Aurora poised for housing spurt

Efforts to build new houses and help the community grow are gaining momentum on several fronts now in Aurora, with the most recent announcement adding larger lots for high-end homes on the north edge of town.
That’s just one piece of the puzzle, however, as more than 60 single-family dwelling lots are poised for development across town in the Streeter Subdivision, a well-publicized project funded in part by a $1 million Rural Workforce Housing Grant. What is not as well known and are just now becoming public are the pending plans focused on building multi-family homes in the Streeter Subdivision, as well as the larger homes expected to be built in the Northridge Subdivision.
Several volunteers working on the various housing initiatives offered an overall community update on the housing front at a recent meeting of the Aurora Rotary Club.
“Housing is kind of a collaboration with a few different groups in Aurora, including Streeter LLC, the Aurora Housing Development Corporation, which I represent, and the Aurora Development Corporation,” reported Jannelle Seim, AHDC president. “Coupled with these private non-profits, the City of Aurora is also investing in parts of the infrastructure to enable development of these subdivisions. We just have a lot of housing opportunities right now, which is all very exciting.”
Seim began her presentation with a little background dating back to 2020, when Aurora received the first of two rural housing grants.
“We’re still in the middle of that and we have exceeded the expectations of that grant and our responsibilities,” she said.
Aurora native Brock Henderson agreed to build 10 single-family homes as part of the initial grant, Seim reported, eight of which have already been sold. Cliff Messner of Central City built eight townhomes as part of the project as well toward the center part of the property on Cottage Park Drive, four of which have been sold.
The community received another shot in the arm in 2021 as the recipient of a second $1 million Rural Workforce Housing grant, this one earmarked for multi-family housing in Aurora.
“We have not received those grant proceeds yet, as that’s all in the planning stages,” Seim said. “The contract will last until 2027, so we have a little bit of time there.”
Between the two state grants and the local match funding required for application, Seim said local donors have stepped up with generous contributions that will have an impact for decades to come.
“In three years, I think we have raised just a little over three and a half million dollars in Hamilton County, which I think is an amazing feat,” she said.
Seim announced that a separate tax credit project involving an 18-unit, rent-controlled complex for residents 55 and over is scheduled to close in September on the west edge of the Streeter property near the retention cells, with groundbreaking expected soon after.
“And then we have the multi-family projects planned as part of the second grant,” she continued. “We’re waiting for the grant money, for the weather and for some plans, so we are just waiting. We have plans for a four-plex and we also have submitted another grant through trust funds and the builders would like to build a 20-plex in Aurora. So, as you can see, we just have a lot of housing opportunities right now.”

Northridge expansion
Gary Warren, a long-time former member of the ADC board who now serves on the Streeter LLC board, explained the history and vision behind the Northridge Subdivision, including the recent expansion.
“We’ve added 12 new lots, which are a little larger lots than the original Northridge,” Warren told the Rotary Club. “You’ll see lots this size in Parkview Estates (near the Platte River just off Highway 34) and some in the McBride Subdivision, where they have lots that are maybe 120- or 130-foot fronts and maybe are 130, 140 or 150 feet deep. They are designed to accommodate a little bigger house, with four of these lots (one of which has already been sold) designed so that they could be graded in such a fashion to have walkouts.
“The engineer has done all his work and we hope to start construction this fall, but before that can happen we need another financial piece of the puzzle to fall together,” Warren emphasized. “We need to sell four lots. Streeter LLC already has assessments on the west properties and we’re not going further in debt at this point, so we need to sell four lots to trigger this so we can go ahead and put in the paving, water and sewer.”

Long-term vision
Also shedding some light on the city’s housing development history was Emily Jasnowski, who previously worked in the Heritage Bank Trust Department and now represents the Frank and Alice Farr Trust as a co-trustee with Heritage Bank. Jasnowski explained why the Farr Trust joined with the Wortman Trust in 2005 to form Streeter LLC.
“The purpose of Streeter LLC was to foster housing and economic development in our community. It was initially formed by members of our community who saw that there was a need for more development,” she said, crediting help from Jim Koepke, Sam Moyer, Gary Warren, Jayne Smith and the late Tim Otto. “They really got this started because they had concerns about the community being landlocked and how we’d be able to continue to grow.”
In 2006, Jasnowski reported, Streeter LLC purchased the 181-acre Newman farm, which is where the Northridge Subdivision, the softball/soccer complex and additional farmland around it are located. And then in 2012, Streeter LLC purchased the 117-acre Matson farm on the west edge of Aurora, which is where the Streeter Subdivision and the Westfield Quality Care nursing home are located.
“Both of these today are being actively developed and we’ve still got farm ground that’s being farmed on each of those,” she noted.
Warren offered a brief history lesson as well, noting that numerous partnerships were involved in making the recent Northridge expansion a possibility.
“I want to emphasize the relationship with the City of Aurora and the partnerships that have been made to make this all happen, and are still making it happen,” he said.
Warren recalled how ADC and Bob Benes, owner of Aspen Homes in Lincoln, purchased the original Northridge lots, sharing the risk of development. 
Eventually, Benes sold 8.35 acres back to ADC, which he said was key in providing more local control.
“We kind of needed to get that back to fit into the rest of what Streeter owns, which is all the way up to the cemetery,” Warren explained. “This way we could kind of develop this as one piece, and do it cohesively. At this point, Streeter owns that 8.35 acres, courtesy of ADC with a no-interest loan for two years. So, that’s one piece of the puzzle with Streeter being able to subdivide this property.”
Warren said the city’s participation filled in another key piece of the development puzzle.
“A lot of these things were coming together for us and then the city offered to pay 10 percent of the infrastructure cost,” he said. “They typically pay for things like intersections, oversized storm sewers and so forth, so that was very helpful. It has taken all that coming together, plus the sale of four lots, for us to be able to fund this.”
While excited about the plans and the recent progress, Warren said the Northridge project still requires a bit of vision to see how it could change the landscape on Aurora’s northern edge.
“You have to be a little visionary going out there looking at a cornfield now,” he said, “but these are prime lots. They are in a good location, looking back over the park with walk-out basements and some of those things. You won’t find better lots in Aurora, I don’t think.”