| Redevelopment of Columbus Coated Fabrics |
| Monday, 01 October 2007 00:00 |
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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:
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