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Low-income apartments slated for Daniel Island
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
Daniel Island, where the average annual household income exceeds $90,660 and the average cost of a single-family house is more than $730,000, is a step away from seeing the construction of a 72-unit apartment complex where rents for one-, two- and three-bedroom units will range between $523 and $726 a month.
Seven Farms Apartments, a $6.9 million apartment community to be built in the heart of Daniel Island, is the creation of the Humanities Foundation, a Daniel Island-based nonprofit organization dedicated to helping provide affordable housing.
This development has not come without its share of controversy. Some residents don’t want the complex because it won’t fit in with the rest of the community’s housing.
But developers and other residents point out that affordable housing units were always part of the Daniel Island plan.
Matt Sloan, COO of the Daniel Island Co., which sold the Seven Farms site to the Humanities Foundation, says although opposition has been vocal, most Daniel Island residents feel differently.
“A silent majority accepts the apartments,” he says.
Ray Passailaigue, a Daniel Island resident who builds homes on the island, says the island’s developers had always intended to have affordable housing components.
“Am I excited about affordable housing? No. Am I against it? Definitely not,” he says. “The developers of Daniel Island have done everything they said they were going to do. They’ve fulfilled their promise.”
Members of the Daniel Island Neighborhood Association, however, oppose Seven Farms.
“The apartment complex violates the basic principals of the agreement between the city of Charleston and Daniel Island, one of which is that low-income housing would be indistinguishable from other housing on the island,” says Franklin Medio, president of the association. Medio says he has collected 750 signatures of island residents opposed to Seven Farms.
Putting low-income renters in one building would distinguish them from other island residents, Medio says. He adds that Daniel Island residents were deliberately left out of the apartment-planning discussions and that the apartment complex was “sprung” on them.
“We’re not opposed to affordable housing,” Medio says. “We already have people living in affordable housing units on the island. We’re opposed to this particular project.”
In June, both the city of Charleston and Charleston County approved zoning and design concepts for the apartment complex. All that remains is the construction permit, which the Humanities Foundation is on the verge of receiving. Construction is set to begin in July, with completion expected by summer 2006.
The apartments will be available to people earning no more than 50% of the median income for the area. That means a single tenant could earn no more than $19,500, says Debby Waid, assistant director of the Humanities Foundation.
The apartment complex will be Daniel Island’s first low-income housing community, Waid says.
In 2001, the foundation attempted to build a 195-unit mixed-income apartment complex, with 83 of the units set aside for low-income tenants. The complex, which was never built, failed to secure government tax credits because the proposed site was not in a residential area and lacked nearby services for tenants.
Seven Farms is located within a residential area adjacent to retail shops and other services.
“We are excited about having new residents across the street and look forward to the gifts the residents will bring to our community and ways in which we might work together to make Daniel Island a wonderful place to live, work and worship,” says Don Flowers, pastor of Providence Baptist Church.
Memphis, Tenn.-based Looney Ricks Kiss architecture firm designed the four two- and three-level brick buildings. The main building features a rounded front entry to complement the island’s new civic building, and it will sit on the southwest corner of Seven Farms Drive and Daniel Island Road, both main thoroughfares. Greenville-based Miller/Player & Associates Architects and Planners will complete the design and oversee the construction.
The main buildings will include a community center, where services ranging from mentoring, tutoring, financial guidance and other support programs for residents will be provided. The Humanities Foundation is looking to community volunteers from local companies and organizations like nearby Providence Baptist Church to offer time and resources for these initiatives with help from a grant to be funded from various foundations associated with the Humanities Foundation.
Dennis Quick is senior staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@crbj.com.
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