COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Construction is underway on a variety of new housing units –ranging from single-family homes to four stories of apartments — at the former site of Mount Carmel West hospital in Franklinton.
The now-razed facility closed in 2019, transferring services to other locations, such as Mount Carmel East and Grove City. By late 2019, demolition began on what was once Ohio’s oldest hospital.
Nearly four years later, construction is in its early stages to reimagine the neighborhood, and Columbus-based real estate developer Thrive Companies is leading the project.
That first phase of construction will include builds of a dozen single-family homes along Hartfold Avenue, which Matt Negron, the director of development for Thrive, said should be on the market by early 2024. Two of the 12 will be donated to the Franklin County Land Bank, which seeks to make owning a home more affordable.
The four-story, 200-unit apartment building dubbed Trace Quarter will take longer to construct, Negron said, and it should be completed by late 2024. Eventually, additional for-sale single-family homes and four-unit condo buildings will be added to the fold.
It comes as numerous developers pursue and expand on construction projects in and around the neighborhood immediately west of downtown Columbus. The Columbus Downtown Development Corporation announced in August $290 million worth of residential and commercial construction at the Scioto Peninsula.
“Obviously, change is tough,” Negron said, but added, “It was necessary when Mount Carmel was leaving.”
Franklinton is also one of two community reinvestment areas — the other being Linden — in Columbus where all real estate developers are incentivized through property tax abatements with fewer strings attached. Unlike other CRAs in the city, residential housing built in Franklinton and Linden can qualify for a 100%, 15-year abatement even if it is not affordable pricing.
Thrive, however, will make 10% of the apartment units affordable to residents who make 80% or less of the city’s median income and 10% affordable to residents who make 100% or less, according to Negron.
