Columbus leaders hope a new $40 million housing development will bring more foot traffic and grocery options downtown.
Officials broke ground Thursday east of City Hall. The project will be at the corner of Second Street and Lafayette Avenue.
Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop says the project will add 200 apartments, parking, and an urban grocer.
“A place where you can walk to work, walk to your recreation, and walk to a grocery store. And so the addition of the grocery store as part of this project is really important to us,” Lienhoop said.
Bloomingfoods has been in conversations with the developer Flaherty & Collins for a couple years but has yet to be confirmed as the new tenant.
Lienhoop says the city contributed the land for the project, about $2 million in cash, and a $10 million bond.
“The bulk of the so-called city contribution is a bond that will be repaid by the property taxes generated by the project and that bond does not require the city to be a guarantor,” Lienhoop said.
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The city hopes the project will finance itself.
The project is scheduled to take about a year and a half to complete.
