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Organization and History of Campus
Partners Get Involved in Our Committees Taking Stock: Historic Preservation
Inventory |
Redevelopment of Columbus Coated Fabrics moves forward with agreement on infrastructure Campus
Partners in 2004 began investigating the potential redevelopment of the
Columbus Coated Fabrics (CCF) “brownfield” site in the Weinland Park
neighborhood of the University District. Now four years
later, the deteriorating buildings on the site are gone, and the City of
Columbus and Wagenbrenner Development Company have negotiated an economic
development agreement that projects more than 500 units of market-rate
housing will be built on the site. Columbus City
Council on March 18, 2008, approved an economic development agreement between
the city and Wagenbrenner under which the city will provide $14 million in
infrastructure improvements on and adjacent to the 20-acre site that runs
along both sides of North Grant Avenue between East Fifth and East 11th
avenues. In his annual
State of the City address on March 13, Mayor Michael B. Coleman had announced
the agreement. The city’s investment
“will leverage $80 million in private investment to transform that tainted
rubble into homes, jobs, life, and hope,” the mayor said. Wagenbrenner
has been working with staff in various city agencies for several months to
identify the public infrastructure improvements. Wagenbrenner expects to acquire the site
from the city later in 2008 and oversee the environmental remediation. Infrastructure improvements could begin in
2009. The initial condominiums and
apartments could begin construction in 2009 or 2010, depending in part on the
state of the housing market. In his speech,
Mayor Coleman credited neighborhood leaders Robert Caldwell, Joyce Hughes and
Catherine Girves for their efforts to deal with the “eyesore” of CCF. He said Campus Partners and Wagenbrenner
have joined together to plan a neighborhood of new condominiums, townhouses
and apartments. “Homes will be priced
for working families, first-time home-buyers and those looking to move up
beginning at $90,000,” he said. Campus
Partners initially obtained an option to acquire the site from the bankrupt
former owner of the property, Decorative Surfaces International (DSI) and a
bankruptcy court in the state of Delaware.
DSI had ceased manufacturing on the site in 2001 and entered
bankruptcy in 2002. For more than a
century, the site was used for industrial purposes, most recently for the
production of plastic coated wall coverings.
From 2002 to 2006, the property was plagued by illegal salvaging,
vandalism, fires and other public safety problems. Campus
Partners conducted environmental assessments of potential contamination and
developed a partnership with the city to acquire the site and explore the
potential redevelopment. Campus
Partners also developed a relationship with Wagenbrenner Development Company,
which had expressed interest in the redevelopment potential. Campus
Partners worked with the bankruptcy court to transfer title to the property
to the city in December 2006. Under
contract with the city, Campus Partners in 2007 managed the asbestos removal
and demolition of the existing buildings on the site. Champion Environmental Services conducted
the asbestos removal and demolition, which was completed in October 2007. Campus
Partners assisted the city in its application in April 2007 for $3 million
from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) to remove contamination from
the CCF. The Ohio Department of
Development, which administers CORF, announced in July 2007 that the grant
had been approved. Wagenbrenner
proposes to build more than 500 units of condominiums and apartments with
approximately 1.5 acres of greenspace and a community center. The proposal grew from the recommendations
in the Weinland Park Neighborhood Plan
adopted by Columbus City Council in 2006. For more
information, please click on the following links: • A time line summarizing the
history of the Columbus Coated Fabrics property. • A project update distributed
Feb. 28, 2007, at the meeting of the Weinland Park Community Civic
Association. This update includes
contact information regarding the demolition of the existing buildings, the
city’s CORF application, and Wagenbrenner Development Company. • The summary pages from the City of
Columbus application for $3 million from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund. • A proposed site plan for the
redevelopment of the Columbus Coated Fabrics property. |
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