The Columbus City Council gave final approval to rezone two acres of downtown property on Tuesday night, setting the stage for the potential creation of a mixed-use development and restaurant.
The council voted 7-2 to pass the ordinance on second reading during a meeting that got tense at times, allowing 1008 Washington St., 1020 Washington St., 1034 Washington St. and 921 Jackson St. to be rezoned from “Commercial: Neighborhood” to “Commercial: Downtown.” Councilmen Jerone Wood and Jay Foyst voted against the measure.
The new designation allows for more dense development, however several members of the public voiced concern about the potential impact on downtown parking, pedestrian safety at 11th and Washington Streets and Columbus’ architectural identity. The council members who voted in favor said the sites are falling into disrepair and have garnered minimal interest on the market. Several believed the potential developments would bring more people downtown.
The rezoning request was submitted by Rubicon Investment Group, a Bloomington-based investment firm., which is also the owner and developer of St. Bart’s Apartments. Rubicon submitted two separate site development plans for 1008 and 1020 Washington St. and 1034 Washington St., City/County Planning Director Jeff Bergman said.
The initial concept plan for the mixed-use development at 1008 and 1020 Washington includes a ground floor with nearly 50,000 square feet for parking and 2,000 square feet for office/commercial space. The top four floors would include an estimated 120 apartment units. The site development plan Rubicon submitted for 1034 Washington St. indicates it would be used as a restaurant.
Both “Commercial: Neighborhood” and “Commercial: Downtown” are what the zoning ordinance refers to site development plan districts, Bergman said, meaning the project will return to the plan commission as a public hearing “where the commission will have discretion over the details of that development and have more specific conversations around things like parking and heights of buildings.”
The commission previously reviewed the rezoning request on Dec. 13 and forwarded it to the city council with a favorable recommendation.
The building at 1008 Washington St. was built by F.T. Crump towards the end of the 19th century. It was later turned into multiple apartments and was most recently sold to Sprague Rentals in 2019. The 1020 Washington St. is the site of the first Crump home built in the 1860s, but was demolished in 1973. It’s currently a vacant bank building also owned by Sprague Rentals.
The home at 1034 Washington St., formerly Joe Willy’s Burger Bar and also known as the “Overstreet Home,” was designed and constructed by Charles Sparrell in the 1890s, according to Bartholomew County Historian Tami Stone Iorio. The Columbus Capital Foundation bought the building in October.
The property at 921 Jackson St. belonged to F.T. Crump as well in the late 1800s. It was torn down in 2019 and sold to Sprague Rentals that November.
Columbus resident Mike Mullett urged the council to consider the historical significance of the homes at 1008 and 1034 Washington.
“This project can and should be better because this is Columbus. Columbus is the Athens of the Prairie. Different by design,” Mullet said. “I would ask that you would either delay this or condition it in order to recognize the specific and important character of this property- the specific and important character of these two homes.”
Columbus Capital Foundation board president Hutch Schumaker attended the meeting and said the foundation had reserved architectural review for 1034 Washington St., which would take place after the matter is returned to the plan commission.
“When the final document is there, then we have the opportunity to kind of say, ‘we’ve got some issues with this.’”
Jenny Baker, the property manager for The Cole, said the proposed mixed-use development would only further saturate the market while the apartment industry itself is already experiencing a downturn.
“I believe that it would be in the best interest of the city to wait to build housing downtown specifically,” Baker said. “We have a new community that is just getting started and another on the way.”
Baker was alluding to The Taylor and the mixed-use development planned for Sixth and Washington streets. She also referred to maps she pulled from apartments.com that she said show lacking occupancy of downtown apartments.
“Properties in Columbus that start leasing at $1,000 are averaging 87% occupancy, properties that start leasing at $800 are averaging 85% occupancy, the five year average is 96%, and (in) the last nine months has dropped to 94%. That may only seem like 2%, but for some properties that’s going from from 5% availability to 10%.”
Councilman Kent Anderson said the potential developments could help downtown Columbus compete with other adjacent cities.
“And then there’s one thing- I went around knocking on doors and (there’s) a lot of concern about the health of downtown in particular, you know, the comparisons of us to Franklin and Seymour, which are competition and doing pretty well,” Anderson said. “I think more housing will be positive and that will increase activity and it’ll attract more people.”
Councilman Jay Foyst voted against the project and said that he had asked Baker to come speak.
“It just seems like the project pushing the rezoning is garnering a lot of heartburn, even for me, as somebody who’s on the city council,” Foyst said.
City Councilwoman Grace Kestler voted in favor of the request, but wondered if the plan commission had any conversations about imposing conditions on the development. Bergman said that the commission generally talked about maybe instituting conditions on height.
Council President Frank Miller voted in favor and said he would caution against conditions because the developments are still only conceptual.
“The council has not been presented what this project is, so for us to almost blindly put a set of conditions on a rezoning that we don’t really know what we’re rezoning yet- I don’t think that’s the way to go.”
Miller also addressed concerns from many about parking downtown and said the potential plan for the mixed-use development would include nearly 130 parking spaces.
Councilman Tom Dell said it’s not in the council’s purview to decide what the project is going to be, rather their vote is about whether they think the rezoning makes sense to give any potential developer the opportunity to build a project on the sites.
“Nobody can argue this property is in bad shape at this present time, nobody’s going to argue the fact that it does need to be redeveloped. And so this rezoning will just allow that process to move forward. And I think we’ve got the safeguards in place with the planning department – or planning commission – that I feel comfortable.”
Councilman Jerone Wood voted against the ordinance on the first and second readings and said he was confident the potential projects would negatively affect downtown parking. He also discussed the outcry he received from constituents who were opposed to the rezoning.
“I know my Facebook was blowing up in the last couple of weeks, even prior to that, with just people reaching out and expressing their opinion. I didn’t get one email that in favor. So to me, that speaks volumes that nobody reach out to say, ‘Hey, I support this idea.’”
