A sidewalk on Seventh Street, from Sycamore Street to Chestnut Street near Central Middle School, is closed for about a month as demolition begins on four vacant houses to make may for a townhome project.
The demolition should be finished before students return to school, said executive director of public works and city engineer Dave Hayward. Hayward said that the sidewalk closure began Wednesday and will end on August 3.
“There will still be some closures after that, as they start building, replacing the sidewalks, but we’ll deal with that later,” he said at a Tuesday board meeting. “We wanted the demolition, which is the most dangerous part, to be done.”
In May, the Columbus City Council approved an economic development target area on 0.23 acres of land on the north side of Seventh Street between Sycamore and Chestnut Streets. The developers, Central Townhomes LLC, plan to construct 16 townhomes on the land, where the four vacant homes are to be demolished.
“Originally, we were talking about looking for an area in the downtown where we could building that ‘missing middle’,” said Robin Hilber, assistant director of community development in an earlier interview. “So it definitely looks like this would be an attractive area. It’s close to the library, right across from Central Middle School, close to Lincoln CSA.”
Central Townhomes LLC has expressed interest in investing $4.5 million to build 10 two-bedroom, two-bathroom townhomes and six three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom townhomes on the properties, Hilber said. The townhomes would range in size from 1,000 to 1,260 square feet, and the anticipated selling price for the townhomes is between $225,000 and $275,000, Hilber said.
The company is listed as the owner of the four vacant houses that will be demolished, according to public records.
It acquired the house at 702 Chestnut St. for $110,000 on Jan. 10, the house at 706 Chestnut St. for $120,000 on Jan. 13 and the house at 705 Sycamore St. for $200,000 on Jan. 24.
Central Townhomes LLC also is listed as the owner of the house at 822 Seventh St., which was last purchased for $31,000 by Bartholomew on Sycamore LLC on Dec. 21, 2018. Ownership was transferred to Central Townhomes LLC on Jan. 13. No sale price was listed.
Central Townhomes LLC is based in Columbus and was registered as a limited liability company with the state in January, according to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. Richard L. Sprague is listed as the company’s agent and is the developer on the project.
In May, Sprague said that construction would likely begin “no later than August.” The townhomes might be ready for occupancy by next spring.
