Columbus city officials have announced the developer for a 20 acre project on the Scioto Peninsula. Buckingham Companies, based in Indianapolis, will spearhead a massive construction project that will alter the Franklinton neighborhood.
The project will include up to 1,700 residential units - 10 percent of which will be offered to residents making 80 percent the area median income. Other buildings in the current plan will offer 800,000 square feet of office space, a hotel and store fronts.
But the development will not include two 30-story residential towers that were part of the original proposal.
Steven Schoeny, director of the department of development, says groundbreaking could begin by this time next year.
"[We] really have a development that we think is going to be a fantastic transition between downtown, the riverfront and Franklinton, so we're really excited about it," Schoeny says.
Schoeny estimates the project will take up to 15 years to complete and require hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment. As a part of the downtown community reinvestment area, established in the mid-'90s, the project will receive a 15-year, 100 percent tax abatement upon completion.
Schoeny says the project will be completed in phases. The city must approve the developer's work before they can continue with the following phase.
Project plans are still being finalized and must first gain input from the public and the downtown area commission.
