Grove City will become the latest Columbus suburb to go “urban” with new development projects that refocus on the core area of their historic town center. On Monday, representatives from Pizzuti presented a plan to build four new buildings featuring 120 apartment units behind the existing City Hall building on Broadway, which will also be renovated to include space for a ground-floor restaurant tenant.
The redevelopment of Grove City’s “Town Center” area has been in the works for quite some time, dating back to at least 2008 when officials began working on a reimagining of specific development sites.
“Sometimes you want these things to move forward more quickly than they do, but we feel that we came up with a plan that everyone is excited about,” said Shannon Hamons, Vice President of Pizzuti Solutions. “We’ve had public meetings and work sessions with residents, merchants, city council members and the chamber of commerce. We feel this plan will create more vibrancy and attract more people Downtown.”
The four apartment buildings will feature a mix of 72 one-bedroom units and 48 2-bedroom units. The existing City Hall building that will be remodeled for a restaurant tenant will retain office space on the second floor so that not all city departments will be required to move out immediately.
Another portion of the larger project includes the development of a new public library building on the northern end of the Grove City Town Center area. Pizzuti is also managing that project, but the city of Grove City will develop and manage the library.
Next Tuesday, Pizzuti will seek resolution of support for the development from City Council, which will allow the developer to move forward with acquisition negotiations prior to beginning construction.
“Conceivably, it’s going to be late winter or early spring before we start construction if things go well,” explained Hamons, who previously served as the Economic Development Coordinator for the City of Delaware. “18 months is a realistic construction timeframe, but the four buildings could be phased in with the first one completed within a year from start. There’s still a lot of details still to work out.”
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Preliminary renderings by Braun & Steidl Architects.
