A proposed $192 million development that includes a 26-story residential tower next to the North Market is being built over the site of a former graveyard of some early residents of Columbus.

David Karlak, 55, an East Side resident who has done extensive research about the site because a relative is buried there, wanted to make sure someone spoke up for the departed. That's why he attended a July 22 Columbus City Council meeting and spoke before the council approved the project in a 6-1 vote.

The city has agreed to the multifaceted development on the parking lot area outside North Market in exchange for paying North Market $300,000 per year in perpetuity.

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Karlak reminded the council that the North Market parking lot was once the site of the North Graveyard, the first official burial grounds in the city. The city's second mayor, John Kerr, is believed to be among those buried there since he donated land for the cemetery. And Karlak said his great-great-great-great grandmother, Magdelena Lehmann, who came from Germany, was buried there in 1833.

There is no question about the existence of the old North Graveyard, which was operated at the site from 1813 until the 1870s. Details about the graveyard are featured in a historical work, "Columbus City Graveyards," by Donald M. Schlegel, which was published in 1985.

The development of railroads and other buildings on the north end of Downtown overran the cemetery, which led to most of the remains being transferred to Green Lawn Cemetery.

But many unmarked graves were likely left behind, according to historical and archaeological experts. In May 2001, construction workers digging a trench for a sewer uncovered human bones next to the market at Spruce and Wall streets.

The city's Department of Development referred all questions about the old North Graveyard and the project to the developers. The Ohio Historic Preservation Office has jurisdiction, said Cynthia Rickman, spokeswoman for the department.

Michael Schiff, founder and president of the Schiff Capital Group, which is developing the new North Market project along with Rockbridge Capital and The Wood Cos., said the developers will "do the right thing" if human remains are found.

"Our plan is to respectfully handle that situation in respect to how it manifests itself," Schiff said.

The Tampa Bay Times recently revealed through the use of ground-penetrating radar that there were 120 coffins likely buried underneath an apartment complex in Tampa. That land had been the site of Zion Cemetery, a burial ground for African Americans during the segregation era around 1901. But the cemetery disappeared when the land was repurposed for developments for white people.

Lawhon & Associates of Columbus has been retained by the developers to do archaeological work on the site. Justin Zink of Lawhon & Associates said he anticipates they will find graves and that their initial work will be to determine "what the number might actually be."

Lawhon & Associates probably will use ground-penetrating radar when they examine the North Market parking lot site, Zink said.

It might be about a year before developers break ground on the project, which is to include a 26-story residential tower, 90,000 square feet of office space, a 200-room boutique hotel, a four-story parking garage and an 11,000-square-foot expansion of the North Market.

Karlak said he does not oppose the project. He said it's apparent the Ohio Revised Code requires that bodies must be removed after a cemetery is closed. He said he just wants to ensure that bodies that might be underneath the current North Market parking lot are properly exhumed and reburied before the tower's foundation is poured.

"If they do it right, I don't care if they let them build it 20 stories taller," Karlak said. "Let the archaeologists do the excavation the way it should be done."

When construction crews found bones in 2001, Weller & Associates, an archaeological and architectural firm, was hired.

There were eight nearly intact skeletons and fragments from up to 30-plus other bodies found then, said Ryan Weller of the Weller & Associates firm. The remains were moved to the Green Lawn Cemetery.

From his research, Weller said he believes the tower's site would be around the middle of the old North Graveyard. He said his work in 2001 took more than three months to complete, so it's likely it would take longer to excavate and exhume remains from the site now.

"When you are excavating cemeteries," Weller said, "expect the unexpected."

jwoods@dispatch.com

@Woodsnight