State rejects tax credits for trolley barn project
Ohio has turned down a request for state historic tax credits that a developer was seeking to redevelop a longdormant trolley barn complex on the Near East Side.
Developer Brad DeHays of Connect Realty said he will try again to attract state help for his $24 million project at 1610 Oak St.
“It means we’re going to have to go back in the spring and apply again” for the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credits, DeHays said. “We’re not giving up.”
DeHays’ vision is of a marketplace that would include shops and restaurants, with plazas and patios. Next door, he envisions a $10 million, 78-unit residential complex — either apartments or condominiums — with a pocket park.
The market, DeHays said, would sell “green and healthy” food.
He has said Columbus Brewing is interested in opening a taproom there and the owner of Ray Ray’s Hog Pit in Westerville has signed a letter of intent to open a restaurant there.
The complex of six buildings is just south of Franklin Park. The area is seeing a turnaround, with renovated homes and a nearby commercial district growing at Oak and South 18th streets in Olde Towne East. The area is home to Yellow Brick Pizza, the Angry Baker and the Olde Towne Tavern.
James Flannery, president of the Franklin Park Civic Association, said he knows the tax-credit process is highly competitive, but DeHays reassured him he is sticking with the project, which the community supports.
“It’s very important to the neighborhood,” Flannery said.
“We’re disappointed the credits weren’t awarded but are optimistic they will be,” he said.
Kathleen Bailey, who leads the Near East Area Commission, said people are buying property around the trolleybarn site in anticipation of the project.
DeHays bought the 3-acre trolley-barn site in 2014 for $337,000. Previous owner Minnie McGee had bought the property at a sheriff’s sale in 2003 for $231,000 but never redeveloped it. Eventually, she found herself battling city code violations as the buildings deteriorated, including collapsing roofs on four of the six structures. The buildings were constructed between 1880 and 1920.
The Ohio Development Services Agency on Tuesday also turned down tax credits for another Columbus project: an $18.8 million dollar project to renovate long-vacant office buildings at 16-20 East Broad St., with developer Michael Tomko and Hayden Columbus LLC requesting $1.86 million in credits.
The agency did announce the award of $28.4 million in historic tax credits to rehab 22 buildings in 11 communities, which is expected to lead to $165.4 million in private investment. But none are in Columbus or central Ohio.
Five projects are in Cleveland, including $5 million in credits for a $51.4 million project that includes converting a 103-year-old office building on that city’s Public Square into 119 residences.
Four projects awarded are in Cincinnati, including $250,000 for a $1 million project to convert an 1880sera firehouse into office space, parking areas and a rental unit.