A local affordable housing developer has submitted plans for a three-acre site on Livingston Avenue that would require demolishing the former cookie bakery that still stands on the site.
Woda Cooper Companies presented an initial concept for the parcel, located at 1826 E. Livingston Ave., to various neighborhood groups earlier this year. That proposal called for 134 apartments spread over two, four-story buildings, with a parking lot that would sit between the buildings and the adjacent railroad tracks.
Jonathan McKay, Woda Cooper’s Vice President of Development, said that after those initial meetings, the development team made revisions based on feedback they were hearing from the community. The revised proposal, which was recently submitted to the City of Columbus as part of a variance request, calls for 124 apartments, plus several first-floor commercial storefronts along Livingston Avenue.
“The new proposal will be presented at upcoming meetings of the Driving Park Civic Association, the Livingston Avenue Merchants Association, and the Livingston Avenue Area Commission,” McKay said. “We are hopeful the proposal will be heard for a formal recommendation by the Livingston Avenue Area Commission at its May 17 meeting.”
The company has been active in the area. In March, work started on Lockbourne Greene, a 60-unit apartment complex at the corner of Lockbourne and Smith Roads. Healthy Homes, a collaboration between Community Development for All People and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is a partner in that project.
In 2020, Woda Cooper also opened an affordable senior housing development at 1573 E. Livingston Ave. That project preserved a portion of the 1940s-era Livingston Theater, including its marquee and the western end of the building.
Although McKay said that “we are looking at all of our options,” when asked about the possibility of preserving all or a portion of the former bakery building, the plans the company has submitted so far do not show any part of it being incorporated into the project.
Becky West, Executive Director of Columbus Landmarks, said that the building has been nominated for this year’s Most Endangered Sites list, and that the group is currently in the process of evaluating each of the nominations.
Additional Reading: Here’s What ‘Affordable Housing’ Means in Practice in Columbus
