LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – After a downtown church sat empty for over two decades, Lexington has broken ground to transform it into 22 single-family affordable housing units.
On Saturday, the project’s developers, community members, and local and state leaders came together to break ground at the building, located at 530 North Martin Luther King Boulevard.
“I visited this church as a young man from time to time, and to now see this church remain in a very new form is so significant,” said Reggie Thomas, Kentucky Senator for District 13.
Lexington Vice-Mayor Dan Wu was also at the groundbreaking, adding that the new project couldn’t have come at a better time.
“Lexington is 2,300 housing units short of where we need to be,” Wu said. “The majority of that need is affordable housing.”
Humza Qureshi, a Lexington native, is with the Qureshi Development Group, which is overseeing the project.
“Our background really isn’t real estate, its in medicine, so this is something new for us, but I do think we bring a new perspective to it,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi said its actually his medical background that’s showed him why affordable housing is so important.
“One of the biggest issues in hospitals is placement after discharge, where are people gonna go if they’re not somebody that has a home? It makes a huge issue out of medication compliance, physician follow up. So, in a sense, affordable housing is actually a healthcare issue as well,” Qureshi said.
Qureshi said they plan to keep the historic integrity of the old church on the outside, while updating the inside.
Qureshi added this project should be complete by this time next year.
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