Groundbreaking for Southernside East

City Land Donation and State Tax Credits Supported the Public-Private Partnership

Elected officials and affordable housing advocates broke ground on Southernside East, a much-anticipated 93-unit affordable apartment development at the corner of West Washington and Hudson Streets, just north of Unity Park.

“For almost 50 years, this area sat dormant,” said Mayor Knox White. “However, Lila Mae Brock had a vision for bringing  this area back. Brockwood happened in her vision… if you go back and look at what she said, it was not to stop with Brockwood, but what if other properties in this vicinity could be reclaimed to be once again residential neighborhoods… it took many decades for this to happen, and it took the building of Unity Park. That’s the vision we celebrate today.”

Low- and moderate-income renters aged 55-plus will reside in two contemporary neighborhood-scale buildings designed by local architects McMillan Pazdan Smith. Each one- or two-bedroom apartment has a balcony to encourage easy connection to the outdoors. Other amenities include in-unit laundry connections as well as a community laundry area, fitness, computer, and community gathering rooms; a mail center, a leasing office and separate private storage rooms.

Development partners Greenville Housing Fund and Harmony Housing Affordable Development utilized SC Housing’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to complete the financing on the project. A portion of the land was donated by the City of Greenville.

“I can’t say enough about the importance of partnership in helping Southernside East come together, Greenville Housing Fund President and CEO Byran Brown said. “We are so grateful to SC Housing for their confidence in this project, and thankful for the Greenville Housing Authority’s work in securing 55 project-based housing vouchers, which will make these beautiful new apartments in this historic neighborhood available to even our lowest-income seniors.”

Greenville City Councilor Lillian Brock Flemming told the more than 50 onlookers that “Southernside East represents exactly the kind of intentional development our community needs. It creates safe, high-quality housing for our seniors while preserving affordability in one of the fastest-growing parts of Greenville. This is a critical step in ensuring that longtime residents can continue to call our city home.”

South Carolina State Rep. Chandra Dillard also welcomed the additional affordable housing opportunities for Greenville’s seniors. “We’ve all heard that you judge a community by how you treat your seniors and how you treat your children and I’m here to say Greenville is getting it right,” Dillard said.