photo by: Courtesy: Build Smart

A home in South Dakota is erected using panels constructed by Lawrence-based Build Smart. The building system is planned to be used for a new 4-story affordable housing project in Lawrence.

East Lawrence is set to get another affordable housing project, but the broader community may get something that proves even more valuable out of the venture — an affordable housing method.

As we reported last month, a project in the Warehouse Arts District in East Lawrence was selected by the City Commission and the city’s Affordable Housing Advisory Board to receive $450,000 in local grant money.

Developer Tony Krsnich recently gave me new details about the project. The yet-to-be named development is slated for the northwest corner of Ninth and Delaware streets, which puts it caddy-corner from the 9 Del Lofts affordable housing project that Krsnich built in the district several years ago.

Preliminary plans call for a four-story building that will include 39 one-bedroom apartments, plus six ground-floor units that will allow for an office or store in the front of the unit, with living quarters in the rear, for example.

But one of the more interesting details about the project is how it would be built: Large parts of it would be built offsite and then assembled onsite, potentially decreasing construction time by a few months.

The process will involve the exterior walls of the building being fully constructed — filled with insulation, windows installed, sheathing applied — in a North Lawrence warehouse. Then, construction crews using cranes and lifts will set the panels in place and connect them — creating a situation where the building seemingly springs out of the ground.

“We’ll be out there with lawn chairs and a six pack of beer watching the floors go up,” Krsnich predicted.

Why not? If the moment happens, it will be a noteworthy one among the Lawrence construction industry. It would be the largest project in Lawrence to use the system developed by Build Smart, which is a Lawrence-based company.

We’ve written about Build Smart before. It was founded by the owners of fellow Lawrence company Prosoco, and for several years was located in the East Hills Business Park, next to Prosoco.

photo by: Courtesy: Build Smart

A crew constructs a Build Smart wall in a Lawrence production facility.

But in April, Lawrence architects Connor Treanor and Chris Cunningham — owners of Lawrence-based CT Design and Development — bought the company. It is now located in a production facility in North Lawrence, where it builds walls and buildings systems for projects across the country.

It so happens, though, that not a lot of those projects are in Lawrence. Treanor told me he hopes using the system to build a four-story apartment building in East Lawrence will serve as a springboard for Lawrence builders to use the system for everything from single family homes to apartment complexes to the new concept of small backyard living units that City Hall is now encouraging through its development code.

“We think when we get this in the hands of local contractors, they are going to love it,” Treanor said.

He’s hoping affordable housing advocates will too. Lawrence has seen home values increase significantly, the number of new houses being built have been near historic lows, and the new homes that are constructed often are above what average incomes can afford.

Treanor thinks the Build Smart system can help on the cost front. He’s currently reluctant to estimate how much the system could reduce the cost of an average single family home. The company is continuing to work on supply chain issues that are lowering Build Smart’s material costs, which in turn produce savings on the price of a home.

“I’m hesitant to promise a number until I have proven it,” Treanor said.

But he’s confident the savings will be there because the old saying of “time is money,” is usually true in the building industry. The time savings of using exterior walls that already have been built offsite is significant, plus Treanor argued so too is the quality difference.

“You can have a single family home stood up in a matter of days rather than months,” Treanor said.

That’s important from a quality standpoint because the traditional method of building leaves a home open to the elements for a couple of months before a roof and walls can be completed to the point that the structure is watertight.

“You drive by now and see homes getting rained on and snowed on for weeks at a time,” Treanor said. “That is really not good for wood.”

That concern was one that floated around his head often as an architect. He had been intrigued by the Build Smart system when the owners of Prosoco launched the company several years ago. But it actually was a western movie that really got his mind in motion about changing the way homes are built.

Treanor said near the time he learned that the Build Smart company was on the market, he was watching the Clint Eastwood western “Unforgiven” that included a scene where Gene Hackman’s character was building his home on the prairie — leaky roof and all.

“That was 140 years ago,” Treanor said of the building scene that was being depicted, “and we are still building houses that way — one piece at a time, one board at a time, one nail at a time.

“We don’t build anything else that way, cars or anything else that we spend so much of our income on and that we rely so heavily on as part of our daily lives. I really think it is the future and this is just a small step towards it.”

photo by: Courtesy: Build Smart

Ready-to-intall Build Smart panels await installation at a Kansas City, Mo. job site.

As for the apartment project in the Warehouse Arts District, Treanor said he thinks the system will speed up construction of that four-story building by about two months. He’s anticipating that contractors will be able to erect one story of walls in about a week’s time.

Krsnich shared other details about the project with me. They include:

• The project has changed in size since its original application with the city. At one point the project was slated to include about 50 one-bedroom apartments. That version of the project was seeking a $740,000 grant from the city’s affordable housing funds. The city ultimately ended up agreeing to a $450,000 grant, and the project now is planned to include 39 one-bedroom apartments.

• Of the 39 apartments, 29 of them would be rent-controlled units through the state’s affordable housing credit program. That program will require people who rent those units to earn 60% or less of the area’s median income. The other 10 apartment units will be market rate units, meaning they aren’t rent controlled.

• The ground floor of the building would include six live-work units. Those combination units have been included in other projects by Krsnich, including the Penn Street Lofts in the Warehouse Arts District and the New Hampshire Street Lofts that are currently under construction near 11th and New Hampshire streets. The units are unique because of the zoning designation that allows commercial and residential spaces to exist in the same unit. Krsnich said those units have been popular in his other projects.

• With the project winning the affordable housing grant, Krsnich is confident the development will move forward, but it still requires some key approvals. Krsnich will apply for affordable housing tax credits from the state, and he also will seek financial incentives from the city of Lawrence, including a 95% tax rebate. That rebate program has been used on Krsnich’s other affordable housing projects in town.

• Given that the project still must win those approvals and must be designed, Krsnich said the soonest construction would begin is likely late 2025.