Lee County, Alabama

October 2026

What the pipeline adds up to.

Lee County had 85,379 housing units in July 2025.¹ The Auburn and Opelika pipeline on this page holds about 14,000 more, counting planned developments at their approved maximum. That is 16 percent of everything standing today. The county issued 1,575 residential building permits in 2025.¹ At that pace, the pipeline is about nine years of construction. Some of it will move faster. Some of it will never break ground. Approved is not built. This total has not yet been recomputed for the projects added on October 26.

North Auburn gets a town center

The largest project on the list is The Foundry at North College, by Jolly Development. It sits north of Hickory Dickory Park and west of the Publix on East University Drive.³ The council approved the plan unanimously in March: about 282 acres, seven phases over 15 years, and up to 2,425 homes, including a maximum of 625 apartments and 1,800 houses and townhomes. The plan also carries 275,000 square feet of commercial space and 60,000 square feet of office.² About 41 percent of the property is a greenway along Saugahatchee Creek, with trails and a flood buffer.³

Read the housing numbers as ceilings. A council amendment lowered the minimum number of units and the minimum unit size, so the developer has room to build less.⁴ Another amendment banned short-term rentals inside the development.³

The road comes first. Phase One builds a connector parallel to Shug Jordan Parkway, linking North College Street to North Donahue Drive with a central roundabout.² The city and the developer split the roughly $8 million cost, and the developer pays its half when the road is done.³ How the project meets North College, a state route, is still being worked out with ALDOT.²

In context: The Foundry is about three-quarters of North Auburn's housing pipeline, and its apartment cap alone is larger than any single complex on this page. Plains High School is scheduled to open next door in fall 2028. Shug Jordan Commercial has filed 59 acres of mixed use nearby. A school, a connector road, and a retail center arriving together is how a suburb gets a town center. At 15 years, most of it is a 2030s story.

Students: 2028 is the year to circle

RISE Auburn (718 beds) and The Mark (825 beds) both target fall 2028. That is about 1,500 private beds. Auburn enrolled 6,112 first-year students in fall 2025, with total enrollment just over 35,000.⁵ The new beds equal about a quarter of one freshman class, or about 4 percent of the student body. The East Thach hall, now under way, adds 680 to 696 campus beds by March 2028 (university sources differ), but it replaces Cambridge Hall, so its net gain is smaller.¹⁰ Concourse Hall's 371 beds already opened this summer.¹¹

Off campus, Interlude Cottages on North Dean Road is building 235 to 243 rental cottages and duplexes, with a construction loan closed in March and completion targeted for 2027.¹³ Rental cottages compete with student apartments for the same upperclassmen and young households.

The same window holds Plains High School's opening and the Jordan-Hare north end zone project, which runs through spring 2029. Four large projects on one calendar will compete for the same trades.

Opelika builds rooftops

Four Opelika subdivisions account for about 1,740 lots: Woodhaven (about 624), Bridgewater (541), Mayfair (401), and Crawford Reserve (171). Four apartment projects add 1,120 units, but only Springs at Opelika has started. Society Hill needed a 12-month extension in August. Approvals can sit.

The city is paying for roads to serve the new neighborhoods: $7.6 million in July contracts, including Bridgewater Boulevard and the Mill Village roundabout. Downtown, The Mill plans 327 homes over about ten years, and its first 183-lot plat was filed in September.

Industrial sites and capacity: Opelika's technology park

A ready site is part of the development picture even before a tenant files a building plan. The City of Opelika and its Industrial Development Authority announced the approximately 105-acre Opelika Innovation and Technology Park in January 2020, along US Highway 280 West between Veterans and Waverly Parkways, in a designated Opportunity Zone.¹⁵ The city's economic-development marketing listing, last updated February 17, 2026, describes 5–20-acre parcels and quotes $95,000 per acre.¹⁶ Those are dated marketing terms, not independently confirmed current availability. Remaining acreage, utility capacity, permitted uses, access and any site commitments still need a fresh check with the authority.

This is industrial-site inventory, not a newly started construction project. It therefore belongs in the market's sites-and-capacity analysis without being counted as an additional filed, approved or started building in the project pipeline. The research process now requires monthly checks of industrial parks and publicly marketed authority land, including older sites with no new construction announcement.

Jobs: announcements and payroll

The industrial projects on this page that state a job count add up to about 500 jobs: Faith Technologies (200+), Vulcaflex (130), GMB USA (75), Yongsan (about 68), Shinhwa (20), and Channing Street Copper (about 15). Metro manufacturing employment was 7,500 in June 2026, unchanged from a year earlier.⁶ The announced jobs would add about 7 percent.

