Columbia SC Gonzales Gardens public h…

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LOCAL

As Gonzales
Gardens demolition
looms, former
residents and public
can get final look
 BY SARAH ELLIS
sellis@thestate.com

! " # $

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017 12:11 PM

COLUMBIA, SC — The oldest public

housing community in South
Carolina – one of the first in the
nation – will be torn down Oct. 4 in
Columbia, about a year after
Gonzales Gardens’ last residents
were relocated.

Before the demolition begins, the

public, including past residents, will
have one last chance to walk through
the Gonzales Gardens apartments on
Sept. 29-30.

Many people have asked if they

could revisit their old homes at the
Gardens before they’re torn down,
said Nancy Stoudenmire, director of
planning for the Columbia Housing
Authority.

“It’s just like, you want to go back

and see the old home you were
raised in,” she said. “We want to
give people that opportunity.”

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Residents used to complain about

crime at Gonzales Gardens, one of
the first federally subsidized housing
complexes in the nation. Some
tenants said they sometimes would
not let their children or
grandchildren play outside.
The Housing Authority wants to
gather names and contact
information from former residents to
conduct historical interviews about
Gonzales Gardens, Stoudenmire
said.

And for those who never lived there,

“there are a lot of people who have
always wanted to see what it looks
like inside public housing,”
Stoudenmire said. “Well, here’s your
chance.”

You’ll find no showers in the

apartments, no air conditioning,
small cabinets and few of the
comfortable standards of modern
living. At the time they were built in
the 1940s, though, the Gardens
were considered “good quality
housing,” Stoudenmire said.

Anyone is welcome to walk through

the apartments from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. on Friday and Saturday, the
29th and 30th. They are located at
1505 Garden Plaza in Columbia,
across from Providence Hospital.

Demolition of Gonzales Gardens will

begin Oct. 4, with a public ceremony
at 10 a.m. The buildings should be
completely torn down by the end of
the year, Stoudenmire said.
The site is planned to be
redeveloped into a mixed-income
housing community, similar to
Columbia’s Rosewood Hills and
Celia Saxon neighborhoods. About
60 percent of the units will be
subsidized. Forty percent will rent
for market rate.

But a construction timetable is still

uncertain, as the Housing Authority
works to identify enough funding
from multiple sources for the project.

RELATED STORIES FROM THE STATE

Gonzales Gardens
redevelopment stalled,
neighbors ponder its
 future

Gonzales Gardens is one of the oldest

public housing projects in the nation. The
State - File photograph
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