‘BACK TO LIFE’
Developers restoring vacant apartment building in Driving Park
“Driving Park has been the best-kept secret in Columbus for the longest time.
It’s close to Downtown, close to the interstate highway system.
There’s history, vibrancy in the community. People been here 40-50 years.”
The three-story brick apartment building sat vacant for years at the corner of Fairwood and East Livingston avenues in the Driving Park area.
Today, it’s finally seeing new life in a neighborhood that for decades has struggled with a lack of new investment.
Local developer Jon Lorenz and his business partner, Austin Steed, are redeveloping the building at 1656 E. Livingston Ave.
“Both of us are very excited about the neighborhood,” said Lorenz, who explained that Driving Park is benefitting from the growth of Nationwide Children’s Hospital, which is 1.5 miles west of the apartment building.
“It’s been a full remodel, so we’re going to maintain 11 units, a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments,” Lorenz said.
He said the bathrooms and kitchens had to be replaced, and the mechanicals — the electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling systems — were either too old or nonexistent and also needed to be replaced.
“It needed to be brought back to life,” Lorenz said of the building, which was constructed in 1958.
The brick building itself, now painted white, is very solid, but the cost to gut and restore it is $500,000, Lorenz said.
“As you can imagine, we’re investing significant dollars into the project and neighborhood,” he said.
Lorenz said he hopes to begin leasing the units by March 2022. The one-bedroom units are to rent for $800 a month and two-bedroom units for $1,000 to $1,100 a month.
He said his group hasn’t decided on setting aside a number of units for low-income residents, but he said the group is applying for a 15-year, 100% tax abatement on the project.
The developers bought the 8,058-square-foot building for $285,000 in June 2021. The Franklin County Auditor’s office appraised value is $74,700.
David Gray, who leads the Livingston Avenue Area Commission, said he’s always willing to have developers come into the area.
“It means a lot, the potential to make the neighborhood more viable,” Gray said.
Michael Aaron, who has lived in Driving Park for 25 years, said the redevelopment of apartments such as this building will help bring back some vibrancy to the area while adding to the area’s housing stock.
Michael Aaron who has lived in Driving Park for 25 years
“This is the type of development we’ve been looking for, to update them and offer attractive housing in the city,” he said.
Aaron is president of the Rickenbacker Woods Foundation, the caretaker of World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker’s childhood home, which also promotes the work of Black scientist and inventor Granville T. Woods. He said the project is important for the neighborhood in general, and that corner in particular.
“It was a tumultuous corner 20 years ago. A lot of drugs and violence and gang activity. And not a lot of new development on Livingston in particular,” Aaron said.
Rickenbacker’s home on East Livingston sits a half-mile west of the apartment site.
Leeroy Dye, a deacon at the United House of Prayer for All People at 832 Fairwood Ave., said anything that is renovated or touched up is good for the Driving Park neighborhood.
“A little bit here, a little bit there,” he said as he was about to enter the church, itself across the street from a couple of boarded-up duplexes.
Jason Saleh, who owns New York Fashions in the 1600 block of East Livingston Avenue and has been there since 1995, said any new work improves the neighborhood’s image.
“When things get better and clean, it’s always better for the community,” Saleh said.
Aaron said he was excited about the development. He said the community has seen other improvements, such as new street lighting, repaving projects and new natural gas lines, and new restaurants such as Fishburger on East Livingston.
“Driving Park has been the bestkept secret in Columbus for the longest time,” Aaron said. “It’s close to Downtown, close to the interstate highway system. There’s history, vibrancy in the community. People been here 4050 years.”
“Good things are happening,” he said. “Slowly, but they’re happening.”
This story is part of the Dispatch’s Mobile Newsroom initiative, which is currently focused on Driving Park and surrounding neighborhoods and operating out of the Driving Park branch library. mferench@dispatch.com @Markferenchik