TCDC breaks ground on Douglass School Senior Apartments
- Earl Williams
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
THOMASVILLE — Thomasville Community Development Corporation, in partnership with the Douglass High School Alumni Association and Tapestry Development Group, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Douglass School Senior Apartments on Monday morning.
The transformative $23 million redevelopment project will create 52 affordable senior housing units while preserving the legacy and historic character of the former Douglass School campus.
Nearly 125 years ago, people came together to build something from nothing, building homes, businesses, schools, and a community during one of the most difficult times for African Americans.
The community became known as Dewey City.
After the Civil War, it was one of the few places newly freed African Americans could freely buy land, buy equity, build equity, and plant roots.
“Out of that rose something very remarkable, a community that could stand on its own,” said Congressman Sanford Bishop. “Dewey City had its own beauty salons, barber shops, grocery stores, auto shops, childcare facilities, and its own economy, and at the center of it stood Douglass School.”
Bishop continued, explaining that Douglass School was the heartbeat of the Dewey City community.
“It’s a place where children became scholars, teachers became mentors, where community told their young people in no uncertain terms that they mattered and that they belonged and that their future was worth fighting for,” Bishop said.
According to incoming Executive Board Director Shan Daniels, Frederick Douglass reportedly visited the property in 1895, mere months before his death at the height of the Jim Crow era.
“For years, this campus stood to protect the most critical of civil rights, which is education,” Daniels said.
Following its closure, it was operated by the Alumni Association. However, after sitting vacant for some years, the Alumni Association Board felt they were not equipped to manage a facility of the school’s size.
The Alumni Association quickly connected with the TCDC and forged a partnership that would mutually benefit the school and the community and allow the Alumni Association to continue having its monthly meetings.
As TCDC discussed its plans with the Alumni Association to redevelop the school into affordable senior housing, they were met with questions from passionate neighbors and community members.
“We had a lot of opposition,” Daniels said. “This building had a lot of history and a lot of folks had questions about what we were doing, why we were doing it, and what their community would look like afterward.”
However, after two years of conversations, funding cuts, soil testing, and skyrocketing labor costs, the highly anticipated 15-month construction process was approved to begin.
The resulting apartments will provide income-based housing to residents making between 50 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income. Ten percent will be set aside for market-rate units.
Current Executive Board Director Alston Watt acknowledged that this project would not have been possible without collaboration from government officials, businesses, and neighbors.
“What we break ground on today is not just an apartment building,” Bishop said. “It is a continuation of everything this campus has always been— a place of shelter, of dignity, and of belonging.”
Bishop went on to say that every senior who walks through the doors deserves dignity and a safe, affordable place to call home.
Lifelong Thomasville resident and District 173 Rep. Darlene Taylor understands the need for affordable housing and has seen the impact the housing market is having on those in the community.
She was proud to be present at the groundbreaking, noting that affordable housing is an issue everywhere, but what makes Thomasville special is the way the community stepped up to fill in the gap and address the issue.
“The state can do some things about it, but it takes a live community like this to make it happen, and that’s what makes a world of difference,” Taylor said. “That’s what makes Thomasville, Thomasville.”
The state has helped make the project possible through a Low Income Housing Tax Credit award from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs valued at $15.3 million, along with federal and state Historic Preservation Tax Credits.
Taylor also alluded to the fact that the revitalization efforts in the area may lead to a future health clinic in the neighborhood. State Senator Jon Ossoff has recommended that $764,000 of funding be donated to the Douglass High School Alumni Association for a rural health care clinic.
“I don’t want to get the cart before the horse, but there’s so many exciting things we can do,” she said. “We always find a way to make it happen.”
While that project still has several approval processes to go through, John Toppen with Tapestry Development Group is excited to begin work on the Douglass School Senior Apartments, while Gideon Construction will lead the construction process.
As a final thank you to those who paved the way for this project, a memorial wall will be placed inside the apartment building with all the names of Douglass School alumni. Additionally, different buildings in the complex will be named after individuals who were integral to Douglass School’s history.
By Jill Holloway
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