Lee County Docket · Dated interpretation · October 2, 2026
What we thought on October 2.
The original market interpretation, retained as a dated reading copy. Later evidence or conclusions belong in a new entry.
Archived October 11 from the October 2 source file; this commentary followed, and was not part of, the September 24 issue.
The read · October 2, 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.
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 adds 680 campus beds but replaces Cambridge Hall, so its net gain is smaller.
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.
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.
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.
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Lee County, Alabama (housing units, July 1, 2025; building permits, 2025). Primary. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
- 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.
- Opelika Observer, Auburn council paves way for mixed-use development, March 3, 2026. Press. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
- The Auburn Plainsman, Auburn City Council approves new development project, March 2026. Press. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
- Auburn University, Auburn achieves historic gains in student retention, graduation, career placement, September 2025. Primary. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.
- Alabama Department of Labor, Nonagricultural wage and salary employment, Auburn-Opelika MSA, June 2026 (preliminary). Primary. Link · Checked October 2, 2026.