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Martha Dryden gets excited as she explains all that has happened at this previously dilapidated part of Lexington to create Parkside, a mixed-use venture that includes affordable apartments and commercial space. The smile on her face indicated she was trying to temper her enthusiasm for all that’s still to come at 1060 Cross Keys Rd., a stop less than half a mile away from Alexandria Drive that will be featured in the Women in Architecture Tour on Sept. 22.
Dryden is the director of operations for AU Associates, a development firm headquartered in Lexington that spearheaded Parkside. The organization has completed more than $63-million worth of projects in Kentucky and West Virginia, creating in excess of 350 residential units and over 100,000 square feet of commercial space during its 21 years of existence.
But the Parkside project – which totaled a little more than $6 million and is tucked away from the usual Lexington hubs of downtown, Hamburg or Beaumont – is a bit extra special to the AU Associates.
“It’s nice to be in our own backyard,” Dryden said. “We work in a lot of rural communities two hours away, so it’s really nice to have something in our backyard and to see the positive impact it can have on our home community.”
That would help explain the added bounce in Dryden’s step as she gives an informal tour of AU Associates’ latest example of repurposing a vacant or under-utilized property. Parkside was formerly the location of the Gardenside Cabana Club and later the Cross Keys YWCA. The site was abandoned (it had actually been condemned by LFUCG code enforcement) and had become the subsequent target of vandalism as well as other questionable activity –– a general eyesore for the community.
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AU Associates was approached by Citizen’s Union Bank, a Shelbyville-based institution that held the mortgage on the property and was interested in helping work toward tax credits to refurbish the land. The group then proceeded to submit the necessary paperwork to secure funding through affordable housing tax credits and other funds through the Kentucky Housing Corporation and the city’s HOME funds once site control had been obtained. The land cost approximately $700,000, with the entire project totaling $6.5 million. That figure was tempered thanks to a design by Chantelle Noble of Cincinnati’s City Studios Architecture that leveraged the site’s elevation changes, thus minimizing the need to move excess amounts of dirt. Ground was broken in December 2010 with a dedication ceremony for the finished project held just more than 12 months later on Jan. 25, 2012.
The finished product is a completely handicap-accessible four-story building managed by Winterwood, Inc. Painted in muted shades of lime, grey and taupe for a very contemporary feel, the structure also adheres to a required zone change to a P-1 that called for commercial space to be established on the ground floor.
Parkside’s base houses a handful of organizations, including the Sunflower Kids, an 11-year-old non-profit agency that provides safe, affordable and supervised child visitation primarily for families affected by domestic violence and child abuse. Bluegrass Domestic Violence also has a community outreach office onsite that offers access to counseling and support groups.
The mix of commercial and residential occupants has thus far been a productive combination. Sunflower Kids was located off Nicholasville Road in a space that had been previously occupied by a dental office prior to its move to Parkside. But a lack of space and rooms not suited to offer a “nurturing environment” wasn’t a good fit. The agency jumped at the chance to customize an area after being approached by AU Associates through a liaison with the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.
“The facility itself is perfect,” said Stephanie Hoffman, executive director of Sunflower Kids, which moved into Parkside in February. “The structure, the layout, the way AU Associates worked with us to design it to suit our needs – it’s perfect. AU Associates has helped us think about our needs and really took that into account during the design phase. Because we have more space here, we’re better able to account for the safety needs of families.”
The top three floors are the core of the development, however.
Parkside, which has a keyless electronic entry system, consists of 34 residential units ranging from one to three bedrooms, with 600-1,000 square feet. Each unit has a fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer hook-up connections, central heat and air conditioning, and other amenities such as Energy Star windows and a private balcony. Apartments are high-speed Internet accessible and tenants can receive discounted cable television rates through a bulk agreement through Insight. There are also shared common areas such as a breezeway patio with tables, a community room and laundry facility on each floor.
The building reached full capacity by the end of May, less than five months after officially opening. Talks to create a second phase for the six-acre property are in the infantile stages, pending the release of the Kentucky Housing Corporation’s qualified allocation plan that will provide guidelines for future projects. Dryden, however, said it’s feasible the number of units could easily double given the amount of now-landscaped land surrounding the building that is usable.
“AU Associates’ Parkside development has helped a blighted area to become revitalized,” said Peggy Henson, 11th District Council Member. “Not only did the development help with the horrendous blight, it also helped several individuals and families to have a safe, affordable place to live. I have a strong belief that no matter what your level of income might be, we all deserve a high quality of life. The Parkside development has certainly provided that higher quality of life for its tenants.”