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Two Concepts: Lexington officials market homes with an eye to historic preservation and housing affordability
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Jeanne Johnston, Lexington’s community-development coordinator, stands on the front porch of a renovated home in Erlanger Mill Village.
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Published: July 4, 2009
LEXINGTON - For years, Erlanger Mill Village was in decline, marked by dilapidated houses and apartment buildings that had become eyesores.
Today, the apartments are gone, long demolished and replaced by open space that Lexington city officials hope to develop into a park. And some of the houses have been fixed up with fresh paint and new roofs. In front of those houses are "For Sale" signs.
It is progress for a historic neighborhood that Lexington city officials have been trying to save for more than 10 years. Armed with a $1 million federal grant, the city has partnered with Lexington Housing CDC to fix up houses in Erlanger and sell them to first-time homebuyers.
"We're excited about the interest in the houses," said Jeanne Johnston, the city's community-development coordinator, as she walked through the neighborhood this week.
Late last month, Lexington city officials had an open house, offering tours of several houses that have been fixed up. One person has already moved into a home, and two other houses are under contract to be purchased, said Antoinette Kerr, the executive director of the Lexington Housing CDC.
People have shown a lot of interest in the houses, she said.
"We're kind of marrying two concepts, between historic preservation and affordable housing," Kerr said.
Erlanger Mill Village began in the early part of the 20th century. Abraham and Charles Erlanger built the Erlanger Cotton Mills in 1914 to supply fabric to their B.V.D. underwear factory in Baltimore. They planned a mill village as a way to attract skilled textile workers.
The Erlanger Mill Village is considered exceptionally well-planned; its houses have porches, brick columns and wide yards. In its heyday, the village had schools, stores, recreation centers and churches. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1953, the mill sold the houses to its workers, and then Parkdale Mills bought the factory in 1971. Since then, the village has been in decline. More homes became rental properties, and they fell into such disrepair that they had to be fixed to meet housing codes.
In October 1999, many Erlanger residents met with city officials under a large tent to discuss the mill village's future. But progress has been slow. In 2007, things started to turn around, when the city of Lexington got a $1 million grant to renovate the houses in Erlanger.
The city entered into an agreement with Lexington Housing CDC to buy and market up to 14 houses in the Park Circle area, where the apartments used to be, using a line of credit from a local bank. The city is hiring contractors to renovate the homes.
People buying those houses have to take classes on financial literacy and homeownership, and the CDC offers financial assistance to those who qualify, Kerr said.
The homes sell for $39,900 to $59,900. Johnston said the houses that have been fixed up have new heating and air conditioning systems and new electrical wiring. Contractors also worked to make sure that the historic nature of the homes was preserved whenever possible, she said.
For example, one house has two front entrances. The house was designed for single male mill workers, and the entrances opened into two separate rooms with a common area, Kerr said.
The city plans to renovate 23 houses in the neighborhood and develop the park.
"Our goal is to rehab as much as we can," Johnston said.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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