Infill cottages follow from CNU Legacy Project
Every year, CNU sponsors Legacy Projects ahead of the annual Congress, tackling vital issues with a strong component of promoting the public good, often in distressed communities. In 2018, when CNU 26 was held in Savannah, A Legacy Project envisioned revitalizing the commercial core of Brunswick, Georgia, an economically struggling, 250-year-old city midway between Savannah and Jacksonville.
Among the many plans to emerge from the charrette, missing-middle housing was envisioned for vacant land along the two-mile-long corridor. Eight years later, it is great to see a follow-up project under construction.
Kronberg Urbanists Architects (KUA), which led the Legacy Project, worked with Forward Brunswick, a group promoting the economic revitalization of the city of 16,000, on the Reynolds Cottages, a block of 46 living spaces which are under construction.
I love the design of this affordable housing project, which received a $2.5 million state grant and will rent for $650 for a one-bedroom to $1,650 for a three-bedroom. As project leader Eric Kronberg reports, the Reynolds cottage received funding from the Workforce Housing Infrastructure Grant Program of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to pay for “horizontal costs.”
“All houses front on Reynolds or Union streets and feature front porches. Common parking is provided at the back of the buildings in what Sabbe called a re-creation of a historic alleyway. It’s all arranged in such a way to encourage people to get to know their neighbors,” says Forward Brunswick.
The units include a great variety of housing types, all at the scale of typical Brunswick neighborhood. Included in the plan are two small greens and a street-facing courtyard, which will provide public gathering spaces. Housing includes cottages, duplexes, and accessory dwellings. KUA describes the project:
“Following our work on the Norwich Corridor in 2018, KUA was brought in to provide development assistance for a vacant 3-acre site near the heart of downtown. With a dire need for attainable housing and suppressed incomes, KUA assisted the Forward Brunswick nonprofit in receiving a Rural Workforce Housing grant from DCA with a creative site design. The site design follows historic local precedent, utilizing compact cottages on small lots with alley parking. Beautiful live oaks are preserved, and a mix of studio, one bed and two bed units from our Housing Choice Catalogue provide diverse living options for different family sizes and income levels. The first phase of the cottages are under construction.”
Despite being near the coast, Brunswick is a low-income community. The area median income for Brunswick is $33,357, about half of that of Glynn County, where the AMI is $66,547. Brunswick, which was founded in 1771, has great bones. These infill cottages are walkable to the marsh, trails, parks, schools, and the City’s Historic District.
