Opportunity 'Nox': How a new Augusta apartment complex nods reverently to Black history
In the groundbreaking Thursday for The Lenox apartment complex, Augusta leaders emphasized affordable housing – and emphasized the name's second syllable.
The 64-unit development at 1016 Laney-Walker Blvd. takes its name from the Lenox Theater, the segregated movie theater two blocks away that in its heyday was a Black social nexus for the city’s Laney-Walker neighborhood.
Corey Rogers told the groundbreaking’s guests that members of the 1965 class of Laney High School informed him during a city trolley tour that the locals pronounced the name “le-NOCKS.”
“And ever since that day in the summer of 2015, I’ve been pronouncing it ‘The Le-NOCKS' because I don’t want any phone calls coming our way,” quipped Rogers, executive director of the Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History and Conference Center.
But as the main arts and entertainment venue for Black Augustans during the Jim Crow era, the theater’s name still resonates among Laney-Walker residents, no matter how you pronounce it, to symbolize a united, empowered community.
The apartments will be built on the former site of Immaculate Conception School, which educated generations of Laney-Walker residents. Earlier proposals for housing on the site included incorporating the historic Catholic school building, but the brick structure was demolished after the school moved to Telfair Street.
The $17.5 million apartment initiative represents a collaboration among Augusta city officials, developers, lenders and other stakeholders to provide more economical housing for working-class Augustans who otherwise couldn’t afford to live independently.
Lenox tenants will be restricted to renters earning from 30% to 80% of the area's median income, or up to $54,880 for a two-person household. Rent prices for 25 one-bedroom units and 39 two-bedroom units will range from $262 to $1,125 a month.
The project's funding includes more than $12 million in state and federal tax credits from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs; an expected $640,000 loan from the federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program; and a long-term lease at a “nominal price” from the Augusta Georgia Land Bank Authority.
About 4,000 square feet of The Lenox’s ground floor will be commercial space for retail or offices, but the developers’ ideal tenant would be a grocery store. Establishing a supermarket on the site would fulfill a longtime outcry among Laney-Walker residents for better access to nutritional food.
District 9 Augusta Commissioner Francine Scott grew up just two doors down from the new apartment site, and fondly recalls days playing on the old school’s basketball court.
“When you build a house, or houses or apartments, you can count your rooftops. What do we need? Rooftops. What happens when we get rooftops? Grocery stores,” Scott said. “And today this magnificent project that we have coming not only will have housing, but we will have something that everybody can enjoy, too.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Ground breaks for affordable apartments in Augusta's Laney-Walker area
