It could be as soon as three months for the first unit of the downtown terrace redevelopment project to be ready.
Hinesville and state officials broke ground Monday afternoon on the project, a 31-unit townhome project designed to provide affordable housing. The project, going up on a block bounded by Court and Welborn Streets, Ashmore Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, will go where three dilapidated homes once stood. The tract covers about 2 acres.
“Today is a very special day,” Mayor Karl Riles said. “We talk about living, working and playing. We can handle the work part. We’re happy to have the live portion take shape right in front of our eyes.”
The city is getting help from the state and its OneGeorgia grant, a $1.1 million award that went toward improving infrastructure in the area. The city put in another $650,000.
The idea sprang from a meeting with local developer Josh Wheeler, City Manager Kenneth Howard said. Wheeler wanted to do something in the city.
“Our city council members kept asking us, ‘are these homes going to be affordable?’ and we answered with a resounding ‘yes,’” City Manager Kenneth Howard said. “This project is really about the end users, making it affordable for those low to moderate income families, who otherwise would be paying 20-30% more.”
Assistant City Manager Ryan Arnold recalled taking a walk with Gina Webb, the director of the OneGeorgia Authority, through the “spooky woods” and to the tract where the homes will be built. Gov. Brian Kemp first broached the rural workforce housing initiative in 2023 and since then, the OneGeorgia Authority has awarded more than 30 grants totaling over $70 million — including the one for Hinesville and the downtown terrace project, which was one of the first efforts to get funded.
The rural workforce housing initiative was a result of the need for workforce housing across the state, and many areas are finding themselves in a housing crisis for their workforce.
“That crisis is for people who working at our grocery stores, our hospitals, our school systems,” Webb said. “We were tasked to come alongside local communities and assist with that gap to make housing more affordable. We provide the grant that is going to help with water and sewer and build the roads and improve drainage.”
Howard, who is retiring soon, noted he started with the city working on a housing project and one of his last acts is to see another started. He praised the efforts of the city’s community development department in getting the downtown terrace project rolling and also extolled the work of the state Department of Community Affairs.
“We have a true partner in the Department of Community Affairs,” he said. “They have been with us since day one.”
The entire project could be finished within a year.
“One of the exciting things about this development is communities are looking at housing and density in a new way,” Webb said. “You are looking at it in a very innovative way. We hope it spurs some redevelopment in the area. We’re excited to be a partner in this entire process.”
