A micro-home development in College Park that has been lauded for offering affordable homeownership is facing criticism from some residents about the quality of the build.
The community, by developer Booker T. Washington, is one of the first micro-home communities by a Black builder and features affordable homes for just over $200,000. Washington said he hires licensed general contractors to build the homes.
Washington has received national recognition for creating South Park Cottages on Godby Road. The sleek, high ceiling units are about 670 square feet, and Washington is now building a second community in Union City. Washington said he chose the location for the development to provide quality housing in “an urban environment which had a bad reputation and a crime ridden street.”
But some residents say they have issues such as structures shaking from passing traffic and unstable decks outside the upper levels.
Five separate homeowners at South Park Cottages say their units have poor insulation, inadequate heating in the winter, insufficient air conditioning in summer, no hot water, unlabeled electrical breakers, and more issues including occasions when they were unable to unlock doors.
Residents Tanya Wright and Etienne Brown have been the most outspoken members of the community, and have appeared at College Park City Council and community meetings to ask city leaders for help.
Wright said her home was built with no water proof protection. The homeowner says she discovered it last November when she was only partially moved in, and returned home one day to find her house flooded.
“Booker himself was getting water up,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Credit: Courtesy South Park Cottages Homeowners Facebo
Credit: Courtesy South Park Cottages Homeowners Facebo
College Park officials did not respond to questions on the city’s process in approving home inspections at South Park Cottages.
Washington told the AJC that he addresses all issues as they arise, adding that the 29 homes were built with premium insulation and protection for wind and hurricanes.
“Those homes are built with the same quality as any other home you would see,” he said. “Every step of the way those homes have been inspected and engineer-stamped. (Inspectors have) looked at the interior of the walls ... the structure of the building ... and the integrity of the build. And those homes received certification from the inspectors who reviewed those homes and signed off on them.
“Micro living isn’t for everybody.”
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Wright said her leg fell through part of the outside deck that was unstable on the upper level of her home. The deck is currently being rebuilt for a third time, she said.
Wright purchased her home in May 2023 and moved in last November. She did not hire an inspector before moving in, but shared a report from an inspection performed by Dream Home Inspections six weeks ago, which made recommendations throughout the home.
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Brown, who moved into his home in January, has decided to sell after relocating from Los Angeles using his retirement savings.
Brown says Washington has addressed plumbing and HVAC problems, but not to his satisfaction.
“We built the homes according to certification,” Washington said. “I wouldn’t be the first developer to have contractors to have defects or issues. The question is whether or not they were fixed and whether you told developer before making public comments.”
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Washington replaced all of the tankless water heaters, which are located outside the homes, in January after a winter freeze caused them to break. The developer paid for hotel stays for residents who were without water, he said.
Rheem Manufacturing Company, which makes the devices used at South Park Cottages, confirmed that the water heaters are meant to be installed indoors.
While the water heaters are still outside, Washington now has them insulated inside a wooden box, he said.
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
Credit: Courtesy Tanya Wright
The developer is pushing back on residents’ criticism. During public comment at a May City Council meeting Washington said there’s been a “concerted, coordinated and colluded attempt to defame and mischaracterize” him and the development. He was followed by six residents — including a person he gifted a home — who commented that they are pleased with their living experience at South Park Cottages.
“I’m proud of South Park Cottages and what we built,” Washington told the AJC. “I feel the majority of residents ... love their homes.”
City leaders, including Mayor Bianca Motley Broom, celebrated the opening of South Park Cottages last year with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
The residential development embodies the mayor’s vision of eco-friendly housing accessibility and economic activity for College Park, Motley Broom recently told the AJC, adding that it’s not a city operation or entity.
Noting issues that have come about between Washington and some residents, the mayor said: “I encourage ongoing dialogue and transparency with all stakeholders who call College Park home, including the residents and leaders of the South Park Cottages project.”
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