U.S. Rep. Rick Allen met with representatives from Redwood Housing, Friday morning, to discuss the status of improvements of the Bon Air apartment complex in Summerville.
Afterward Allen spoke to media at the apartments on 2101 Walton Way after this conference, lauding Redwood and saying he is “very pleased” with the restoration’s progress.
“I was telling Redwood this before they got involved… I had a meeting with the tenants that no one had ever met,” said the congressman, speaking on how the historic property’s previous owners had managed it. “I couldn’t believe it. Redwood is meeting on a regular basis with the tenants.”
Redwood Housing, based in Seattle, purchased the 100-year-old former luxury hotel, along with the Richmond Summit complex on Broad Street, in 2021. This was amid complaints about both complexes of crime and code violations, issues that led to efforts by Augusta Commissioners Catherine Smith McKnight and Jordan Johnson to upgrade both complexes.
Allen added pressure to improve Bon Air by requesting the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) investigate its conditions. HUD would later deny Redwood’s application for low-income housing tax credits to restore the Section-8 Bon Air apartments in 2022, but then approve them in 2024.
But renovations at Bon Air have been underway for a year, even without the credits, Allen noted, touting its current improvements. The restoration is “98% complete,” he said, with most of its more than 200 units upgraded and the installation of security cameras.
“It’s a process. I don’t like the speed of it. Nobody likes the speed of it, the data, the information required,” said Allen about the initial wait for the tax credits from HUD. Regarding Redwood going through the restoration without the credits, he said, “when they gave us the construction schedule, I said, ‘I come from the construction business. I don’t know how they’re going to do this.’ They have done it. They have proved themselves.”
This work on the interior is phase one of the restoration, Allen also said, with phase two to consist of amenities such as “computer rooms, libraries” and common spaces for tenants.
Though Hurricane Helene slowed down progress, he said, phase one is expected to be complete in “another month” at both Bon Air and Richmond Summit.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
