Quarry developer seeks tax breaks
The developer that plans to transform former quarry land outside Downtown into a mix of housing, retail and commercial office space — and the county’s 20th Metro Park — will ask Columbus for tax incentives and other aid, including the largest tax break the city offers for residential property.
The Columbus City Council on Monday will consider an economic-development agreement between the city and Wagenbrenner Development, which plans to
redevelop the 607- acre area west of the Scioto River and north of Trabue Road. Part of the property is to become a commercial and residential development and part of it would be parkland.
Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks have agreed to purchase a 62- acre property that is part of that site and buy another 118 acres next year. Wagenbrenner is to donate about 40 acres to bring the parkland to 220 total acres.
Wagenbrenner plans to build about 40,000 square feet of commercial office space, 600 apartments, 440 single-family homes and condominiums and 50,000 square feet of retail space in the first phase of its development. An active quarry on the northern portion of the property would remain in operation, with Wagenbrenner receiving royalties on the mined material, said Joe Reidy, the company’s attorney.
The limestone quarry, which Wagenbrenner says produced material for both the Ohio Statehouse and Ohio Stadium, began operations in the 1840s, and portions of the property later were used as a landfill. The landfill closed in 1974.
A draft version of the economic-development agreement between Columbus and Wagenbrenner shows that Mayor Andrew J. Ginther’s administration will agree to ask the City Council for:
• A 15- year, 100 percent property-tax abatement on residential property in the development.
• A 10- year, 75 percent property-tax abatement on commercial office space there.
• Creation of a taxincrement financing ( TIF) district for the area. Property owners would pay into a fund dedicated for infrastructure in the area instead of paying property taxes on the improvements.
• Creation of a community development authority that charges property owners fees to finance parking, road improvements, bike trails and other improvements in the area.
How much revenue the city would forgo as part of those packages is unclear, though.
Columbus Development Director Steve Schoeny said the city doesn’t have firm estimates yet on how much Wagenbrenner would invest — and how much the tax incentives it would offer would be worth — because the cleanup costs still are unclear.
“It’s not every day we get a major Metro Park done as part of a development deal,” he said. “This is very unusual for us. It’s cleaning up a brownfield.”
Under the agreement, Wagenbrenner must start construction on the first half of the commercial office space within three years and the second half within five years. It also must dedicate about 10 percent of the residential property as affordable housing, donate 40 acres along the Scioto River for a bike trail and contribute $ 2 million from the TIF toward funding a bike- trail extension.
Wagenbrenner would purchase 558 acres and hold an option to buy another 49 acres to the northwest.
Before construction can start on the property, though, the quarry must be cleaned up. Those costs would be baked into the overall development and abated under any agreements between Wagenbrenner and the city, Schoeny said.
“Because of the nature of the project being on a quarry, being on a landfill, they’re working out the exact specifications,” he said.
Reidy declined to provide the company’s estimates for the cleanup and construction costs. He said the company intends to bid out the work for the cleanup.
“There’s nothing on this site right now. We’ll be installing new roads, new water and sewer infrastructure,” he said. “That’s really why we’re partnering with the city of Columbus and seeking the incentives we are in order to bring infrastructure to this undeveloped ground.”
Cleanup is expected to start in January, Reidy said. Clearing the area, grading the surface and capping former landfill areas on the east side of the property could take 12 months to 18 months, he said. Construction would begin after that.
The project is Wagenbrenner’s largest to date, Reidy said. But the company has cleaned up two landfills before.
“This project is not conceivable without public incentives given the amount of money we’re spending on environmental cleanup,” he said.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the longtime civil rights leader and former Democratic presidential candidate, said Friday he has Parkinson’s disease.
In a letter posted on Twitter on Friday afternoon, Jackson, 76, shared the news and his struggle to accept it.
“Recognition of the effects of this disease on me has been painful, and I have been slow to grasp the gravity of it,” he wrote. “For me, a Parkinson’s diagnosis is not a stop sign but rather a signal that I must make lifestyle changes and dedicate myself to physical therapy in hopes of slowing the disease’s progression.”
Parkinson’s is a movement disorder. Its symptoms include muscle tremors and stiffness and poor balance and coordination. It typically begins after age 50 and can cause difficulty sleeping, chewing, swallowing or speaking.