In February 2012, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman declared war on vacant properties, pledging to tear down 900 buildings deemed to be dangerous and uninhabitable — just a portion of the city’s inventory of 6,200 abandoned properties. His original goal was to complete the project in four years, but announced today that the mission has been accomplished with three months to spare. The 900th property — located at 1380 Hildreth Avenue on the Near East Side — will ceremoniously begin demolition tomorrow morning.
“I am pleased with the results of the program and what we were able to achieve in less than four years,” said Coleman. “We were able to rid our neighborhood of blighted and vacant properties that were havens for criminal activity as well as driving down property values.”
In addition to the 900 properties demolished, the city has also utilized its Land Bank program to sell off 322 residential properties for renovation. Following demolition, many of the vacant lots have been sold for new development with 100 properties entering into the Mow-to-Own program where adjacent property owners can take control of a vacant lot through a “sweat equity” maintenance agreement. Over 100 of the post-demolition lots will be used for new construction.
In 2014, Coleman oversaw the implementation of harsher penalties against negligent property owners to help keep future blight in check.
For more information, visit columbus.gov/landredevelopmentoffice/.
