People who lived in the Sonnet Cove apartments near the end of its life have anything but fond memories of its living conditions – dilapidated surroundings, too many needed repairs to count, noise and crime and gang activity. About half of the complex, located on Laketower Drive, was eventually condemned by the city because of plumbing leaks, backed up sewage and more.
In stepped Allen Schubert, a Lexington native now living in Louisville and a veteran developer of commercial and residential properties. A 1978 graduate of the University of Kentucky, Schubert remembers how nice Sonnet Cove was back in the ‘70s. “Everyone wanted to live there,” Schubert said. “Then in the ‘90s it started going downhill. In the 2000s it went down really fast – awful. You couldn’t even get a pizza delivered there because it was so dangerous.”
Looking past the sorry conditions, Schubert envisioned a promising property located inside New Circle Road in the coveted 40502 zip code, five minutes from downtown and on the water (Lexington Reservoir).
Schubert and his company, Andover Management Group, bought the Sonnet Cove property from the lenders, who had foreclosed on it, for nearly $5 million. There were five buildings in one complex and seven in the other. It was half vacant at the time of the sale. The company immediately tore down seven buildings and 140 units.
The 16-acre site is currently being re-developed in three phases, including 195 completely rebuilt units in what is called Lakewood Park Apartment Homes. There will also be a total of 15 high-end townhouses, and later a five-story luxury apartment building, to be marketed to older, empty-nesters, will be built. These two areas are in a gated community called The Harbour at Lakewood. Schubert says the entire development is about 50 percent completed.
The townhouses have custom features like ten foot ceilings, an outdoor patio and even space for an elevator. Schubert says buyers of these properties will be able to put their own finishing touches on their new living spaces. “We designed them so people can customize individual units, such as if they want to move a wall,” he said. “The person who wants to buy one of these homes has owned several homes in the past and is very specific about their current wants and desires,” he said.
Schubert says many of the residents of his properties work in the medical field at the University of Kentucky, like nurses, and also teachers, young lawyers and other professionals.
Rebecca Burnworth, vice president and director of development at Andover Management, is a licensed architect and recalls what the Sonnet Cove property looked like when she first saw it. “The old buildings were so rotten. I don’t think they even let me go into the buildings. They were really mold-ridden,” she said.
Fast forward from that dismal scene to one where the senior living complex now being planned could offer concierge service, like you enjoy at a high-end hotel. There is also expected to be an indoor fitness area and a common space for meetings and possibly meals.
“We want to ‘blow it out of the water’ and do something really unique, something no one has seen before,” Burnworth said.
The UK College of Architecture graduate feels fortunate her company acquired such a prime property and raves about the water features. Old trees and brush were cleared away from the shoreline so all Lakewood residents would have unobstructed views of the lake stretching up to a mile.
“I think this location is just unbelievable,” Burnworth said. “I don’t know of many places like this where you can be 50 feet from a lake. There are some other locations where a lake may be off in the distance and you can see it out your windows, but the view here is incredible and you’re inside New Circle Road, which is insane.”
Burnworth says the project is good for the city because of the added tax base that will be generated from the elite community. It is a prime example of urban in-fill, rather than developing undisturbed land. Property values could rise in surrounding neighborhoods. “Andover Construction, our builder, has done an amazing job,” said Burnworth. “You have to have that attention to detail and quality. I’m happy for our team.”
Schubert is no stranger to taking old sites and turning them into new living spaces. He is credited with developing a former middle school in Bowling Green into a 300-bed living space for students at Western Kentucky University and taking a historic 1820-era academy and converting it into several condominiums and a town house.