Photo by Walker Evans.

It was revealed that the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) had plans to sell off the Grant Oak Apartments for redevelopment back in August 2016, so it should come as little surprise that the day has arrived for the formal announcement that this project is taking steps forward.

The CML Board of Trustees voted today on a sale agreement with The Pizzuti Companies, which has plans to redevelop the 1.25 acre site into two new buildings with 120 apartment units and first-floor retail space facing Grant Avenue.

“We’re extremely pleased to continue our work with Columbus Metropolitan Library,” statedJoel Pizzuti, president of The Pizzuti Companies. “This is a key site in the Discovery District and will further cement the area as one of our city’s vibrant, walkable neighborhoods.”

The project will complement an adjacent Pizzuti development that was announced last week. That other new building will replace a surface parking lot, and add another 100 units of residential space in a six-story building that also contains ground-floor retail space. There are also large-scale plans for development to the immediate east of the site, where Motorists Insurance Group will begin redeveloping surface parking lots into 256 residential units and 10,000 square feet of retail space.

The impending demolition of the seven-building 130-unit Grant Oak Apartments complex hasn’t been without controversy. The existing apartments represent one of the few moderately-priced options in Downtown Columbus that serves students of the nearby colleges. City leaders have often called for an increase in the number of “workforce housing” units in the central city, and the RFQ for the new project (PDF) only calls for small percentage of units in a new development on this site to be within that defined price range.

Stay tuned to CU for more updates on this development plan.