| Columbus Coated Fabrics |
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A collaboration involving the City of Columbus, Campus Partners, Wagenbrenner Development Company and the Weinland Park neighborhood of the University District has begun the redevelopment of the Columbus Coated Fabrics (CCF) site. On what has been a 20-acre contaminated former industrial property, Wagenbrenner plans to build more than 500 units of market-rate housing along the eastern edge of Weinland Park. Campus Partners in 2004 began investigating the potential redevelopment of the CCF “brownfield” site. 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 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. 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, 2008, 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. In late 2008, Wagenbrenner took ownership of the site from the city. In 2009, Wagenbrenner has been managing the removal of the contamination from the site using the CORF funds awarded to the city. Infrastructure improvements could begin in 2010. The initial condominiums and apartments could begin construction in 2010 or 2011, depending in part on the state of the housing market. 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. |