This post comes via Columbus Business First and is by Tristan. This will be a great addition to Olde Towne East and received tax $2MM in state historic tax credits. I personally cannot wait for this.
By Tristan Navera – Staff reporter, Columbus Business FirstJul 20, 2018, 3:05pm EDT Updated Jul 23, 2018, 3:09pm EDT
A long-sought East Market could well have the funding it needs to finally get off the ground. Now the work begins.
Thursday night, Brad DeHays of Connect Realty brought the first sketches of the “Trolley District” – his plan for the Columbus Electric Trolley Barn – to the Near East Side Commission. The $30 million project aims to convert the former trolley barns into a new market and apartment complex that could spur development in the area.
A $2 million award in state historic tax credits announced this year was a major boost for the project, and DeHays says he’s got a team of investors aboard. The project now begins moving through the approval process and also faces a ballot issue before proceeding.
“It’s been a long time coming,” DeHays said of the complex of six buildings at 1600 Oak St., south of the Franklin Park Conservatory. “We’re going to save all of the buildings.”
The project is complicated, with many moving parts. The buildings themselves will be renovated in a $14 million project that would create a 14,000-square-foot taproom and restaurant for Columbus Brewing Co., which would become the anchor tenant.
The other major attraction would be the 19-stall market that would include a number of tenants. Plans call for six that would sell prepared foods and a green grocer.
Tony Tanner, owner of Butcher & Grocer, would have a location there, and so would James Anderson, owner of Ray Ray’s Hog Pit.
“Its going to be more incubator style than the North Market – a little more raw, but you’ll see a lot of creativity come out,” DeHays said.
Plans also call for a $15 million, three-story, 102-unit apartment building to go up across the street, with a mix of one-bedroom units that would rent for $850 to $1,000 a month, and two-bedroom units that would rent for $1,300 to $1,400 a month.
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About 178 parking spaces will be provided on site.
DeHays said he would like to get the project started as soon as December. He said the market would take about a year to complete. while the apartments would take about two years to finish. He’s working with Schooley Caldwell Architects on the design of the apartment building and Sandvick Architects for the historic buildings, with new construction complementing the existing property.
“The barn has this rough, weathered appearance and we will bring it back and it will be impeccable, but it won’t look new,” David Vottero of Schooley Caldwell Architects said. “We want it to be the same quality, but with the crispness of the new material. The two will get richer by association.”
The ballot initiative is needed because the neighborhood is dry. DeHays said passage is critical. It could go on the ballot in November, he said.
“I don’t think I could bring a better operator in this development than Columbus Brewing Co.,” DeHays said. “I’m not proposing clubs. The business here has an alcohol component, but it’s one of the best operators and it will be very well run.”
DeHays and Connect Realty have worked on a number of historic renovation projects across the city, the developer said. But this one, he added, is special. For a time, he lived in one of the houses around the corner from the property.
The six buildings on the trolley site were constructed from 1882 to 1920, first as a horse stable, and then adapted to serve the city’s streetcar system.
Later, the facilities served buses until the 1980s. Some of the buildings have since been demolished or are in disrepair, according to information in the project application.
“Its going to be one of the coolest spaces that can serve as the market in town,” DeHays said.