If plans fall together correctly, the old O’Jay Mills building on Highway 53 spur has a future as a home to dozens of families.

The city of Calhoun will apply for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to help with the project.

This is the first step of several in the process of converting the building to affordable family housing units, said Downtown Development Director Suzanne Roland.

The total cost of the project, she said, comes to about $11.2 million. If the city receives the $500,000 CDBG grant, the funds will be turned over to the Calhoun Affordable Housing Authority, which will use the money, along with Low Income Housing Tax Credit federal home loans, to purchase the building.

Other funds for processes like rehabbing the building will come from state LIHTC loans, a Georgia Department of Community of Affairs home loan of $1.2 million and more federal LIHTC funds.

“There’s no money invested from the city,” Roland explained.

The steps for funding this project are all contingent upon each other, she said.

“This thing is put together of lots of parts … if any of these parts fails, the whole thing fails,” City Administrator Eddie Peterson said.

If the city receives the $500,000 CDBG funding, but part of the plan later fails, the city can choose to use the CDBG money for another qualified project, Roland said.

Monday, the city council approved that the area be declared a slum or blight area, based on the fact that it state of disrepair negatively affects surrounding properties and the tax base in general.

The declaration will give the city more of a chance of receiving the block grant funding, Roland said.

The apartments

The 110,000 square-foot building stopped operating as a mill about 10 years ago, Roland said.

The Landmark Group, a company that specializes in historic preservation, is handling the project. Architects plan to re-point exterior bricks and make other historic improvements to the outside, she said.

The building will house 50-60 units, some of which will be garden apartments.

Although the building was pieced together over a period of years, she said, most of it was constructed in the 1940s.

Portions of the roof about 10 feet back from the outside wall will be removed in some places, and small gardens will be planted between the apartments and the wall.

Skylights will also brighten the building, which will be rechristened Cherokee Mill Lofts. Roland said the huge fans in the roof of the mill will be removed and the remaining spaces will be glassed.

Other features will include an indoor parking garage and parking capacity for 148 spaces, some outside.

Units will have one to three bedrooms, she said. Families who earn 50-60 percent of the median income for Gordon County will qualify for an apartment. Median income for the county is $53,200, according to numbers released by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“I’m thrilled,” said Stacy Abernathy, executive director of Calhoun Affordable Housing Authority.

This type of housing will be especially attractive to single income or single parent families, she said.

“You’ve got families that can actually afford a nice place to live when you build these. We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that this goes through,” she said.

Landmark representatives actually contacted the city about the project, Roland said. The company specializes in projects like this one.

The property, Roland pointed out, is almost in the center of the city’s urban redevelopment area.

“This just shows that the city is very, very dedicated to this project,” she said. “It’s within walking distance of downtown and it will help the looks of our area, so we’re just very excited.”