By Annie Goeller, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
By the end of this year, more than 400 new homes will be ready for Center Grove residents to move into.
But they're not the ranch and two-story homes you're used to seeing under construction in the fast-growing community.
In the sluggish housing market and economy, developers and builders are turning their focus to apartment complexes.
Apartment complexes in Greenwood and the Center Grove area boast an average occupancy rate of 93 percent, a high for central Indiana communities.
The current need in housing is for apartments, with families losing their homes when they can't afford their mortgage, young couples that can't yet qualify for a loan and a lack of multi-family housing in the community overall, developers said.
That demand has led to at least three different apartment complexes under construction in the Center Grove area and one near Edinburgh and another project that has been proposed for the east side of Greenwood.
And more are likely on their way, a commercial real estate company executive said.
For years, families and young couples could buy a home just as easily as they could sign a lease, said Steve LaMotte Jr., vice president of C.B. Richard Ellis.
And that put construction of apartment complexes at nearly a standstill.
But now, interest is growing from all types of people, including recent college graduates, seniors, young couples that are facing trouble getting approved for a mortgage under stricter credit standards and families who are losing their homes to foreclosure, he said.
With the area already having a high occupancy rate, that means developers are coming in to meet the need, LaMotte said.
Welbourne Companies, owned by Center Grove developer Mike Duke, is working on two different apartment complexes currently: Hartshire Lakes at Whiteland Road and State Road 135 and Oxford North in Taylorsville in Bartholomew County.