City moves forward on multifamily urban grocer project for downtown

Columbus is moving forward with plans for an apartment complex and grocery on land next to the Bartholomew County Jail on Second Street.

On Monday, the Columbus Redevelopment Commission approved a resolution allowing redevelopment director Heather Pope to take the necessary steps for selling commission-owned property at Second Street and Lafayette Avenue, where the development is to be located.

Pope said that to prepare the property for sale, she will need to get two appraisals, prepare an offerings sheet and advertise in the newspaper.

The commission has committed to contribute “land, cash and a bond to be valued at some $11.8 million” to the multifamily urban grocer project, which is estimated to cost $40 million. City officials have said in the past that the development’s property tax dollars will go to repay the bond. The developer, Flaherty & Collins, will pay about 70% of the project cost.

Per a memorandum from Pope, Flaherty & Collins’ proposed development includes:

  • Approximately 200 market rate apartments
  • 6,000 square feet of amenities/leasing space
  • 12,000-15,000 square feet of grocer space
  • 400 parking spaces
  • A 10 foot wide pedestrian path along Second Street

Mayor Jim Lienhoop said in his State of the City address that the city expects construction to begin in early 2022. Andrew Lanam of Stifel Financial Corp., who has served as a financial adviser to the city, said in January that completion of some or all of the units would likely occur in fall of 2023, with people beginning to move in late 2023 and an increase in renting occurring in 2024.

On Tuesday, the commission also approved a resolution to amend the Central Allocation Area so that a new TIF area can be created for the project.

Bruce Donaldson, who is a bond counsel with Barnes & Thornburg, explained that the city plans to capture TIF revenues for 25 years off of the property in order to reimburse the redevelopment commission for its contribution to the development.

“That particular piece of property is in the existing Central TIF allocation area, which has an expiration date of around 2036,” he explained. “… In order for us to capture the full 25 years, we need to create a project site-specific TIF area.”

Donaldson said that the resolution begins the process of creating this new TIF area. The change will also need to be approved by planning commission and city council, after which it will return to the redevelopment commission for a “public hearing and a confirmatory resolution,” he said.

Pope also shared at Tuesday’s meeting that the recent bout of winter weather caused a delay in the closure process for a leaky underground storage tank that was previously located on part of the planned project site.

“Due to the heavy snows and the weather that we’ve had, it makes the underground utility locations and the probes difficult to install, so they’ve had to push off that work,” she said. “… It’s supposed to start this week sometime.”

In January, the commission approved a resolution authorizing August Mack Environmental to conduct site closure activities for 711 Second Street.

“They’re putting some monitoring wells in the ground, getting some current readings in the ground as a result of the leaky underground storage tank that was onsite years and years ago,” Pope said. “It was removed but was not documented properly through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. So we’re going through that process now.”