Joe Croft and Derry Glenn stand in front of a recently completed home on Elizabeth Street in Lima.
Jacob Espinosa | The Lima News
LIMA — A local company is building affordable housing in the south end of Lima.
Joe Croft, of Sky Building, said he wanted to bring residents back to vacant spaces along Elizabeth Street, where he grew up visiting his grandfather.
“I own the blue house that my grandfather lived in for 77 years,” Croft said. “He’s still alive at 101 years and lives in an assisted living facility, but I have an attachment to this street. I grew up here as a kid and came down here every weekend to spend time with him.”
Croft’s grandfather’s house was just one of the properties the company bought with plans to build new, handicapped-accessible and affordable housing in the section, something Lima city councilman Derry Glenn has been pushing for for years.
“I’m very excited about it,” he said. “It’s a win-win for us in the Sixth Ward. This was a big campaign promise for a long time.”
Croft said the idea is not set for just this part of town.
“We’re not an investor just looking to concentrate on one area,” he said. “We have to go all over town in order to build Lima back better and give people better housing and bring them back to the city.”
Glenn thanked Croft for having the initiative to take on the project and bring it to his ward.
“He put it all in with confidence to bring this to the Sixth Ward,” he said. “We didn’t have any investors that wanted to take that chance to build a home that people can buy. Investors always say they will do it if they can get credit from the federal government, but this was not funded by the federal government. These are homes that you can see in Shawnee, Bath and Elida.”
Croft said one property Sky Building constructed on W. Elm Street sold for $363,000, but with help from grants and realtors, getting into the homes is possible.
“We are also working with mortgage loan originator Trisha Cooper who is working with different federal grants and systems, as well as banks and credit unions to help people with subprime credit get into a home,” he said. “They do everything they can and they get people in these homes with as little as 3 percent down with these grants. And the lenders are doing a great job of not shoving the grants unless people ask about them.”
Croft said Sky Building is still working with the city to acquire more lots. CCR Realtors handled the listings.
The city announced a $720,000 grant from the state in May (bit.ly/3wWqwUx) to go toward rehabilitating existing housing and constructing new housing on land bank parcels.
Reach Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.
