COLUMBUS, Ohio (COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST) — The second phase of the Smith and High development is now welcoming tenants.

Developer Don DeVere said the second phase of the residential complex, which got the green light in late 2017, recently wrapped and is now leasing.

This phase added 18 apartments, for a total of 30 units, at 1254 N. High St. There are one- and two-bedroom units being rented at market rate. Some of the newer units are loft-style apartments. The second phase also added a parking garage with about 20 spaces inside.

There is about 8,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, filled by a dentist office and insurance agency, among other tenants.

Day Cos. manages the property.

The $3.5 million first phase of Smith and High was designed in 2008 by Schottenstein Real Estate Group and DeVere. Schottenstein was not involved in the second phase of the project, which was shepherded by DeVere, Brett Kaufman and Schiff Properties. DeVere did not share the cost of the second phase.

The project is part of a wave of development connecting the Short North and University District after the $150 million South Campus Gateway opened at High and East 9th streets in 2005.

“The area was entirely different when we started the project,” DeVere told Columbus Business First. “But we could see the writing on the wall and what the neighborhood could become.”

DeVere is also behind projects like Lear Block and the redevelopment of the Columbus Jack industrial building into office and apartments, both preservation and adaptive reuse projects on long-vacant buildings. DeVere also built condos at 225 N. 4th Street, partly a new build and historic preservation project.

The Smith and High project was DeVere’s second new-build project.

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