RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Yesterday afternoon, OSU president Gordon Gee and Mayor Michael Coleman jointly announced a new partnership in relation to the previously announced 17-story OSU Medical Center expansion. The City of Columbus will provide OSU with an income-tax rebate that OSU would then be required to reinvest in neighborhood revitalization efforts surrounding OSU’s University Hospital East located on the Near East Side. Gee announced that OSU is dedicated to spending $10 million over the next ten years to improve housing stock and the quality of life surrounding the East Hospital.
“As University Hospital East improves, so will the neighborhood it calls home,” Mayor Coleman said in a press release. “I appreciate all the great people at Ohio State and the OSU Medical Center for working with us on this historic partnership for jobs and neighborhood revitalization.”
The 17-story $1 billion hospital expansion at OSU’s main campus will bring roughly 6,000 new jobs to Central Ohio, and the City of Columbus is projecting to see $77 million in income tax revenue over the next 15 years from the project.
“This initiative builds on many longstanding collaborations among the university, the City of Columbus and community leaders,” said President Gee in a press release. “Recognizing that our fates are thoroughly tied, we are marshalling our collective resources and pressing forward as partners in common purpose and common calling to advance Columbus’ future.”
I can just picture picture this conversation between Gee and Coleman before last years income tax hike:
Gee: You know, Mike, that’s going to be like $10 out of every one of my nurse’s paychecks. It might not seem like a lot, but since I’m adding 6000 jobs, that an extra $1.5M a year, or $15M over 10 years.
Coleman: What if I give you $10M of that $15M back?
Gee: You can’t do that. How much good press could it be if I gave a $10/week raise to a nurse?
Coleman: Well, just call it “neighborhood revitalization” then you can use it to entice potential med students and doctors to come to OSU by making part of the downpayment on their house…but make them buy the house in the blighted area around your East hospital so your property value will rise.
Gee: Genius!
Here’s some math for my “robbing from the common man” statement:
1) OSU is projecting 6000 new jobs on their main campus x $50K per job x 2.5% city income tax x 10 years = ~$77M into the city coffers.
2) The common man making $50K used to pay $1000/yr in city income tax, but now pays $1250 because of the ”unavoidable” tax increase = $250 robbed from said common man.
3) Those 6000 jobs x $250 per person = $1.5M per year x 10years = $15M
4) Of this $15M, $10M is backhandedly being gifted to OSU to finance what I’m calling “scholarships” and “fringe benefits” for med students and doctors in the form of downpayment assistance.
hogroaster – but at least $1 million of that is already earmarked for a “faith-based initiative with neighborhood clergy, designed to promote healthy lifestyles through education, diet and exercise.” Not exactly aimed at helping doctors.
as for down-payment assistance, OSU once had a program such as this in some of the neighborhoods adjacent to campus, mostly on the near north side. i do believe it was open to all full-time employees. so even if your purely speculative theory is true, it most likely wouldn’t be all about handing money to doctors. if it is solely for doctors, your 50k salary needs to be adjusted.
also, i fail to see how creating 6000 new jobs at 50k (also a purely speculative statement at this point, although earlier press releases listed that as expected employment at the hospital and included a higher figure for temporary construction jobs) and then saying that it will cost an extra $250 per job in taxes is ‘robbing’ someone. Especially if that someone didn’t have a prior job or is a new transplant to the area lured by the employment.
You would also need to calculate in the fact that if property values are raised, the tax base increases on the other end. So some of the money would be recouped in property taxes versus the “Doctors” going to live in Tartan Hills.
You’re right that the math is fuzzy, but I surmise it’s not nearly as neat as you lay out.
I do not doubt for a moment that this idea was hatched long ago and is of mutual benefit to Ohio State, the City of Columbus and its respective leaders politically. However, I see absolutely nothing here suggesting that incentives are to be given to doctors, medical students, nurses or other hospital staff. In light of their clearly stated interest in helping the status quo residents, I think it unfair to assume otherwise.
The benefit Ohio State derives in this deal is good will in the community it serves. It also gets to clean up its surrounding neighborhood in the sake of neighborhood revitalization.
@Anillo
“When is construction on the new hospital supposed to start?”
Site preparations have already started for the new Hospital at OSUMC main campus.
Means Hall, one of two buildings to be demo’d, has now been cleared. Cramblett Hall, the second building, is shutting down soon will probably come down this spring/summer. A crane has arrived on the job site as of last week. You can get a nice view of the construction site from the top of the Cannon Drive parking garages.
Pro Se wrote “Quite frankly, I don’t think many doctors would have a genuine interest in living in the Near East at this time.”
