GETTING STARTED
Demolition begins soon for major Whitehall redevelopment
Demolition is expected to begin in a few months to prepare for the long-awaited “transformational” redevelopment of the eastern entrance to Whitehall.
The 50-acre site on the northeast corner of East Broad Street and Hamilton Road has sat unused for three years, following the city’s acquisition of the 54 Woodcliff condominium buildings on the site, along with the former Four Seasons Golf Center next door.
The city plans to demolish the buildings, which once housed 317 condominiums, to make way for a $250 million mixed-use development that could dramatically reshape the community.
“This is the culmination of a long period of time and a long period of work,” said City Administrator Zach Woodruff.
“It’s not lost on us that this site lends itself to a truly transformational project,” he said. “We can’t understate how important this project is, not only to Whitehall but to central Ohio.”
A wire fence now surrounds the former condominiums, some of which have been torn down after the city and other municipalities used them for public safety and fire training.
Whitehall has applied for funds through the Central Ohio Community Improvement Corp. to help offset the estimated $6 million demolition cost. The city hopes to learn in April if it will receive the money, but plans to start demolition even if it doesn’t, Woodruff said.
Once cleared, the property will be developed in phases by NR Investments of Miami, Florida.
“We plan to go straight into vertical construction after demolition, in mid- to late-summer,” said NR Investments Chief Operating Officer Terry Wellons.
The company and the city entered into a development agreement in August 2020 after brainstorming a design for the site with DPZ Codesign, a pioneer in mixed-use “new urbanist” development.
The plan that emerged calls for residences, shops, restaurants and offices laid out with boulevards and multiple outdoor gathering spots.
“It’s very much urban architecture, a walkable community,” Wellons said. “It’s a fantastic site.”
The 50-acre site will feature an outdoor amphitheater as well as green space and ponds that blend into the 80acre Whitehall Community Park next door.
“We didn’t want the park to feel like the back yard,” Woodruff said. “We really strived to integrate the greenspace, with connectivity to trails and parkland. We’re going to develop 50 acres, but it’s really going to be 130 acres.”
The city hoped to start construction last year but continued tweaking the plan, in part in response to the pandemic. While the plan still calls for offices, for example, offices aren’t likely to be a focus of the first phase.
Instead, the first phase, which will be directly on the corner of Broad and Hamilton, will focus on housing.
“We’ll start with 250 residential units on the corner, with some space for restaurants and commercial,” Wellons said.
“When it’s built out, we want to have 1,000-plus residential units there, for sale and for rent, as well as close to 100,000 square feet of retail, and we’ve reserved some footprints for office, but how high we go depends on the market.”
The plan allows for the development to take up to 15 years to complete, but Woodruff and Wellons expect it to go much faster, given the strong demand for housing in the region.
“With the market being where it’s at, barring some changes, we expect to continue through from one phase to the next,” Wellons said.
The project, which has yet to be named, is the next major step in the redevelopment of the Broad and Hamilton area, which serves as Whitehall’s east entrance.
Immediately north of the Woodcliff site, in addition to the Whitehall park and a YMCA, is the new headquarters of Heartland Bank. On the southwest corner of Hamilton and Broad, the mixeduse Hamilton Crossing development opened in 2020, offering 320 apartments, a park and retail tenants.
In addition, $10 million in street improvements are planned for the Broad and Hamilton intersection that will include street widening, bike lanes, new lighting and new crosswalks. That work is planned for next year.
Whitehall officials see the site, which touches Big Walnut Creek, as one of a kind.
“How many 130-acre sites with 80 acres of dedicated greenspaces are inside (Interstate) 270?” asked Woodruff. “How many other sites have one of central Ohio’s main waterways? How many other sites off 270 are in the shadow of the airport? How many have Broad Street adjacent to them?”
This story is part of the Dispatch’s Mobile Newsroom initiative. Visit our reporters at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Whitehall branch library and read their work at dispatch.com/mobilenewsroom, where you also can sign up for The Mobile Newsroom newsletter. jweiker@dispatch.com @Jimweiker