SOCAYR Inc., a Louisville-based nonprofit developer, is making a serious play in Walnut Hills. The group has filed plans for a roughly $23 million apartment project at 2828 May Street, in what would be its first proposed development in Ohio. The concept calls for a five-story mid-rise of income-restricted apartments with on-site management and parking, adding dozens of affordable units along a stretch of May Street that has already started to draw new housing proposals.
First Ohio project gets local spotlight
The May Street filing marks SOCAYR’s first foray into the Ohio market and pegs the project cost at about $23 million, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. That report also notes a rendering from WorK Architecture and names local partners listed on the application, signaling this is not a lone out-of-town experiment but a team-up with Cincinnati players.
What the application spells out
A project application submitted to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency puts the site at 2828 May Street and describes a new-construction mid-rise with 70 income-restricted apartments. The homes would target households earning roughly 30 to 70 percent of area median income, with a total development budget of $22,903,900. The same filing lists Kingsley General Contracting as general contractor, WorK Architecture as architect of record and Beacon/L.E.A. Properties as the manager, and it lays out unit counts by bedroom type along with a proposed parking ratio.
How it fits into the Walnut Hills build-out
The May Street project arrives amid a broader wave of proposals in Walnut Hills. Just down the block, a separate zone-change request and mid-rise concept at 2846 May Street from Kingsley + Co. went before city planning last year, according to City of Cincinnati records. Related filings for Kingsley’s work on May Street are also detailed by Kingsley + Company, underscoring a push to fill underused parcels near Uptown and I-71 with income-aligned housing. That trend has drawn both support and concern from neighbors who are watching how fast the corridor is changing.
Who is SOCAYR?
SOCAYR operates as an affordable-housing nonprofit headquartered in Louisville and focuses on senior and family housing, according to ProPublica. The group has built and rehabilitated income-restricted properties in Kentucky and frequently partners with Beacon Property Management on development and leasing, as outlined by Beacon Property Management. The May Street proposal signals an expansion of that playbook beyond state lines.
What has to happen next
For now, the project sits in Ohio’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit pipeline. It will need OHFA tax-credit awards, any necessary local approvals, and completed city permitting before construction crews can show up. Decisions on invitations and bond requests are tied to the agency’s scoring and award calendar, which will largely determine how quickly SOCAYR can move. Those timelines and criteria are outlined in Ohio Housing Finance Agency materials.
