A developer is now in place to shepherd a major mixed-use project at the northeast corner of Hamilton Road and East Broad Street.
The City of Whitehall announced today that Florida-based NR Investments has been chosen to develop the 50-acre site, which is comprised of the former Woodcliff Condos as well as a portion of the former Four Seasons Golf Center at 5000 E. Broad St.
Zach Woodruff, the city’s Economic Development Director, said that the site could eventually accommodate between 600 and 1,000 residents and over 200,00 square feet of commercial space.
Tasked with creating a master plan for the development will be DPZ (also Florida-based), the planning firm best known for pioneering the concept of New Urbanism.
That plan will be developed over the course of the new few months, although the scheduling of community meetings is on hold given coronavirus concerns. The announcement that NR Investments was being chosen to develop the site was originally meant to be made at a State of the City Address tonight, but that event was cancelled.
The overall vision for the project, according to Woodruff, is of a walkable, mixed-use development that is “truly multi-modal…the kind of community that has integrated transit, restaurants, retail and entertainment.”
Directly adjacent to the site is the 80-acre Whitehall Community Park, which features native prairies, wooded trails and access to Big Walnut Creek.
Woodruff said that the city will require that 20 percent of the housing in the new development is affordable to those making 80 percent or less of the area median income.
Woodcliff Condos was a 317-unit complex of 1950s-era duplexes which the city spent many years trying to clean up, eventually winning a 12-year court battle that resulted in Whitehall taking ownership of the site.
Although details of the land deal have not been disclosed, Woodruff said that Whitehall will recoup, as the land is developed, the approximately $10 million it has spent to acquire the former condo site and the former golf center land.
Demolition work could begin on the 54 remaining duplexes as soon as this fall, with general site work commencing the following spring.
On the southwest corner of the Broad and Hamilton intersection, the first residents are scheduled to move in this summer at Norton Crossing, a 20-acre development that was also spearheaded by the city.
“We’re excited about what the future of this intersection means for Whitehall,” said Woodruff.
Other partners in the development include M+A Architects, Ruscilli Construction, the Central Ohio Community Improvement Corporation, Franklin County, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, E.P. Ferris and NAI Ohio Equities.