The affordable housing supply in Lexington is about to grow by 252 units. Unlike last week’s ribbon cutting on refurbished housing, Tuesday’s event focused on new construction.
The Kearney Ridge Apartments are located off Georgetown Road. Second District Council Member Shala Lynch said the apartment complex is, quote, “huge” for her part of town and the city generally. Lynch said strides are being made a bit at a time.
“That’s just the nature of development. It’s gonna take time, but we’ll get there and I’m optimistic about that and hopefully we’ll be able to have a day where everyone will have the housing they want to have in our City,” said Lynch.
Construction on the $43 million project started in February of 2022 and the first units were leased this summer. Developer Johan Graham noted the demand for affordable housing is so large that both new development and renovated housing are needed. Graham added there have been interest rate challenges to contend with.
“That rate really inhibits a lot of new construction of affordable housing and refinancing. It’s makes the borrowing proceeds a whole lot more expensive to build, so on this project it was a million and a half dollars of extra construction loan interest that that rate change cost us.”
Admitting he’s not a predictor, Graham anticipates interest rates to remain fairly steady over the next year. He said the hope is to see about 30 people a month move into the apartments. Rent ranges from $815 for a one-bedroom apartment to about 12 hundred for a three-bedroom unit.
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