A growing Cincinnati development and construction firm recently landed a JobsOhio grant to help expand its team as its development pipeline faces similar liftoff.

Kaiker Development & Construction – a minority-owned development, construction management and general contracting services firm – received a JobsOhio Inclusion Grant that enabled it to add new team members and upgrade its technology. The grant allowed Kaiker to create three new jobs with an associated payroll of $235,000, according to a news release from REDI Cincinnati. REDI coordinated the grant with JobsOhio.

Kaiker has been growing its team rapidly this year, founder and principal Kai Lewars said, with 10 members added across the labor force to management. The grant helped Kaiker hire several project managers and a project engineer, Lewars said. There are now 15 total employees at Kaiker.

The grant required Kaiker to grow its manpower, but it also allowed the firm to invest in technology upgrades. The firm has invested in a new computer program for accounting and project management, Lewars said, which will help Kaiker better facilitate some of the larger projects it’s starting to tackle.

“Now we have the resources – from manpower to software – to facilitate (growth),” Lewars told the Business Courier.

Kevin Donnelly, REDI Cincinnati vice president for project management, said in a release the grant also aligns with Kaiker’s vision to build the future through development and construction services.

“We are grateful to support Kaiker as it grows its businesses in the Cincinnati region,” Donnelly said. “Utilizing the JobsOhio Inclusion Grant to support businesses with underrepresented ownership or located in distressed zip codes enhances our regional vitality.”

The grant comes as Kaiker recently completed work on the first phase of a project it’s working on in tandem with the Avondale Development Corp. (ADC). Kaiker served as the general contractor for ADC’s Hale Avenue Townhomes project, which is bringing much-needed workforce housing to the neighborhood.

Lewars said he started off as a volunteer for ADC due to his interest in providing quality affordable housing stock in Avondale. When ADC began looking for a construction and development firm that shared its values and could help incorporate them in projects, Lewars and firm became top of mind.

“Our team has really realized how important it is to hear the client out, work with the client and work with the community because it just turns out to be a better product,” Lewars said.

The Hale Avenue townhomes, located at the corner of Hale & Hallwood Avenues in Avondale, is a three-phase, 24-townhome project. The first phase – which Lewars said wrapped up in April – included seven townhomes, four of which have already sold. Phase one includes two three-bedroom townhomes at 1,395 square feet apiece and five two-bedroom townhomes, each 1,250 square feet.

“This provides very nice living establishments for people who are professionally involved and dedicated to the area, where they can find clean, quality, long-term housing solutions that offset today’s high priced real estate market as well as the interest rates,” Lewars said.

Kaiker is under contract for pre-development services on phases two and three of the Hale Avenue townhome project, Lewars said.

Through expanding Kaiker’s team and its technology, Lewars believes the firm is ready to add value and create equitable developments in more neighborhoods across Cincinnati. One of its projects, 700 State St. in Lower Price Hill, was recently awarded $720,000 from the Cincinnati Development Fund and Hamilton County through federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars given to the county for affordable housing. The project will bring 12 apartment units to the neighborhood.

A ribbon cutting for the Hale Avenue Townhomes will be held August 10.