City officials gave final approval to rezone property where Thrive Alliance plans to build a development with a combination of workforce family housing and housing for seniors.
The Columbus City Council on Tuesday night approved the second reading of an ordinance by a 6-0 vote to rezone the former Columbus Health and Rehabilitation facility site at 2100 Midway St. from Public & Semi-Public Facilities (P) to Residential: Multi-Family (RM).
Council members Frank Miller, R-District 4, and Jerone Wood, D-District 3, were absent. Councilwoman Grace Kestler, D-at-large abstained because she’s on the Thrive Alliance board.
Housing Partnerships Inc., a non-profit that does business as Thrive Alliance, bought the 7.6-acre property for $1.5 million on March 22 and plans to apply for federal Low Income Housing Credits and accept Section 8 vouchers, The Republic previously reported.
The area has residential homes to the north and south, Two-Worlds condominiums to the east, and Columbus Regional Health’s main campus to the west. The city’s comprehensive plan identifies the future land use of the property as residential, City/County Planning Director Jeff Bergman said.
Kevin Johnson, executive director of Housing Partnerships at Thrive Alliance, said there are two phases for the four-story development— the first phase would focus on providing workforce family housing and phase two would be senior housing for those 55 and older.
Phase one would see 64 workforce family housing units with a childcare component and phase two would incorporate an additional 64 units intended for seniors for a total of 128 units. The plan is to connect the two areas of the development “so that we can try to tie those two diverse populations together and maybe help with social isolation of some seniors,” Johnson told the council on June 4.
Typically workforce housing is defined as housing affordable for those who are employed and earning less than 80 percent of area median income (AMI), but Thrive Alliance, as a non-profit, has a different standard.
“Most of our housing projects range in the 30, 50 and 60 percent AMI range, area median income, and that is the area that needs a lot of help and support and affordable housing,” Johnson said.
The Columbus Plan Commission during their meeting on May 8 forwarded the matter to the council with a unanimously favorable recommendation with a commitment that an additional right-of-way and sidewalk would be created along the property’s Midway Street frontage. There isn’t already a dedicated right-of-way there because the property had not been platted before, according to Bergman.
Councilwoman Elaine Hilber, D-District 2, again expressed support for the project, saying “we’ve been hearing that affordable housing is in desperate need in Columbus, so I’m really excited about this project.”
Ground-breaking on the development, according to Johnson, would be by late spring or summer 2025, with construction tentatively expected to take around 18 months. That would mean residents likely would not be moving in until at least late 2026.
Johnson said previously that Thrive Alliance is planning to “go after multiple streams of funding” for the project, which is estimated to cost about $14 million.
