COLUMBUS, Ga. - A second phase of the Harper Woods apartments on Warm Springs Road, this one 198 units for older residents in a single four-story building, took a formal step forward this week. Columbus Council was asked at its Tuesday meeting to sign off on up to $24 million in tax-exempt bonds that the Housing Authority of Columbus would issue for the project, according to the Nov. 10 agenda and the resolution attached to it. The sign-off is a federal tax-law formality that puts no city money behind the bonds, but it is the first time the full scope of the project has appeared in a public council document.

The resolution identifies the borrower as Harper Woods II, LP, a Georgia limited partnership, or an affiliate, and says it wants to finance "the acquisition, construction, furnishing, and equipping of approximately 198 units of residential rental housing" at 6000 Warm Springs Road, Columbus 31909. The bonds would be called Housing Authority of Columbus, Georgia Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds (Harper Woods II Project) Series 2026, in a principal amount not to exceed $24,000,000. Proceeds would pay to build and equip the apartments, fund reserves and cover the cost of issuing the bonds.

What the council vote does and does not do

Under Section 147(f) of the Internal Revenue Code, interest on this kind of private-activity bond is exempt from federal income tax only if the elected body of the jurisdiction approves the issue after a public hearing. That is the sole purpose of the council resolution, which states that the approval "shall not constitute any obligation on the part of Columbus" and that the bonds "shall not constitute an indebtedness or obligation of Columbus, Georgia or any of its Boards, Commissions, or Authorities." In plain terms, bondholders would be repaid from the project, not from city taxes.

The required hearing was held Nov. 2 at the Housing Authority's offices, according to a certificate signed that day by hearing officer Darrell Thomas and attached to the council packet as an exhibit. The certificate says notice ran in the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer at least seven days ahead of time and that no public comments were received. The council resolution carries signature lines for all 10 councilors and Mayor B.H. "Skip" Henderson III, and the vote total will appear in the clerk's minutes.

198 apartments, 56 of them one-bedroom

The building plan came into public view on Oct. 21, when the city's Community Reinvestment Department invited comment on a federal environmental review of the project, as WRBL reported at the time. That notice described one four-story apartment building with 198 units, 56 one-bedroom and 142 two-bedroom, built as senior housing that expands the existing Harper Woods Phase 1. The city found the project would have no significant environmental impact and took written comments through Nov. 3, addressed to Emma Kimbrel in the Community Reinvestment Department at City Hall on First Avenue.

Neither the council resolution nor the city's notice listed rents, income limits or the age cutoff for residents. The bond resolution also does not name the development company behind the limited partnership. Those details typically surface later in Georgia Department of Community Affairs filings once a tax credit or bond allocation is in hand.

How the plan grew from 72 units to 198

The second phase has been in the works for years, and it has gotten much bigger. A market feasibility study prepared for developer TBG Residential and filed with the Department of Community Affairs in April 2020 described Harper Woods II as a 72-unit community for renters 55 and older in a three-story building with elevators, on about 2.9 acres on the south side of 6000 Warm Springs Road just east of Blackmon Road. That version called for 20 one-bedroom and 52 two-bedroom units priced for households earning 40, 60 and 80 percent of the area median income, with net rents from $326 to $923 a month.

The 2026 documents describe nearly three times as many apartments and one more story. The mix is similar: one-bedroom units were 28 percent of the 2020 plan and are 28 percent of the current one, 56 of 198, so the growth is in scale rather than in the kind of apartment offered. Whether the 2020 rent structure survives in the new version is not stated in anything the city has published.

The first phase next door

Harper Woods, the first phase, sits at 6050 Warm Springs Road next to Flat Rock Park and was completed in 2022, according to TBG Residential's property page. The 2020 study described it as a 96-unit community with 86 tax credit units and 10 market-rate units, in one-, two- and three-bedroom layouts. The property page lists a fitness center, clubhouse, playground and picnic area with a gazebo, and says it offers affordable rents to both seniors and families.

The 2020 study also catalogued the neighborhood: Flat Rock Park just east of the site, Blackmon Road Middle School to the northwest, a Walmart Neighborhood Market on Blackmon Road within a mile, and METRA Route 6 running along Warm Springs Road in front of the property. It counted no age-restricted apartment community anywhere in its northeast Columbus market area at the time. That gap was the analyst's case for building one.

What happens next

If the council approval is in place, the Housing Authority can proceed to issue the Series 2026 bonds and lend the proceeds to the partnership. Construction timing has not been announced, and the city's environmental notice did not include a start date. The council meets again Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 9 a.m. in the City Services Center at 3111 Citizens Way, and the minutes of the Nov. 10 meeting, including the vote on the Harper Woods II resolution, will be posted on the city's meeting portal.