CHARLESTON — A transformative plan to replace most low-income public housing on the peninsula with thousands of mixed-income apartments has grown to include the Gadsden Green complex.
It’s the largest Charleston Housing Authority site on the peninsula. Along with two other complexes, the buildings slated for demolition cover 39.9 downtown acres.
That’s nearly two-thirds the size of the Union Pier site on the Charleston Harbor, a property the State Ports Authority is selling for $250 million to launch as a private redevelopment.
The value of CHA’s land and the demand for rental housing are key aspects of the plan. A single acre of land on the peninsula can sell for millions of dollars, so the authority’s ownership of nearly 40 acres helps make the finances work.
The goal is to replace about 500 low-income apartments — some built nearly a century ago — with much more rental housing for people of all incomes. There would be at least as many low-income apartments, and possibly 2,000 additional rentals at “workforce” or market-rate rents, along with retail space.
The housing authority has been assuring tenants they will not be displaced but will become residents of far superior housing in the same location when it’s all done.
550 Meeting Street.
Charleston, SC 29403
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