be developed in phases with everything projected to be finished by 2031. The phasing is important because public housing tenants would need to be relocated, likely for several years, and all would have the right to return once the new apartments are built. “The big fear in Charleston is that when we talk about tearing down units, people think that means we’re going to build expensive condos for people,” Milligan said. “I suspect there will be a lot of anger because there will be a lot of change.” If the development happens as proposed, in the end there would be 72 more apartments for public housing than there are now. Tenants would have housing vouchers associated with the property, which would cover rent that exceeds 30 percent of the tenants’ income. Such redevelopment efforts stem from a plan Congress approved in 2012 called the Rental Assistance Demonstration program. It’s complicated, but a key to the idea is attaching housing vouchers to specific developments, guaranteeing a stream of revenue to private developers that are expected to create the new housing by leveraging tax credits and loan financing. The Charleston Housing Authority’s sweeping RAD program plans were reported in 2021, before Milligan became CEO after the retirement of long-serving CHA Director Donald Cameron. Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg previously described the authority’s plan as “an initiative that will both increase overall housing supply and give our public-housing residents a safer, cleaner, better place to live.” Mitchell said he’s heard little about the plan in the community, and because it hasn’t been reported on until now, many are likely unfamiliar with the details. -------------------------------------------------- W.E.H., Inc. ("W.E.H.") is requesting qualifications from General Contractors with experience executing substantial rehabilitation projects that involve multiple phases and resident relocation for the Robert Mills Manor and Robert Mills Manor Extension. Questions concerning the Qualifications submittal format or submission documents should be directed to Priscilla M. Waring, Procurement/Contracts Manager, via email at pwaring@chacity.org. The deadline for questions is Wednesday, December 6, 2023, at 12:00 Noon. Any Addendums will be issued no later than December 13, 2023. Qualification packages submitted will be evaluated by a W.E.H. selected committee. Evaluation factors include Strength and thoroughness of qualifications package (30%); Experience with projects involving low-income housing tax credits (20%); Experience with projects involving Federal funding and FHA insured loans (15%); Experience with phased projects (15%); Experience with projects involving relocation and residents (15%); Section 3 Business and/or Documented Section 3 Plan (5%). Total possible points: (100%). This project is federally assisted and will obligate the ultimate awardee not to discriminate in employment practices and otherwise to adhere to applicable federal requirements. Section 3 Businesses and Minority and women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond. W.E.H. reserves the right to retain all qualification packages submitted and use any idea in a package regardless of whether the package is selected. W.E.H. reserves the right to wave irregularities; to reject any and all statements of qualifications; and to cancel this solicitation.