AU Associates Receives Grassroots Partner Award

FRANKFORT, KY—AU Associates, Inc. and the Old Jenkins School Renovation Committee are the co-recipients of the Grassroots Partner Award, a new award created this year for the 36th Annual Ida Lee Willis Memorial Foundation Historic Preservation Awards. The awards ceremony took place Wednesday the 29th at the Governor’s Mansion.

The awards ceremony, presented in partnership by the Ida Lee Willis Memorial Foundation and the Kentucky Heritage Council, takes place each May during National Historic Preservation Month. The awards are named for Kentucky’s first state historic preservation officer, the late Ida Lee Willis, wife of the late former Governor Simeon Willis.

The Grassroots Partner Award was awarded for the preservation and restoration of the old Jenkins school into the Jenkins School apartments. The award was accepted by current committee chair James Polly, John and Rosemary Shook, who founded the committee, and Johan Graham of AU Associates.

The Jenkins School is locally significant and listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the largest and finest school to be produced as part of the efforts by Consolidated Coal Company to develop Jenkins, a coal camp, in the coal rich mountains of eastern Kentucky. Jenkins School’s construction in 1912 heralded a dramatic period of coal investment in Jenkins, leading the town to be considered one of the crown jewels of coal towns. As other Jenkins buildings of this period have been lost to neglect or demolition, Jenkins School and its level of preservation remains as a touchstone to the community’s coal industry heritage.
The Old Jenkins School Renovation Committee began working to preserve the building and prevent it from being demolished in 1992. In 2012, AU Associates stepped in to repurpose the historic school into safe, affordable senior housing, which opened in February.

This beautiful architectural symbol has been repurposed as 26 beautiful affordable housing units for seniors, the Jenkins Senior Citizens justify, and the Letcher County Government Access Television Studio. Beautiful one and two bedrooms are currently available for rent. The apartments are handicap accessible with an elevator to serve all floors. They also feature central heat and air conditioning, a community laundry room, and keyless electronic entry. Contact Misty Collins, property manager, at 606-832-2222 or Jenkins@auassociates.com to schedule a tour or obtain a rental application. Income and age restrictions apply. Equal Housing Opportunity.

For more information, please contact Johan Graham at 859.233.2009.For leasing information and current move-in specials, please contact Misty Collins at 606.832.2222.

16 Jan, 2024
January 10, 2024 | By Shepherd Snyder A $2.8 million sale between Transylvania University and a group of Lexington banks will transform the school’s baseball field into an affordable housing development. The 12.5 acre development will include both rental and owned properties for families making 30 to 80 percent of the city’s median income. The university plans to close the sale of Marquard Field to a group including Central Bank, Community Trust Bank, Republic Bank & Trust, Stock Yards Bank and Traditional Bank. The group has created a $3 million revolving fund to support affordable housing development throughout the city. Brien Lewis is President of Transylvania University. He says the downtown project would help residents stay in the city, and closer to their workplaces. “There's a lot of challenges to finding affordable housing,” Lewis said. “And it's not just the housing itself. If you have to be farther out, then you've got more transportation costs, and so on. So we see this as something that will certainly benefit the Transylvania community, but obviously, much more, the Lexington community.” Housing development groups include Habitat for Humanity, AU Associates, Urban League of Lexington and Winterwood. They’re being joined by Commerce Lexington, Lexington for Everyone and the Building Industry Association of Central Kentucky to create a development plan. Darryl Neher is the CEO of Lexington Habitat for Humanity. He says the development will help ease the rising cost of living for low-income families. “What we're experiencing here is not unlike what's happening across the country,” Neher said. “Post COVID, we've seen housing prices increase as much as 40 percent. Since the beginning of COVID, we're also seeing cost of construction increase, we're seeing interest rates increase, we're seeing rents increase. And so all of these pressures are putting our most vulnerable at risk.” Ground is expected to break on the project in the summer of 2025. The Transylvania Pioneers have been playing at Counter Clocks Field, home of Minor League Baseball’s Lexington Counter Clocks, since 2019. Click here to read the full story.
27 Sep, 2023
Yesterday was a huge event and milestone for AU Associates as we cut the ribbon on our largest affordable housing project ever and the largest in Lexington in over 20 years. I can't begin to thank our amazing team enough for the hard work to bring these 252 units of affordable housing to fruition. We've already moved in our first 60 families to a development with market rate amenities at affordable prices! View our press coverage at the following links: https://www.wtvq.com/more-affordable-housing-units-open-in-northern-lexington/ https://www.wkyt.com/2023/09/26/ribbon-cut-another-affordable-housing-complex-lexington/
26 Jan, 2023
AU Associates is proud to announce the opening of our NEW 24-unit affordable housing complex for seniors 55 and older located out on Polo Club Lane. This is a huge victory for affordable housing community and for seniors in the Lexington area! Click here to read the full story.
16 Nov, 2022
Pictured above: Digital rendering of the Loganwood Apartment complex. LOGAN - In addition to the annual Veterans Day Parade and Ceremony, the Logan community veterans will also be honored with the official groundbreaking of the new Loganwood housing complex on Friday. Following the events of Veterans days, the long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony of the Loganwood Apartments complex will be held at 2 p.m. The construction of Loganwood will provide 33 affordable, family apartments with a preference for income-eligible veterans in need of housing. The apartments will be available in one and two-bedroom options. The developer building the structure will be AU Associates, Inc., the same firm that built the Logan Landing Apartments on the east end of Stratton Street four years ago. Officials from the Logan Housing Corporation, the City of Logan, AU Associates, and the other funding partners will be on hand to celebrate Friday's groundbreaking. The groundbreaking will take place at 314 Hudgins Street, Logan, located just past the Logan Post Office. A complete report on Loganwood and the groundbreaking will be included Nov. 16th edition of The Logan Banner.
22 Aug, 2022
Mayor Linda Gorton and Councilmember Josh McCurn today joined developers and contractors to break ground on a new $43 million affordable housing project with 252 apartments.
22 Aug, 2022
Glade View Townhomes is the latest project by AU Associates for affordable housing in West Virginia and Kentucky. It features 33 units with one, two and three-bedroom options.
22 Aug, 2022
Lexington, Ky (WKYT) - City officials celebrated the grand opening of a new senior living community in Lexington Friday morning.
By au-admin 10 Aug, 2020
August 10, 2020 | by Mario Anderson LEXINGTON, KY. — Monday was the first ribbon-cutting ceremony that the City of Lexington government leaders participated in since March 6. That date, was when the first COVID-19 case was reported in Kentucky. Monday morning, Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton and others gathered to announce details about the city’s latest […]
By au-admin 10 Aug, 2020
August 10, 2020 | by Steve Rogers LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Lexington added 71 new senior-living apartments to its list of affordable housing Monday. Mayor Linda Gorton and Councilmember Josh McCurn cut the ribbon to officially open the apartments for independent senior citizens in Meadowthorpe Landing at 1447 Antique Drive. “Our city needs more affordable housing, […]
By au-admin 11 Mar, 2020
LOGAN | March 11, 2020 | by David Vidovich — Updates on the veterans housing complex to be built in downtown Logan were given during the recent regular sessions of both the Logan County Housing Authority and the Logan Housing Corporation. Nicknamed Loganwood, the complex will be a living center tailored for veterans in need […]
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