The City of Gaffney is looking to address two issues – what to do about a tight housing market, and what to do about buildings on the Limestone University campus.
On Wednesday, the City Planning Commission approved the rezoning of two apartment complexes and six houses on the Limestone campus, moving the properties from college educational to residential.
The city needs to reclassify the zoning if it wants the buildings to be sellable on the open market. Until the City Council votes to accept the reclassifications, which it is expected to do in the next few months, the structures could only be sold for academic purposes.
If the buildings do come on the commercial market, it would open 25 apartments for rental, on top of the six houses – which could be sold as owner-occupied single- or multi-family homes, or as homes to rent.
“We’re behind capacity on rentals,” said John Wall, a real estate agent who represents Limestone, following a presentation he made to the Planning Commission Wednesday.
According to the National Association of Realtors, Gaffney had 32 rental units available as of Thursday. At last Census count, Gaffney recorded 12,612 residents, although that number was before Limestone closed in May. The university had bout 1,800 students, many of whom lived in Gaffney.
Wall said the apartments plus the houses represent a market value of about $2.5 million, and that the buildings were under contract to be sold.
“There's some due diligence still going on,” he said.
A sale would make the properties taxable to the city, which has struggled to make money and boost local businesses since Limestone closed its doors permanently.
