DANVILLE — Deed paperwork to transfer six west downtown city lots for new-home construction has started, and the developer is hoping to be close to breaking ground within two weeks.
Wes Taylor of Taylor Construction & Design said he has received correspondence indicating that the city started title work to deed the lots to his company.
Plans for the new home are in the drafting phase, he said, adding that he hopes they’ll be submitted for permits by next week and the city will work to expedite the process.
A new-home construction agreement in the west downtown neighborhood got the green light from the Danville City Council this week, with aldermen expressing excitement with a development many in the city have worked on for decades.
Urbana-based Taylor Construction & Design plans to build two homes right away and at least two more later. The development agreement calls for the city to donate six parcels at 318 and 324 Oak St.; 205, 207 and 209 Seminary St.; and 402 Franklin St.
Taylor said his 7-year-old residential-home development company has been building primarily in the Champaign-Urbana area and hasn’t done deals with other communities before this one.
They went looking for infill lots and Hailey Seifert’s Keller Williams team connected them with the city of Danville’s Logan Cronk.
“The city really wants to see new development come in,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the problem with the housing market today is that what’s affordable now is vastly different from three to five years ago. What were $210,000 houses routinely go for $330,000 now.
“There’s a big gap in the market,” he said. “You can’t get anything new for less than $200,000.”
He said a big factor in rising prices is the land cost, so it “helps tremendously” that Danville is donating the land.
Another challenge in today’s housing market, Taylor said, is that people hear “affordable” and think cheap and poor quality. His company’s goal is to disprove that.
Taylor said the Danville homes will be traditional ranch style, with two- and three-bedroom versions, and single-car garages. Taylor said the two-bedroom homes the company will start with will cost less than $150,000.
New homeowners will also receive a 50 percent property-tax abatement for five years through the city.
Taylor said the average build time from the ground up is 90 to 100 days.
He admitted to being a little surprised at the large number of people who’ve welcomed the business to Danville.
“We’ll definitely use that momentum,” he said.
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