LE ROY — The loss of one of Le Roy’s oldest buildings is leading to a new housing venture for working-class families.
Construction is nearly complete on a new triplex in downtown Le Roy at the intersection of K-58 Highway and Main Street.
“It won’t be long,” said Ronda Gilbert, executive director of the Coffey County Housing Authority, which is building the brick complex.
Crews are nearly finished with drywalling the interior. Painting is slated to start by the end of the week.
Cabinets and flooring are next on the to-do list.
Gilbert anticipates the units will be available for occupancy soon.
“I always put a time frame on myself, and we’d hoped to have it done by the end of last year,” Gilbert told the Register in a telephone interview.
But supply chain issues prevented timely delivery for such things as windows and doors, which pushed back other elements, such as the brick exterior.
“Our bricker had to wait for another job,” Gilbert explained.
The Le Roy project differs from other Housing Authority builds in that most residential complexes are simple ranch-style structures, Gilbert said.
However, Le Roy officials were eager to see a structure that fit the architectural style of its other downtown brick buildings.
When finished, the triplex will be targeted to moderate-income families.
THE TRIPLEX replaces the old First National Bank of Le Roy building, which collapsed in December 2018, long after the bank had closed.
The collapse caused a ruckus when the north wall fell, showering the highway with bricks and debris.
“It was kind of a miracle that nobody was hurt,” said Sarah Stewart, proprietor of a business across the street. “It happened in the middle of the morning, but there wasn’t anybody driving by.”
The damage was so extensive that two adjoining buildings, including a former Luther’s Jerky facility, also had to be razed.
Left with (another) gaping hole in the downtown business district — of 12 original 1800s style buildings only five remain — the Le Roy City Council took action.
The city acquired the deed to the property, and then donated the land to the Coffey County Housing Authority with the hopes of getting new homes built.
The county applied in 2020 for a rural housing development project through the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation.
The initial application was rejected. 
Undaunted, the county applied a second time in 2021 before receiving word in December 2021 the $245,000 request — the city offered $50,000 in matching funds — had been approved.
Construction began last spring.
Gilbert noted the project has garnered plenty of attention from passersby.
“Most people think it’s a school,” she laughed.
Rent for the Le Roy triplex has not been set, Gilbert noted.
“Sometimes they’ll change the regulations in the spring,” she said. “We want to see what happens there.”
A similar housing project completed a year earlier in Burlington fetches about $500 monthly.
The state grant requires the triplex be regulated for moderate income families for the first five years before market-based rent can be established, Gilbert said.
As an aside, two developers with ties to Iola are applying for similar grants for housing projects here. Gabe Woodman of Merak Development and Travis West of HomeTeam Properties are set to apply for KHRC funds in February.
THERE ARE other irons in the fire to spark other housing projects, notes Le Roy native Bryson Meats, who recently acquired another old downtown building and is in the midst of restoring it for a business, with apartments above. A coffee shop will be a part of the building as well.
Meats is a member of Love LeRoy, a non-profit organization geared to community betterment in a number of areas, especially housing.
His group hopes to meet with county officials in the coming months to pursue other opportunities.
“We’ve got some big things coming,” he said.
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