The William Enston Home

Charleston, SC

An innovative rehabilitation of a post-Civil War retirement village for sailors modeled on an early 1800s village in England and located in the historic district of downtown Charleston, SC, the William Enston Home was acquired and transformed into an affordable rental housing community. Stuart Law Firm helped the Housing Authority of the City of Charleston finance the development with: a conventional mortgage provided through the Affordable Housing Program of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, federal low-income housing tax credits, HOME funding, and mental health and transitional housing grants. The operating expenses for the residential rental units are partially offset by earnings on the original William E. Enston endowment. In the second phase of the development, modern townhomes that were designed to be architecturally consistent with the existing village were constructed in open areas onsite and marketed primarily to first-time homebuyers.