Developer converting old Hotel St. Clair into apartments
AColumbus developer has started renovating the historic Hotel St. Clair, a 106-year-old landmark in the King-Lincoln District on the Near East Side. This time, though, its tenants are expected to fall somewhere between high-profile entertainers and low-income residents.
The hotel for years was a beacon of Columbus’ arts scene, housing Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Sammy Davis Jr. and other luminaries during their Columbus visits.
More recently, the building for 15 years was a low-income seniorhousing complex. The building, at 340 St. Clair Ave., was bought in March by the Donald W. Kelley & Associates development firm, which is converting it into 32 market-rate apartments that will have rents starting north of $600.
“We’re doing a full rehab on the interior,” said Michael Kelley, a principal with the firm. “On the exterior, we’re tuck-pointing brick, repainting, restoring a lot of the façade.”
The apartments are advertised as being available in July.
Community Housing Network decided to sell the building in August after years of losing money on its operations. Renovating the building would have cost an estimated $635,000, said the agency’s CEO, Samantha Shuler.
“We never operated without a deficit,” she said. “It didn’t make sense to continue sustaining those losses.”
The building’s 29 tenants were relocated, she said.
“That building is so important to that community, and I was so happy to find a buyer who respected that history,” Shuler said.
Although the building is bestknown as a hotel, it opened in 1911 as a hospital for Pennsylvania Railroad workers before being converted into a convalescent home. The St. Clair enjoyed its hotel heyday from 1948 to its closing in 1976.
The building’s history will be honored with historic photos, and apartments will be named after artists who visited the hotel — the Duke, Ella, Hampton, Basie, etc.
The Hotel St. Clair Apartments project continues to push the boundaries of development in the burgeoning King-Lincoln District, which is immediately east of Interstate 71 and north of East Broad Street.
“That neighborhood has changed a lot in the last five years,” Kelley said. “It has a lot going for it. Number one is the proximity to Downtown. ... But there’s also some very neat history in that neighborhood. In the 1950s, it was this vibrant entertainment district.”
Kelley hopes the apartments will draw Columbus College of Art & Design staff members and students, plus those who want to live near Downtown but don’t want to pay Downtown-level rent. The project’s website, www.hotelstclairapts. com, pitches the apartments as “Close to downtown. Far from downtown prices.”
Apartments are expected to range from the low-$600s for a 265-square-foot studio to about $1,100 for a 750-squarefoot, two-bedroom unit.