I find this statement both false and somewhat insulting.
My hypothetical was certainly not a “news report” — just a way of trying to put some perspective on these numbers. I actually went back and saw that the $77M was over 15 years, so the numbers should be more like $35K x 2.5% x 15yrs = $77M….in which the city is only getting $1M in incremental taxes from the increase on these new 6000 people’s tax hike x 10 years = $10M = the entire amount they’re rebating to OSU.
My point is that nobody wants to pay more taxes unless 1) absolutely necessary and 2) the amount seems reasonable. The extra $175 these $35K/yr employees are paying (=0.5% of 35K) comes out to less than $10 per paycheck, so it’s probably reasonable. However, if they knew that the entire amount of the increase in their taxes was being used to support religious insitutions, real estate acquisition by OSU, downpayment assitance for people that can already afford housing, etc…these common men would have probably said “no thanks, I’ll find a better way to spend $175.”
HogRoaster Says: I can just picture picture this conversation between Gee and Coleman…
My guess is more along the lines of OSU asking for a tax abatement from the city in order to make their development more attractive. And I think the city agreed to give them a relatively common tax abatement under the stipulation that they investment in the neighborhood around OSU East instead of around OSU Main, as the area needs it more badly. It’s no secret that Coleman wants to see the Near East Side revamped, and I’m willing to bet that is what drove the deal to include that.
As for this talk about someone robbing someone else… the same thing could be said about any program paid for by taxpayer dollars.
Urban Dansigner Says: Maybe a little of that money could be spent on rehabbing the Edna Building which is slated for demolition.
Are you sure about that? There’s another building on Long slated for demo, but it’s not the Edna (even though the NBC4 article mistakenly refers to it as such).
Walker, I’m in total agreement with you and will say one more time “I SUPPORT THIS” and “it’s good news for that neighborhood and the city as a whole”
I’m just getting on my soapbox and saying that anytime politicians move money around like this, give tax breaks to people who don’t “need” them, then come crying to the common man for a tax hike, it’s a slap in the face to those who pay their taxes without asking for some of that tax money to be earmarked back their way.
Short answer: Good, but OSU is rehabbing homes when they tore down dozens of solid ones for surface parking lots vs. a garage. How are they going to revitalize beyond physical improvements and why is that $1 million going to be spent on faith-based initiatives when many of these churches have failed their communities long ago?
Long answer.
edit: Glad I got a picture before it gets knocked down. Soon “Historic Long Street” like the banners read will soon consist of little more than the Lincoln Theatre, current businesses, and lots of grass lots. You cannot revitalize something that’s not there and developers have not done anything with the already too many grass lots plaguing the area. It’s much, much more likely for a pre-existing building to be occupied than expect developers to build something here when they didn’t even in a good economy. The city obviously is not serious about revitalization efforts if you’re not Downtown, German Village or the Short North. They’re giving plenty of incentives for new builds in sprawling corridors of the city, but choose not to do so in neighborhoods like these so that they can just knock as much of the inner city down as possible with only a handful of people who notice, but don’t have the power to stop them.
Pro Se Says: Quite frankly, I don’t think many doctors would have a genuine interest in living in the Near East at this time.
That’s a pretty sweeping generalization to make about a large diverse group of people (doctors) in a large area diverse area (Near East Side). Can I ask to you explain further?
@futureman
aaah, I wondered what that new crane was for, I’ll have to wander over there next time I’m on south campus to get a look at it. I’m pretty sure there’s been a different crane at the med center every year i’ve gone to ohio state so far haha
Walker – I meant the building at 21st & Long … I did not realize that the news had mislabeled the building.
I have not been inside, but removing the stucco and rehabbing that building would most likely be better than anything that would be build to replace it. I drive the length of Long Street every day … only wish I had some money to do some development/redevelopment myself.
Spending money for demolition just doesn’t make sense. Let it sit there; it’s not like developers have been building on all the other grass lots. Existing buildings can for the most part be re-used and it’s much easier than knocking a building down and waiting for a developer to come along, especially when they didn’t even when the economy was good. The city can always make brown field development more attractive if they really wanted to revitalize business districts like these. Urban Spirit wasn’t able to open up on a grass lot and neither was Yellow Brick Pizza down on Oak or Gloria’s Soul Food on Main, which has sadly closed by the way. That means there is now no new bright spot on the main strip of the Near East side. I’m not surprised the city is totally missing the ball on how to do their part to revitalize these business districts. Long has some uniquely ornate structures left and once you knock them down you can’t get them back.
