The latest Development Roundup features news from the Near East Side, Grandview Heights, Harrison West, and more. Read on for an assortment of project updates, groundbreakings, new proposals, and other nuggets from the world of Columbus development:
Work wrapped up earlier this year on a Vetter Property Group development in Harrison West called the Concord. The three-story building contains six two-bedroom condominiums and shares a parking lot with an existing eight-unit building that was renovated as part of the project. Compton Construction has posted a time-lapse video of the construction process.
A plan to build a four-story condominium building on West First Avenue in Grandview is still working its way through the public approval process. A new iteration was presented in January that called for a three-story building with ground-floor retail, but no vote was taken on the project as it was a preliminary hearing.
A proposal for a new state tax credit for large mixed-use developments is working its way through the state legislature, but it doesn’t look like it would apply to any current Columbus projects. Michael Schiff, who is part of the team behind the proposed North Market Tower, said that while he supports the general idea of incentivizing “transformational projects,” not many could reach the $400 million threshold laid out in the legislation (North Market Tower will likely cost between $130 and $160 million). Speculation is that the credit is aimed squarely at a single, stalled project; the 54-story, $500 million nuCLEus tower in Cleveland.
Columbus developers are hoping for a better showing in the next round of state historic preservation tax credits, which will be announced this June. The good news is that a 20 percent federal historic tax credit was included in the tax reform package passed by congress at the end of last year – there was some concern that it would be reduced or dropped entirely.
A new report from the Greater Ohio Policy Center examines the economic impact of the Columbus and Franklin County land banks over the last five years. Properties sold by the land banks in that time period generated $442,000 in property taxes, a number that will rise as more houses are renovated and vacant lots are developed. Some other numbers – over 1,600 structures demolished, $3.3 million in grants and loans awarded to non-profit partners, and an estimated $80 million in proposed investment in land bank sites.
A new initiative from the city and county land banks – in partnership with Partners Achieving Community Transformation (PACT) – was recently announced for the Woodland Park neighborhood. Applicants are being sought to develop new infill housing on twelve vacant lots in the neighborhood. A similar request was also posted for a cluster of ten lots between North 18th and 20th Streets.
Although a company called Clark Street Holdings won the auction to buy the former Fifth Avenue Elementary site at 1300 Forsythe Ave., the Chicago developer did not close on the property as expected at the end of January. That means it is now available for direct purchase from Columbus City Schools (CCS) and is listed with Continental Real Estate.
Construction has started on the latest piece of the Neighborhood Launch development downtown. Called Sixth Street Mews II, the 28-unit project is located south of the Normandy apartment building and west of the original Sixth Street Mews condos.
A Huntington Bank branch will occupy the northern corner spot in the Wellington, filling out the North High Street frontage of the project (along with a 28,000-square-foot Target and a Chick-Fil-A). Listed as still available are two storefronts on East 16th Avenue and one on East 17th.
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