The metro added 2,700 jobs over that year, reaching 83,600. Leisure and hospitality added 1,100 of them, about four in ten.⁶ Announced jobs arrive over years. Payroll counts arrive monthly. The factories are coming, and the hiring will show up later. But 500 jobs against 14,000 homes says the homes are not following the factories. The university and people moving in are driving housing here.

Added October 26 (preliminary)

City permit and inspection records and Auburn University's September construction report move several projects forward.¹⁰¹⁴ The Mark broke ground in April and has permits for three buildings. Jordan-Hare's north end zone broke ground September 10. The university lists six academic projects under construction, led by the $100 million Thorne building; Comer Hall was 90 percent done in September. In Opelika, Townes of Hampshire on Frederick Road has eight residential buildings with passed framing inspections.

Two projects finished. East Alabama Health reports its 30-bed critical care addition complete and EAMC North, a 40-bed psychiatric hospital, open, both in 2026.¹² They leave the active list.

Smaller ones on the permit map: Grand Junction, 28 townhomes with a restaurant and offices at 1027 East Glenn, and a residential second phase of the Judd Avenue mixed-use project at 538 Richland Road.¹⁴ We have not counted either in the totals.

New in October

Auburn's council approved a tax abatement on October 6 for Maxim, a maker of labels and packaging. Maxim plans an RFID and smart-label plant at 967 Stage Road, near Auburn University's RFID Lab: about $1.4 million in a 5,680-square-foot building.⁷⁸ How many jobs it brings is not settled. See below.

The same meeting took up a $9.87 million contract with AGX Siteworx for the first phase of the North Donahue Drive widening, from Shug Jordan Parkway toward the Saugahatchee Creek bridge, and a separate $770,861 engineering agreement.⁸ That is a contract, not a road. North Donahue is the road The Foundry's connector will meet.

On October 8 the planning commission approved revised plats for Slaughters Reserve, a 58-lot plan with townhomes, and extended Shelton Mill Phase 4's conditional use.⁹ A revised plat or an extension moves a project along. It does not add one. We have not yet matched these against the projects already counted, so the totals above leave them out.

Still checking

• Opelika Innovation and Technology Park. Confirm currently available parcels and acreage, offer terms, utility capacity, access, and any commitments before treating a dated marketing listing as live inventory.
• Counts that conflict. East Thach (680 or 696 beds), Interlude (235 or 243 units), and Townes of Hampshire, where 155 townhomes comes from older records the permits do not confirm.
• Core Scientific. The $55 million permit is an alteration of an existing building; Phase 3 has a foundation permit. We have not confirmed physical work.
• Maxim's jobs. The city's October 7 release says up to 15. The figure presented to the council on October 6 was 50 over four years.⁷⁸
• Sterling Auburn Cottages. The council took up an infrastructure agreement on October 6. We need the agreement itself before publishing a unit count.⁸
• The Preserve Phase 6D. The October 8 recording shows the final plat passing on the consent agenda. We want the written action and the lot count.⁹
• Two council items. Auburn's proposed downtown lounge moratorium and an Opelika I-85 sewer bid. Outcomes not yet confirmed.
• Opelika's September 22 planning commission. The Mill, the Andrews Road travel center, Storage World, Yarbrough Hills and Executive Park Townhomes were on the agenda. An agenda shows the proposal, not the vote.

October coverage so far: Auburn's council on October 6, its planning commission on October 8, the city's October 7 release, Auburn's public permit map (read October 26), one Opelika project's permit and inspection records, and Auburn University's September report. Opelika's other permits, Lee County, Smiths Station and the Lee County part of Phenix City are not yet read.

What we're watching

• The Foundry's first phase: plats, the connector road, and how it meets North College
• A grocery anchor at Perryman Hill Plaza
• Faith Technologies starting work in the former Joann building
• Whether Opelika's approved apartments break ground or keep extending

How we count: the pipeline includes filed, approved, and started projects in Auburn and Opelika. Planned developments count at their approved maximum. Project figures without a number here come from the list below, where each row carries its source. Percentages compare the pipeline with Census housing estimates and Alabama Department of Labor metro employment.