@ Snarf & Walker:
I misspoke and I apologize. Actually, I live here myself and like it a great deal. The point I was trying to make is that the area is much better than it is perceived to be.
I’m a physician, have lived in the near east side for 15 years, last 10 in Woodland Park. I know other physicians that also live in the near east side. I’m very excited about the news and potential for positive impact to the area.
People don’t really realize this, but the Near East side is in much better shape than the Near South side (due south) which only has two small pockets which have seen much improvement.
Press Release:
Ohio State University, City of Columbus and CMHA Announce Next Steps of East Side Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee and Mayor Michael B. Coleman today were joined community partners to announce the next steps of a comprehensive and collaborative neighborhood revitalization effort for the neighborhood surrounding University Hospital East. Joined by Ohio State University Medical Center CEO Steven G. Gabbe, Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority President and CEO Charles Hillman, Columbus City Councilmember Charleta B. Tavares, University Hospital East Executive Director Elizabeth O’Connor Seely, area resident and community leader Fred Ransier and East Side neighborhood leaders, Gee and Coleman announced a partnership consisting of the City of Columbus, Ohio State and CMHA.
“Apart, all of our efforts are worthy and would result in a lot of positive change for this neighborhood,†Mayor Coleman said. “But working together, I am confident the results will be transformational.â€Â
The partners will lead a planning effort for OSU’s 10-year, $10 million investment in the neighborhood bound by I-71, East Broad Street, I-670 and Woodland Avenue. Before making its investment, Columbus, OSU and CMHA will work with community residents and stakeholders through an Advisory Committee chaired by Fred Ransier. The city, OSU and CMHA will invest $1.25 million over a five-year period to hire a firm to holistically plan the project area in consultation with the Advisory Committee.
“Our partnership in this project both underscores and reflects Ohio State’s enduring commitment to improving lives and enhancing our communities,†President Gee said. “In collaborating for the greater good, we are working to make a tangible difference for today and ensure a franchise of opportunity for tomorrow.â€Â
Ohio State is making its neighborhood investment as part of ProjectONE, the $1 billion expansion of OSU Medical Center that will create 6,000 new jobs. OSU is committing to spending $10 million over the next decade to improve housing and quality of life in the neighborhood. Key components of the investment include targeted housing investments, down-payment assistance and a $1 million faith-based initiative with neighborhood clergy, designed to promote healthy lifestyles through education, diet and exercise.
“This partnership builds upon University Hospital East’s longstanding commitment to the community,†Dr. Gabbe said. “We look forward to engaging local residents and leveraging our collective resources to strengthen neighborhoods, improve health and wellness, and provide greater educational and economic opportunities.â€Â
OSU Medical recently purchased the former VA Clinic on Taylor Avenue and will transform it into CarePoint East, a medical facility extension of the hospital. CMHA has committed to the redevelopment of Poindexter Village so that the 25-acre site will be available for mixed-use redevelopment.
“CMHA is pleased to be part of this partnership with the City of Columbus and Ohio State University and the revitalization efforts being initiated in these Near East Side neighborhoods,†Hillman said. “We will be working with the city, OSU and the community-based stakeholders represented on the Advisory Committee to prepare plans for the redevelopment of our 25-acre Poindexter Village site. We envision a mix of housing, retail and commercial uses that will support and complement the larger scale planning for the Near East Side.”
Columbus City Council will soon consider legislation regarding the Project One jobs incentive, a 15-year 30 percent jobs growth income tax rebate, mirrored after the agreement City Council approved in 2008 for Children’s Hospital. The rebate will be capped at $35 million. The project is expected to yield $77 million to the City of Columbus over the 15-year span.
“This investment in the health and safety of our residents is just one building block to improve our entire Columbus community,†said Councilmember Tavares, chair of the Health and Human Development Committee. “We need strong partners, like The Ohio State University, to not only be an academic resource for our residents, but also a resource for quality medical and nutritional services.â€Â
$35 million tax break for OSU
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010 02:52 AM
BY DOUG CARUSO
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ohio State University’s massive Medical Center expansion will receive tax incentives worth $35 million, and a struggling condominium project on the Near East Side will benefit from a $3.4 million city loan.
The rebate is worth up to $35 million over 15 years. Ohio State leaders have pledged to use $10 million of that money to help revitalize the Near East Side neighborhood around University Hospital East.
READ MORE: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/07/copy/35m-tax-break-for-osu.html?adsec=politics&sid=101
There is also a big story on this partnership in the Columbus CEO magazine, it is the cover story. Has a lot more detail on the neighborhood planning that has begun around OSU Hospital East, how they are engaging with residents, churches and small businesses in the area to do the planning.