KALONA Two new homeowners accepted housekeys with black horse-and-buggy shaped fobs on Saturday morning, marking the completion of Kalona’s second Student-Built housing project and the beginning of a new stage of their lives.

Adriana Lopez and Abe Bender each celebrated their individual paths to homeownership on Oct. 28 alongside the student builders and many community members and organizations that made the duplex located at 313 and 315 C Avenue possible.

“There are projects that really check a lot of boxes for people, for our community. This one checks 99.9% of those,” Ryan Schlabaugh, Kalona’s city administrator, said in his remarks at the open house.

“We have a lot of people that gave a lot of sweat equity, a lot of financial resources, a lot of in-kind to be able to make this happen, to be able to bring these students on board to be able to make the meaningful project that we have here today,” he said.

The 2023 Student-Built housing project began earlier this spring with demolition of two older homes that were deemed not worth saving. At the start of the summer, 12 students from Mid-Prairie, Highland, Washington, and Durant high schools began working under the supervision of Tim Rouse, Industrial Arts Instructor at Durant Community Schools, to build the duplex completed this October. The new homeowners will begin moving in this week.

The project accomplishes several goals, including rehabbing/replacing blighted properties; giving students valuable experience in the trades; providing low-to-moderate income housing; and helping local building trades train future employees.

City funds were invested in the project, along with outside funding, which included a $50,000 Washington County Riverboat Foundation grant. The buyers for each side received $25,000 in down payment assistance from the East Central Iowa Housing Trust Fund; each side was sold for $180,000.

The accomplishments of the student builders were celebrated at the open house; they each received hammers from Hills Bank and buckets from Acme Tools, among other items.

“I want to thank all of the kids for all of the time they put in, and the parents of all the kids for allowing their kids to be gone all summer long,” Rouse said, pointing out that the project required a significant commitment.

Schlabaugh noted that each student put about 2500 hours into the project over the summer months. “They really are the heart and soul of this project, with Tim’s leadership and everybody else that’s involved in it,” he said.

“For all of the students, I think experience builds up confidence,” said Dwight Seegmiller, president of Hills Bank, a partner on the project. “The experiences you’re getting, these are life skills that you will never, ever, ever lose. They’ll just continue to build.”

Also recognized at the open house was Karyl Bohnsack, executive officer of the Greater Iowa City Home Builders Association. Mark Robe presented her with a custom engraved clock to recognize her commitment to the City of Kalona and for her assistance with the project.

The 2023 Student-Built duplex is the city’s second such project; the first was rehabilitation of a single-family home in 2022. The City of Kalona is already looking ahead to its 2024 project, which will involve demolition of the house at 502 A Avenue and construction of a duplex similar to the one just completed.