1. U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Lee County, Alabama (housing units, July 1, 2025; building permits, 2025). Primary. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
2. Auburn Villager, Council approves plan for large, mixed-use development in north Auburn, March 5, 2026. Press, reporting meeting materials. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
3. Opelika Observer, Auburn council paves way for mixed-use development, March 3, 2026. Press. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
4. The Auburn Plainsman, Auburn City Council approves new development project, March 2026. Press. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
5. Auburn University, Auburn achieves historic gains in student retention, graduation, career placement, September 2025. Primary. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
6. Alabama Department of Labor, Nonagricultural wage and salary employment, Auburn-Opelika MSA, June 2026 (preliminary). Primary. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
7. City of Auburn, Global label manufacturer Maxim opening RFID facility in Auburn, October 7, 2026. Primary. Link · Checked October 11, 2026.
8. City of Auburn, City Council meeting recording and agenda index, October 6, 2026. Primary; automated transcript, final minutes not yet read. Link · Checked October 11, 2026.
9. City of Auburn, Planning Commission meeting recording and agenda index, October 8, 2026. Primary; plat attachments and written conditions not yet read. Link · Checked October 11, 2026.
10. Auburn University Facilities Management, Capital Program Report, September 2026. Primary. Link · Checked October 26, 2026.
11. Auburn University Facilities Management, Academic Year in Review 2025-2026 (Concourse Hall, p. 20). Primary. Link · Checked October 26, 2026.
12. East Alabama Health, About us. Primary, undated. Link · Checked October 26, 2026.
13. Greysteel, Construction financing for 235-unit Interlude Cottages, March 24, 2026; City of Auburn council minutes, July 22, 2025. Link · Minutes · Checked October 26, 2026.
14. City of Auburn, Permit Map, all records read October 26, 2026; City of Opelika public records search. Primary. Link · Checked October 26, 2026.
15. City of Opelika, Opelika Economic Development announces Opelika Innovation and Technology Park, January 21, 2020. Primary. Link · Checked November 1, 2026.
16. City of Opelika Economic Development, Opelika Innovation & Technology Park marketing property listing, last updated February 17, 2026. Seller listing; current offers unverified. Link · Checked November 1, 2026.

How this is put together

Filed means on an agenda or in an application. Approved means a board or council voted yes; we name the step. Started means construction confirmed by the developer or the city. Every row carries a source and the date we last checked it.

Sources: Opelika Planning Commission and City Council; Auburn Planning Commission and City Council; the Opelika Industrial Development Authority; Lee County Commission (from later issues). Agendas and minutes are the primary record; press coverage fills in announcements and groundbreakings. We report what the record says and label what is not yet confirmed. This report is updated through the month; each month gets a new report.

See something we missed or got wrong? Tell us. How Redchip researches and verifies: Method.

Disclosure: the author is a partner in Vanguard Industrial Partners, which develops projects in this market and may have interests in or near properties listed here. General information only; see the disclaimer.

Changes this month

• November 6. Added Opelika's permit records for November 2024 through November 6, 2026. Springs at Opelika now carries its building permits and street address. Added Flex Opelika, the Liv Smart hotel, a pending apartment project on Corporate Drive and a pending hotel on Capps Landing. Auburn's public permit map lists open permits only, so earlier Auburn months are incomplete.
• November 2. Added the four existing Auburn industrial/technology parks—Auburn Industrial Park and Technology Parks North, South and West—to the park-and-land map layer. Markers are approximate and remaining available acreage is unverified.
• November 2. Placed an approximate OIDA Innovation and Technology Park land-context marker north of US 280 between Veterans and Waverly Parkways, separate from the construction-project pins; parcel boundary and available acreage still require GIS verification.
• November 1. Added the long-missing Opelika Innovation and Technology Park to the sites-and-capacity analysis. Its 105-acre park is not a new construction project; current marketed availability remains to be verified. Added standing monthly industrial-site inventory checks.
• October 26, late. Moved the Townes of Hampshire pin to its street address on Frederick Road near Tiger Town; it had been placed by hand about a mile east. Noted that Opelika has not yet had a full permit sweep.
• October 26, evening. Preliminary research update. Moved East Thach and Jordan-Hare to Started; added Auburn University's academic projects under construction, Interlude Cottages on North Dean Road and Townes of Hampshire; corrected The Mark and Core Scientific; took East Alabama Health off the active list because the owner reports both parts finished in 2026. Still under review.
• October 26. Added the interactive map. Eight projects are placed from their street or block address; the rest are approximate. Folded the October 11 research note into this report.
• October 11. Added the first October records from Auburn's council and planning commission. They are under New in October and Still checking.
• October 2. Corrected The Foundry. The approved plan allows up to 2,425 homes, including up to 625 apartments; we had listed 625 or more homes. The pipeline total became about 14,000.

Monthly reports: September 2026