Downtown Columbus apartment complex plans moving forward

Developers of a downtown Columbus apartment complex are planning to continue on with their project at the corner of 11th and Washington Streets. That comes after Columbus City Council voted down a plan earlier this month to allow a loan to be fully repaid to the city’s redevelopment fund.

Heather Pope, the director of the city’s redevelopment department, said that Rubicon Investment Group of Bloomington announced at this week’s redevelopment commission meeting that it planned to continue on with its estimated $30.9 million project.

A funding mechanism for that project involved a forgivable $6.4 million loan from the city’s downtown special taxing district. The redevelopment commission and the city council approved that loan last year with the idea that it would be essentially repaid by the property taxes flowing into the development district over the next 21 years. The redevelopment commission and council both approved that loan near the end of last year.

But the repayment plan was derailed when the council was asked to create a separate special taxing district earlier this month. The original larger district is set to expire in 10 years, meaning the property taxes would instead go to all taxing units including the city, county, schools and library governments.

The council opted not to create the new, longer lasting district.

The company is planning a five-story building including a parking garage, commercial space and 120 housing units on the corner property that was the site for Joe Willy’s Burger Bar.

Map courtesy of Columbus Planning Department.