The Near East Area Commission will soon weigh in on new development proposals for two prominent sites in the neighborhood – one for the former Save-A-Lot grocery store on East Main Street, and the other for the empty lot across from the new Adelphi Quarter development on East Long Street.
1179 E. Main St. (Save-A-Lot)
A zoning application has been submitted to redevelop the 1.59-acre site at the corner of East Main Street and Oakwood Avenue. Plans call for a four-story, 85-unit apartment building on the site. A total of 107 parking spaces would be provided for the project, in both a small interior garage and a larger, rear surface parking lot.
The zoning application lists “1179 E Main St Redev, LLC” as the applicant and property owner, and names Gregg Gallas as the contact. Gallas is a principal of Gallas Zadeh Development, a local company that has completed other projects in the area.
The Save-A-Lot was developed by the Columbus Compact Corporation, a community development nonprofit that closed down in 2016. The store opened in 2008 and closed in March of last year.
805 E. Long St.
Initial plans for the south side of Long Street between North Garfield Avenue and Talmadge Street were presented to the area commission’s planning committee on May 20.
Joseph McCabe, of Metropolitan Holdings, told commissioners that the general idea is to build a building that is “very similar” to one of the developer’s nearby projects – the Yardley, on Parsons Avenue in Olde Towne East.
Like the Yardley, the Long Street building would be four stories tall, with the fourth floor set back and not visible from the street. The building would hold a total of 73 apartments – mostly one-bedroom units – and about 2,750 square feet of first floor commercial space. A parking garage would have space for 81 cars.
The .85-acre site was for years occupied by a boarded up gas station that was adorned with several murals by the late artist Jeff Abraxas. Before that building was demolished in 2019, high-resolution photographs of the murals were taken, and McCabe said that the plan is to recreate the murals on the new building, perhaps on the Garfield Avenue side, across from the Lincoln Theatre.
Both projects will still need to be presented to the full commission for a vote before moving on for city approval.
For more information, see cbusareacommissions.org.
Additional Reading:
Contentious Olde Towne East Project Moving Forward
Discussion Highlights Tensions on Near East Side
