Partnership update: Family Scholar House CDBG project
In a project that will shape the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College campus, the Family Scholar House, a new 48-unit housing facility, is scheduled to open on the ECTC campus in fall of 2026. Currently under construction, it will provide stable, affordable housing for student families.
The more than $13 million project is funded in part by a $1 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Lincoln Trail Area Development District’s Community & Regional Economic Development (CRED) Division serves as the CDBG administrator for the project. Administered by the Kentucky Department for Local Government, Hardin County Government applied for the competitive grant and acted as the grantee for the project on behalf of Family Scholar House and ECTC.
“We are proud to facilitate this vital funding for such an important project. This innovative partnership between Family Scholar House and ECTC has a significant impact on the region’s students by addressing one of the major barriers to their education. Now, with the Family Scholar House Elizabethtown residence program, it is tackling the most difficult of all barriers: homelessness. By helping to remove this barrier, our hope is that our region’s students thrive, not just survive, and in turn, they remain in the region to contribute to a robust economy and workforce.”
– Krista Levee, Community & Regional Economic Development (CRED) division director
Key project stakeholders, including our friends at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College and Family Scholar House, meet regularly with LTADD, Kentucky Housing Corp. (KHC), county government staff and developers to discuss the project’s progress.
In the January meeting, representatives from Wabuck Development Co. and Clayton Watkins Construction, the project’s developers, said significant progress is being made on the Family Scholar House project.
Phillips Brothers Construction began site work in September 2025, and pending any weather delays, the work is on track for substantial completion by the end of the month.
Brent Holsclaw, ECTC vice president of facilities, said the work is going “really smooth” and the project is “really coming on,” as he complimented the work of Phillips Brothers Construction of Hardin County.
Phillips Brothers Construction has completed work on water relocation and continues work on:
- Storm sewer lines and structures, which are near complete
- Detention basin and its structures are underway
- Sanitary sewer installation has started
- Retaining wall and drainage is near complete
- Rough grading is near complete
- All building pads are established
Andrew Webb, with Clayton Watkins Construction, reported the tentative substantial completion date for the entire project is on track for October 2026.
“What you’ve seen going on takes the longest,” Webb said in the meeting, explaining that site work isn’t just moving dirt around. “It will look slow for the next couple months but once it gets framed, it will progress at a fast pace. It’s going to be pretty fun in the spring.”
