Highlands Lodge, a luxury apartment development being built in Overland Park, is expected to be completed this October, the latest project in the resurgence of multifamily construction in the Kansas City area.

Last year, permits were issued for 1,649 apartment units in the Kansas City area, a 175 percent increase from 2011 and the most since 2008, according to the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City.

The 230-unit Highlands Lodge project is being built by Land Development Strategies and VanTrust Real Estate and is valued at $30 million. It is part of the Highlands Village mixed-use project just north of Interstate 435 between Roe and Nall avenues and is located in what’s described as a natural setting surrounded by woods that are protected by a conservation area.

Terry O’Leary of Land Development Strategies said Friday that the five four-story buildings are being designed in a mountain lodge theme in harmony with its environment.

The project will include heavy timber beam construction, with over 40 percent of the exterior covered with limestone.

Land Development and VanTrust also are co-developing a $40 million, 204-unit luxury apartment project at 51st and Main streets in Kansas City. And the two firms developed The Village at Mission Farms’ 212-unit apartment project that opened in December near the Highlands Lodge project.

O’Leary said the new development will offer a clubhouse with a 24-hour exercise facility, a saltwater pool and a new trail system in the adjacent wooded conservation area.

“The architectural design elements coupled with the incredible location will offer the market a one-of-a-kind lifestyle opportunity for the growing renter-by-choice market along I-435 in Johnson County,” he said.

Land Development Strategies’ management company, ePartment Communities LLC, will lease and manage the Highlands Lodge project when completed.