BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — The rap of Anika Perry’s knuckles on doors at the LeMans Square Apartments cut through the sweltering summer morning air. The Auburn Tenant Union volunteer was going from apartment to apartment to engage with residents about the prospect of losing access to their current housing in the near future.
The reactions of the residents who answered ranged from anger and shock to fear, apathy and resigned dejection.
One had lived there for 14 years and said he knew it was just a matter of time once he saw new construction rising around the complex. Another had moved to Auburn from Montgomery years ago as her mother sought a better education for her, and now she feared her young son wouldn’t be afforded the same opportunity.
Perry, who is both a landlord and renter herself, said she wanted to make a difference after hearing the news of the LeMans Square and Chateau apartment complexes being torn down and converted into new developments next year.
“When I first heard the news this development would be torn down and replaced with something at market rate, I was infuriated,” Perry said. “I was really upset because I think while oftentimes business is business, we also need to also make sure our moral compass is centered where it needs to be. So I came out here to let residents know the news, and a few of them weren’t even aware this was happening.”
Project approvals
The situation fully emerged into public view after the Auburn City Council on Aug. 18 approved the demolition and rebuilding of the two aging apartment complexes into the larger, market-rate developments, despite warnings the projects could displace hundreds of lower-income residents.
The council granted conditional-use approval to both projects, proposed by Foresite Group, to replace the Chateau Apartments at 560 N. Gay St. and the LeMans Square Apartments at 560 Perry St.
Ward 1 Council Member Connie Fitch-Taylor voted against both resolutions, while Ward 2 Council Member Kelley Griswold voted against just the LeMans project.
Brett Basquin, representing Foresite Group, told the council the existing buildings are “in pretty bad shape” and “beyond the useful life” of their intended use, and that the company intends to build market-rate apartments in their place.
He said the redevelopments would replace the Chateau’s 72 units with 65 units, and the LeMans complex’s 144 units with 126 units, reducing the total number of dwelling units while sharply increasing bedroom counts.
The new complexes would contain 260 and 504 bedrooms, respectively, configurations the city’s redevelopment district zoning permits because it allows up to five unrelated occupants per unit.
Basquin said the projects will not be private dormitory housing, which Auburn city code does not allow, but conceded students could live there.
City planning staff had described the LeMans site, which is roughly a mile from Auburn University with transit access, as “an ideal living spot for students,” and the projects’ architectural plans are branded “Charter Auburn Student Housing.”
Fitch-Taylor said she knew residents in both complexes and estimated two-bedroom units at the Chateau complex currently rent for roughly $600 to $700.
“Once you tear them down, it’s going to be way over that,” Fitch-Taylor said, warning current families would not be able to afford to move into the new replacement units.
She also questioned why the buildings could not be renovated instead, and the previous residents allowed to move back in.
Griswold said residents of both complexes had contacted him with the same concerns and that the housing is “basically low-income housing right now.”
Residents who contacted him “were unaware of it until it came up on the planning commission agenda,” Griswold said, and had not been notified by the realty company, the owners or the developer.
Griswold described “an ever-diminishing product” of housing at that price point within Auburn’s city limits.
Basquin told the council Foresite Group did not notify tenants at the use-approval stage because he didn’t know if the council would approve the projects.
Basquin said most leases at the complexes expire in April and May of 2027, with 44 expiring in July, and that construction could begin as early as July 2027.
He added Foresite Group had already researched comparable rentals within a 5-mile radius and would help identify units for displaced tenants, claiming nobody would be displaced if construction waits for leases to expire.
Under questioning from Griswold, Basquin said assistance would consist of providing a list of available units at comparable price points, compiled by calling area property managers.
Elizabeth White, administrator of Presbyterian Community Ministry, was the lone member of the public to speak. She urged the city to prepare for the possibility of 200 low-income families suddenly without housing, warning of “a great deal of pain” otherwise.
City Manager Megan McGowen Crouch told the council the city is not set up to relocate residents displaced by private-sector redevelopment and does not broker such moves.
Crouch contrasted the situation with federally subsidized housing authority projects, which by federal law must relocate tenants and offer them the right to return, and said while the city could help convene or facilitate discussions, it was not positioned to help fund relocation.
“The city of Auburn has methods in place to work with community organizations, the local housing authority and nonprofits to assist in shared goals, such as ensuring residents have adequate housing,” Crouch said in a statement to the Observer. “Alabama law does not allow a city to directly intervene in private matters between landlords and tenants, though we will gladly connect people to resources and collaborate with community groups. There have been, and will continue to be, conversations with a variety of entities about helping those who may need to relocate due to the future redevelopment of the Chateau and LeMans apartments.”
