A century-old Sweet Auburn building that has quietly done heavy lifting in the neighborhood for three decades is finally getting its own repairs.
Renovations are scheduled to begin this week at O'Hern House, a converted apartment building at 16 William Holmes Borders Senior Drive, just south of Edgewood Avenue. The Sweet Auburn Historic District structure went up in the early 1900s as the Red Seal Shoe Factory and was converted in 1993 into a supportive housing facility.
Since then the 76-unit building has provided permanent housing for formerly homeless residents, most of them managing both severe and persistent mental illness and substance use disorders, according to project officials.
Building owner and service provider The 3Keys Inc. says the rehab has been in planning for a year and a half. The work includes reconfiguring the building's first level and refreshing every residential room, with new HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and lighting systems intended to improve energy efficiency and bring down water and power bills.
On-site amenities are being upgraded as well — the upper-floor lounges and laundry rooms, and the industrial kitchen that turns out three meals a day for residents.
It is not the kind of project that generates renderings, but it keeps 76 units of deeply affordable housing in service inside a historic district where very little of that stock remains.
Source: Urbanize Atlanta, published September 2025.