IBJ Podcast: CEO of fast-growing Indy housing developer on urban and suburban markets, being ‘a joiner’

Indianapolis-based housing developer Onyx + East recently scored a three-peat on IBJ’s annual list of fast-growing companies—all of which were on the watch of CEO Kelli Lawrence. She took the top job in 2019, when its annual revenue was about $19 million. By 2024, its annual revenue had climbed to $90 million—a nearly 375% increase over five years.

Founded in 2015 as an offshoot of Indianapolis-based apartment developer Milhaus, Onyx + East has specialized in for-sale housing such as townhomes, duplex homes and single-family residences within planned communities in high-demand urban and suburban areas. Its focus has widened from Marion County to the Indianapolis metropolitan area to markets in Ohio and Florida. It also has expanded into the build-to-rent category.

Kelli Lawrence grew up in a traditional suburban home in Toledo and was a first-generation college student. She entered Ball State University with a strong sense of what she wanted to do—study urban planning and development in Ball State’s school of architecture—and a hunger for student governance, joining and leading a wide array of campus organizations. Her first job out of school was long-range planner for the city of Carmel, getting involved in the early stages of some of the city’s signature projects. All of these topics are on the table for this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, as well as her current role as CEO of Onyx + East. She discusses the economics of developing and pricing its projects in central Indiana, how to onboard new employees in the midst of business growth, her early years in the housing development when she often was the only woman in the room, and why she describes herself as a “joiner.”

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