$300 million Whittier Peninsula project lands state grant for brownfield cleanup
Jim Weiker | Columbus Dispatch | Aug 16th, 2024 12:28pm EST
The state has awarded $10 million to help clean up a former industrial site on the Whittier Peninsula, paving the way for a $300-million apartment development on the Brewery District site.
The money is part of $107 million awarded through the Ohio Brownfield Remediation Program to help clean and redevelop 61 contaminated sites in 22 counties.
The $10 million will be used to clean a 16.5-acre site on the Whittier Peninsula formerly used as a rail and scrap yard, according the state.
The cleanup will allow Zimmer Development Co. of Wilmington, North Carolina, to proceed with its plans to build an apartment complex consisting of three seven-story buildings, each with 250 to 320 apartments, along with 5,000 square feet of amenity space and 350 parking spaces on the buildings’ first two levels.
“The Whittier Peninsula development will transform a contaminated site into desirable apartments, as well as open greenspace, trails and greenways, which will be open to the public and complementary to the park,” Zimmer Development Co. Managing Partner Landon Zimmer said in a news release. “The high demand for housing in Columbus is only growing, and our project will help fill that demand.”
Zimmer bought the property for $9.5 million from CSX Transportation two years ago after the city agreed to rezone the site. The property sits immediately south of an industrial building and next to the Scioto Audubon Metro Park and includes a strip along the railroad tracks under Interstate 70/71.
The industrial building includes several users, including a new Nocterra Brewing Co. taproom and restaurant. The Dublin design company Roto has also announced plans to open an “experimental museum” this year on the site.
Zimmer said in a news release that it is working with the Audubon Center on the peninsula “to consider sustainable elements to the design, including green roofs, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, bioretention ponds, reflection pools, and community meadows as part of the approximately 10 acres of usable green space that will be open to the public.”
The company also said the property’s 1.5 miles of trails and greenways will be open to the public and will connect with the adjacent 119-acre Scioto Audubon Metro Park.
The Columbus-Franklin County Metro Parks board, which opposed Zimmer’s plan, adopted a policy in 2022 in response to the plan on how and when it will approve easements or sell property through park land. Zimmer has proposed helping to fund a new bridge linking the site to the rest of the Brewery District following concerns over limited access to the site.
Work has already started on site cleanup. A Zimmer representative said the company plans to start construction next year on the development.
The Whittier Peninsula site is the largest of nine central Ohio projects to receive cleanup funds from the state. Others include:
Central Ohio projects receiving cleanup funds
- 800 King Ave., $4.8 million, to clean a 12.5-acre site now occupied by National Electric Coil for future development
- Barthman Family Apartments on West Bartham Avenue, $5.3 million, to clean contaminants, including heavy metals, to allow the construction of 208 affordable apartments
- Ohio National Bank, 167 S High St., $1.7 million, to remove asbestos from the building, allowing it to be redeveloped into commercial and residential use
- Knights of Columbus/Boys & Girls Club, 80 S. 6th St., $1.9 million, to remove asbestos from the building, allowing it to be redeveloped into 72 apartments
- The Civic, 145 S. Front St., $5.2 million to remove asbestos and mold, allowing the former Ohio Department of Job and Family Services building to be redeveloped into offices, residences and a restaurant
“These grants will take hazardous properties and turn them into valuable economic assets for residential and commercial development,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted in a news release. “I am hopeful these sites will serve to provide new businesses, new jobs, and new homes for the next generation of Ohioans.”
jweiker@dispatch.com
@JimWeiker