Crouch said the city’s role is limited when it comes to private landlord-tenant matters, but officials can help connect residents with available resources. At the same time, redevelopment proposals must move through Auburn’s established planning and zoning process before reaching the Planning Commission.
“As for your questions about the use applications themselves, applications that come in for planning and zoning requests follow a process that involves a city planner reviewing the application to ensure it meets the standards and regulations of City Code and the Zoning Ordinance,” Crouch said. “Part of that review looks at how the request aligns with the City’s Future Land Use Plan, which is then noted in the staff report given to the Planning Commission to assist in their decision-making process. It is then up to the commission to recommend approval or denial of the item. Planning staff is not the arbiter of what moves forward, outside of ensuring the application is complete and meets basic standards.”
Fitch-Taylor and other members pressed the point, with Ward 6 Council Member Bob Parsons suggesting the city could help them solve the problem without solving it directly, and Ward 3 Council Member Beth Witten floating a role for realtor associations or the Auburn Chamber of Commerce.
Both projects still require traffic-impact studies and further administrative site review before construction. As the sole condition of approval for each, the city required 5-foot sidewalks along the sites’ frontages.
Residents brace for displacement
For the people living in the two complexes, the council’s vote confirmed fears that had been building for months.
Chateau resident Shaniya Brock said she suspected something was coming earlier this year, when neighbors reported being told they could not renew their leases — even though no one had received an eviction notice, and even as new tenants continued moving in.
“To never get an eviction notice and be told you’re not even able to renew your lease, it’s questionable,” Brock said.
She described a notice sign that briefly appeared about two weeks earlier, placed behind a dumpster facing Martin Avenue. It came down in a rainstorm the same day it went up and was never put back, according to Brock. She said Auburn Realty told residents it did not know the sign.
Brock said she wants to leave the aging complex, but not on someone else’s schedule.
“Our goal was to get out from over there, but of course, we don’t want to be rushed and pushed out. Give us time,” Brock said. “It’s difficult. It’s hard. I have two children. A lot of people don’t have a safety net. Thank God I have somebody, but a lot of people don’t have a safety net to fall back on when they need it.”
Even remaining in the city may be out of reach. Brock called Auburn’s cost of living “ridiculously high” for a single family, saying the rents being sought and the price of buying a home have both climbed beyond what working families can manage. Her message to the officials and developers behind the project was blunt: “Get real, because what if it was yours?”
Logan Kennedy, a plumber who has lived at the complex since late 2021 and watched the rent for his one-bedroom apartment rise from roughly $500 to $620, said he had already been displaced once by redevelopment. That first displacement was at a complex off Birmingham Highway in Opelika, where he said he and his partner “got kicked out” before the area was rebuilt.
Kennedy said the projects’ orientation toward student housing troubled him in a community where families sustain much of the local economy.
“There are a lot of families living in the Auburn and the Opelika area, and they’re kind of pushing [development] toward students, which I don’t have a problem with because I know this is a college town,” Kennedy said. “But a lot of commerce is stimulated by families. A lot of these businesses are going to go under if they have to depend on Auburn’s school calendar.”
With a young child to also consider, Kennedy said the situation may force his family to look as far away as Valley for somewhere to land.
“There really aren’t many opportunities for families unless you’re living in one of the higher-end neighborhoods, which those people are pretty much set,” Kennedy said. “But for people who are below that line financially, they’ve forgotten about us before we leave. We’re really trying to get financially ready to make that kind of decision, but I just don’t think there’s anywhere else for us to really go in Auburn or Opelika anymore.”
Several residents described lease timelines that didn’t quite match the account Basquin gave the council. Kennedy said his lease ends in October, and Brock and others said some tenants had already been told they could not renew, even as the developer told council members most leases run into the spring and summer of 2027 and that “nobody would be displaced” if construction waited for them to expire.
A tenant union takes shape
In the weeks since the plans surfaced, residents and supporters have organized as the Auburn Tenant Union, which organizers said has drawn an outpouring of volunteers and offers of help.
Zandra Davis, one of the union’s organizers, said the group’s objection is not to growth in general, but to growth that leaves longtime residents behind.
“It should include everybody and not push certain people out,” Davis said, describing the tenants as people who had poured into the city. “There’s more that unites us than divides us: dignity and stability, a place to call home, those things are important. At the end of the day, these are human beings, hardworking citizens, and I feel like more information should have been given beforehand.”
She argued residents were also kept in the dark. One tenant, she said, saw a posted sign, asked management about it and came away feeling it did not concern her — then learned a public hearing had already come and gone.
“I do believe it was strategic [and] I do believe there was a plan,” Davis said of the limited notice. “It’s always been in the works. What phase of the plan [this is], I don’t know. But I do believe it was strategic, and if you don’t have too many opposing people show up, it’s an easier win to me.”
