NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY:
OHIO CAPITAL CORPORATION FOR HOUSING
MAY 23, 2003
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Some of the region’s most experienced urban redevelopment specialists have joined forces to rehabilitate hundreds of apartments in urban Columbus. When completed in 2005, it will be the largest low-income housing initiative of its type in the nation.
Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing today announced the construction team that will lead the Community Properties initiative. Over time, Community Properties will open the door to more than 1,000 apartments and townhouses for people with average annual incomes of less than $10,000. The effort is a vast and unprecedented redevelopment that will affect many neighborhoods within Columbus. But for the team responsible for taking the idea from a blueprint and a mission and to bricks and mortar, the development means preserving the precious resource of government-subsidized housing at a time when this kind of housing stock is shrinking. Another key component of this transaction is the disposition and demolition of selected properties to assist in neighborhood revitalization.
In a complex financing deal that closed just days ago, Ohio Capital Corporation assumed ownership of the project. Campus Partners partnered with Ohio Capital to acquire aging properties around The Ohio State University campus area and the near east side of Columbus along with the management company, Broad Street Management. Red Mortgage Capital, Inc. served as lender and will continue to serve as the financial advisor for Community Properties.
The Albert M. Higley Co. and Baker Henning Productions, Inc., known for their housing expertise, will serve as general contractors. Urban Order Architecture will provide technical assistance to the contractors. Moody/Nolan, Inc., with experience in renovating public housing, is the project’s architectural firm. Rounding out the construction team as owner’s representative is Project Control Systems, which will develop activity schedules and provide project supervision.
“We are thrilled that after several years of hard work, we are about to change the physical and social landscape of our community,” said Hal Keller, president of Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing. “The professional team we have put together will ensure that we can finance, design, build and manage housing that the city can be proud of, and that tenants can be proud to live in. Our development team also includes leaders in affordable housing in Columbus: Community Housing Network, Columbus Housing Partnership, and Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority.”
Isabel Toth will head the new management company, Community Properties of Ohio Management Services, Inc. Construction is scheduled to begin late 2003 or early 2004. Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing is an independent, nonprofit corporation. It has raised more than $500 million in equity from corporations for investment in housing qualifying for Housing Tax Credits.
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