In a major boost to Iola’s efforts to address its housing shortage, city council members voted Monday to sell all 22 residential lots in the Cedarbrook Third Addition to Lakeview Investment Properties, an LLC owned by Jennifer Chester and son Blake Boone.
Earlier this year, the council agreed to spend $1.7 million to extend utilities in the addition at the north edge of town. “I know it’s a lot of money,” Mayor Steve French said at the time. “It’s a gamble to build it and sit back and wait.”
It appears the gamble will pay off. Chester and Boone told the Register they believe they can build three to five homes a year and have plans to begin as soon as January.
Terms of the contract stipulate 16 single-family homes to be built on 16 lots that are already served with utilities.
On the other six, which are zoned two-family residential, Chester and Boone could build duplexes, but both said they would prefer instead to build up to three larger homes. Those six lots are currently served only with city water; Chester and Boone would bear the costs of extending the road, sewer and street/storm sewer.
Chester and Boone have 10 years to develop the lots; if they fail to do so, the land reverts back to the city.
The 22 lots will be sold for $1,000 each, paid at closing. But with each home Chester and Boone sell, they’ll pay the city an additional $6,500 per lot. Thus, if all lots are developed and sold, the city will receive $165,000 total.
DISCUSSION on the contract was short.
At the onset, council member Carl Slaugh mentioned he would like to debate the issue before a vote.
“We’re shocked, Carl,” quipped fellow council member Kim Peterson.
“I didn’t want you to be disappointed,” Slaugh responded dryly.
“In general, I would like to see Cedarbrook developed,” proceeded Slaugh. “One of the reservations I have regarding this proposal is that we haven’t had open competition. We haven’t advertised, and we haven’t allowed for potential real estate developers to come to us. That’s my biggest reservation.”
Mayor French seemed to have little patience for delay, referencing back to 2020 when he and Thrive Allen County’s former economic development director Jonathon Goering “met with a slew of developers – local, across the state, out of state,” to garner interest in developing the site.
“I can’t think of any stone we didn’t turn over,” French said. “Jonathon and I spent a lot of time driving around those lots.”
The problem, according to French, is that many developers want additional funding to make the projects work.
“Most of these developers – they want something in return, and they want something big,” said French. “We have a developer that’s really not asking for anything other than what we already put there. I can’t tell you how many developers we actually met with. They’re just not knocking down our door.”