She estimated roughly 238 families — hundreds of people in all — could ultimately be displaced across the two complexes, though not all of them, she noted, are without a plan.
Davis said the human stakes can be easy to overlook, but was encouraged by the community’s response.
“We’re really overwhelmed with the positive feedback and all of the people who are willing to pitch in and support us in this all hands on deck,” Davis said. “And we had some people here not wanting to talk because they said they have somewhere to go and have a plan. That’s great and was refreshing to hear because not everybody has that.”
According to Davis, community members have been in contact with local property management companies, and several priorities emerged during a meeting with Mayor Ron Anders and Ward 6 Council Member Bob Parsons on Aug. 22.
The first was zoning education and transparency. Officials discussed creating a zoning overview or training opportunity to help Auburn residents better understand how zoning works, how decisions are made and when and how citizens can take part in the process.
A second focus was improving public notification. The group emphasized ensuring residents have access to information and alerts about matters that could affect their neighborhoods. According to the participants, being informed early gives residents a better chance to weigh in before decisions become final.
The third priority centered on affordable housing solutions. Participants discussed the need to keep exploring realistic options for affordable and attainable housing in Auburn. The issue, they said, extends beyond any single apartment complex or redevelopment project and speaks to a broader question about who will be able to continue calling Auburn home as the city grows.
“I am committed to helping find ways to assist residents who may be worried about where they will live once redevelopment efforts begin, which I am told will not be until next summer,” Anders said in a statement. “I have personally spoken with the developer, multiple property managers, passionate citizens and leaders of several local organizations over the last several days to begin brainstorming ways to assist and support the people affected.”
Davis said Anders has also spoken with Auburn Realty about reaching out to area property management offices to identify what housing options and resources could be available to residents who could eventually be affected.
Days earlier, Davis said a conversation with Auburn Realty revealed while the redevelopment proposal had been approved through the city’s public planning process, the company had not received notification a sale had been completed. It had also not been given a confirmed construction schedule, and had not been instructed to terminate any current leases.
Most importantly, Auburn Realty said residents had not received lease-termination notices tied to the proposed redevelopment, and existing leases remained in effect unless and until residents received official written communication about their tenancy.
Davis said officials wanted residents to understand this distinction and to avoid making housing decisions based solely on rumors or social media.
She said the redevelopment’s approval had raised questions about the long-term future of the properties and the availability of affordable housing in Auburn, and the group aimed to act before families faced an immediate housing crisis.
Davis said Auburn Realty told the group it would continue speaking directly with residents, gathering information about their needs, connecting them with available resources and working with community partners and housing professionals on both immediate and long-term solutions.
Options for displaced residents
For those facing displacement, Alabama law offers narrow protections and no guarantee of a place to land.
Residential rentals in Alabama are governed by the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, codified at Title 35, Chapter 9A of the state code.
The act applies to most residential leases in the state. While it sets the rules for deposits, notice and eviction, it does not require a landlord to help a displaced tenant find or pay for new housing.
The statute’s main protection for a tenant whose building is being redeveloped is the requirement of notice.
For a month-to-month tenancy, either the landlord or the tenant must give at least 30 days’ written notice before the rental date named in the notice to end the arrangement.
A fixed-term lease generally runs until its stated end date, which is consistent with Foresite Group’s stated plan to wait for existing leases to expire rather than remove tenants mid-term.
Beyond that notice, the act imposes no obligation on a landlord to assist tenants who must move.
Additionally, Alabama sets no ceiling on rent. The state has no rent-control law, and landlords may set and raise rents without a statutory limit, subject only to proper notice
That means state law does not bar the redeveloped complexes from renting at the higher market rate the developer described.
Auburn municipal code also appears to add little for those facing displacement. While the city of Auburn licenses and regulates rental housing, it has no program to relocate or subsidize tenants displaced by private redevelopment, according to Crouch.
Federal law does not fill the gap for these tenants. Although the federal Fair Housing Act bars housing discrimination on protected grounds and applies alongside state law, it only addresses discrimination and does not require relocation help for economic displacement.
The stronger federal protections, primarily a legal right to be relocated and to return, are only for federally funded or subsidized redevelopment, such as a housing-authority project.
As city officials noted at the Aug. 18 city council meeting, those requirements do not apply to privately financed teardowns like the Chateau and LeMans projects.
The Auburn Tenant Union is asking for help ranging from moving assistance, whether it’s sponsoring a U-Haul or other services when tenants are ready to relocate, to support for disabled residents who will have to move.
If you or someone you know will be affected by the redevelopments, visit https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1D5NGESTKU/?mibextid=wwXIfr.
