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.
