Progress continues at the Cedarbrook Third Addition as developers prepare for another year of residential construction on Iola’s north edge.
Lakeview Investment Properties, owned by Blake Boone and his mother, Jennifer Chester, launched the project after purchasing all 22 residential lots in the addition in November 2023 as a response to the community’s ongoing housing shortage. Since then, momentum has steadily built, with the first completed home already sold and another nearing the finish line.
“We’re about to list our second one,” noted Boone. “That house will be completed by Feb. 1.”
Looking ahead, Boone said the goal is to establish a steady rhythm of construction — building and selling homes in manageable phases.
“We hope to do three at a time, then just continue to sell them and do three more,” he said. “Ideally, we would have six done this upcoming year. ”
Those six homes would include the three currently in progress, though Boone noted they are at different stages of construction.
“One of them we haven’t even started framing yet,” he said, noting that the coming months will involve catching up and pushing projects toward completion.
INFRASTRUCTURE investments have already helped continue that growth. The City of Iola has invested $1.7 million and previously extended utilities to 16 of the 22 lots in the addition.
The remaining six lots, located where the subdivision curves back to the northeast, will require Boone and Chester to cover the cost of extending infrastructure themselves.
The duo purchased each lot for $1,000 and will pay the city an additional $6,500 for each of the 16 serviced lots as homes are sold. Under the agreement, Boone and Chester have 10 years to develop the lots before ownership would revert to the city.
Like many construction projects, Cedarbrook has not been without challenges.
Boone noted that the past few months included some delays.
“We kind of ran into some hiccups through the holidays,” he said. “We’re special ordering some stuff for the homes, so we had some issues on material and timelines. We’ll get through it — we’ve just got to keep pushing forward.”
As the new year unfolds, Boone says Cedarbrook’s next chapter will focus on consistency — completing homes, bringing new residents into the neighborhood, and continuing to chip away at Iola’s housing needs one build at a time.
