Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the construction on Then Taylor in downtown Columbus, Ind., Friday, Sept. 2, 2022.
Columbus’s new downtown apartment complex and urban grocer may open a few months later than expected, but developers are optimistic about the project’s progress.
The Taylor will be located at 725 Second St. and include space for a grocery store and 200 apartments with a number of amenities for residents. Flaherty & Collins is the developer on this project.
As of April, the firm expected to open the first units to residents in the summer of 2023 and reach full completion that fall. However, Flaherty & Collins general counsel Deron Kintner said it’s now estimated that the first phase will take place in fall of 2023, with the project being completed in late fall or early winter.
“The weather in the spring certainly slowed us down, given the vast amount of, as I mentioned, earth work that needed to be done,” he said. “Any time it rained, we were kind of on the sidelines until it dried out — a lot of stop and start, so to speak, with respect to that. But otherwise, we’re in pretty good shape.”
As of early September, Project Manager Tony Williams with Flaherty & Collins said that some of the slabs were in place for the main apartment building. Additionally, elevator shafts were up, as was the metal shell for a retail/grocery store component, and work was being done on underground retention systems. Contractors were expected to begin standing up wall panels sometime in the next couple of weeks.
At the time, Williams said the project was not seeing any supply chain difficulties.
“We’ve adapted to that in the industry and are making changes on the front end to mitigate supply chain issues,” said Williams.
According to estimates from Flaherty & Collins, the project will cost $41 million. The city has agreed to invest $11.8 million into the development under the project agreement, according to Bruce Donaldson with Barnes & Thornburg. City officials have said in the past that the development’s property tax dollars will reimburse the city for its contribution. The Columbus Redevelopment Commission also committed to selling property for the development at minimal cost to the developer.
In fall of 2021, Nicholas Blewett with Bloomingfoods Co-op Market said that the business had had discussions with Flaherty & Collins about serving as the grocer for the development.
When asked more recently if there was any news to announce on the selection of a grocer, Kinter said that they’re still working on that piece of the project.
“Whether it was COVID, whether it was staffing and supply chain issues, we just really haven’t gotten any macro news, if you will … that would make it as enticing as it maybe was a couple years ago for a grocer to come in here,” he said. “But we’re hoping that changes and we can lock someone in sooner than later. But right now we’re still out looking to find the right tenant.”
