Tiny home village opens in South Carolina city

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - You’ve seen them on HGTV and social media. Now tiny homes are coming to the Midlands.

In September, the City of West Columbia approved one of the region’s first tiny home villages. Located on Lacy Street off of Jarvis Klapman Boulevard, the new community will have eight tiny homes ranging from 266 to 400 square feet.

Jim Bowie, the developer behind the Stone Canyon Cabins project, started selling tiny homes nearly two years ago. His product falls somewhere between a traditional home and a manufactured home.

“It’s not a mobile home,” Bowie said. “They’re heavy, they’re safe. They need to be hooked up to power, water and sewer to be fully functional.”

Because tiny homes have only gained steam in the last few years, Bowie said they still fall into a legal gray area. Most local governments, including West Columbia, don’t have specific regulations for tiny homes like they do for mobile homes or modular homes.

“Although we had a lot of interested buyers, we were only able to sell a fraction of what we could have because people were running into challenges with zoning and financing,” Bowie said. “That’s really why we shifted our focus to this development.”

After 6 months of meetings with West Columbia city officials, Bowie received several special exceptions from the Zoning Board of Appeals that allowed him to build his community on the site of a former mobile home park.

“The unique tiny home community is a wonderful addition to help aid revitalization in the area,” Mayor Tem Miles said.

The homes cost between $55,000 and $80,000. Leasing a space in the community - which includes utilities and several amenities such as a dog park and children’s play area - is $450 a month.

So far, two units have been sold, and the first resident is expected to move into the compound in a matter of weeks.

Though sales started out slow, Bowie believes that the business will take off as local governments and lenders become more familiar with tiny homes. He hopes the West Columbia community’s success will create other tiny home opportunities such as rental housing, student housing, and housing for homeless veterans.

“People from all different walks of life are interested in this from single people out of college, to young couples, to 80-year-old grandmothers,” he said. “It’s really a lifestyle. For people who don’t want to live in a house with the giant tax bills and maintenance and power bills, it’s perfect.”