The massive Hoster Brewing Co. complex, which has loomed over the Brewery District for more than a century, is set to be reborn as a hotel, offices, shops, residences and restaurants.

The state awarded $5 million in historic preservation tax credits on Wednesday that will allow the McCabe Cos. to begin the $70 million project.

"This is the last piece of the puzzle to make this happen," developer Dwight McCabe said during an announcement of the tax credits in one of the Hoster buildings.

The Hoster project was the only Columbus redevelopment project to receive credits. Statewide, 28 projects involving 49 old buildings were awarded credits totaling $28 million.

"We're helping bring to life the sites that make Ohio unique," said Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, which administers the tax credit program.

Although the Hoster complex is the only central Ohio recipient of a tax credit in this round, it is by far the largest of the 28 projects. The development includes 245,000 square feet across eight buildings that date from roughly 1887 to 1967.

McCabe paid $6.44 million for the property in January 2018 and unsuccessfully sought tax credits for the redevelopment last year. According to his application for state tax credits, he has commitments for $58 million in private financing and a $49 million loan from First Financial Bank.

The cluster of buildings, at the southwest corner of West Fulton and South Front streets, became the largest of the Brewery District's several breweries until Prohibition killed the industry in 1920. The buildings subsequently served a variety of functions, including "warehouses, rug weaving, a chair factory, bag and burlap cleaning, paper box factory, ice making, printing companies, a haunted house, Wasserstrom’s furniture and equipment showrooms, and eventually offices," according to the architectural firm Schooley Caldwell, which is working on the project.

"There are a lot of buildings here, all slammed together," said Schooley Caldwell President Robert Loversidge, who estimated that the eight buildings have at least 30 floor levels.

McCabe said his company hopes to start construction on the project by the end of the summer.

The first step will be removing the 1960s-era Wasserstrom building along Front Street. That will be replaced by a seven-story hotel with 115 to 125 rooms and ground-floor restaurants. The hotel will continue the style of the existing buildings, said McCabe, who added that he is working with a potential operator of the hotel.

"We'll embrace the industrial nature of the building," he said.

The first phase of the project, which McCabe hopes to finish by early 2021, will also include offices and industrial loft-type apartments.

The second phase will include offices and apartments in an existing building behind the hotel building. McCabe said he also will seek tax credits for that phase.

A third phase could include a new office, residential and parking tower, he said.

Also receiving historic tax credits is a $1.4 million plan to renovate the Holland Theatre in Bellefontaine.

Developers applied for tax credits for 46 projects in this round. The state awards about $30 million in credits twice a year for the redevelopment of old buildings.

jweiker@dispatch.com

@JimWeiker