Apartment complex of 10 buildings, 308 units planned for West Main Street
NEWARK − The southwest corner of Newark, near the West Main Street and Thornwood Drive intersection, seems like a popular place for new housing developments.
Vista Residential Partners, based in Atlanta, plans a 10-building, 308-unit apartment complex called Trailhead Vista on West Main Street, between Thornwood Drive and Coffman Road, north of Builders Drive.
It would be adjacent to The Overlook housing development, a 66-lot residential subdivision under construction on the west side of Cherry Valley Road. And, Reddington Village is immediately north of The Overlook.
Trailhead Vista, a 15-acre development, will include nine residential buildings of about 34 units each, and a clubhouse/pool building. The residential structures will be equally divided between one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, 154 of each.
There will be three building designs, all three- and four-story split buildings. The front of the buildings will be three-story, but the rear will have four stories.
The Newark Planning Commission granted conditional approval of the Trailhead Vista site plan with a 5-0 vote Tuesday night.
Scott Hartley, managing director of capital markets for Vista Residential Partners, said the split-story concept incorporates the hilly terrain into the design.
“It’s a way to work with the existing contour of the site,” Hartley said. “We’ve been working on this for quite a while. It’s been a great process, working with the city.”
If all approvals are obtained from the city, Vista could break ground in the summer and open the first building about 14 months later, or late 2025. It will take 24 months to complete the entire complex.
Hartley said the development will help fill a desperate need for the city.
“The city of Newark and central Ohio has a housing shortage,” Hartley said. “The city of Newark hasn’t seen new multi-family (construction) in over 20 years. This is an opportunity to provide new quality housing.”
The housing development will be located less than a mile from the new roundabout under construction at the new intersection of Thornwood Crossing, Thornwood Drive, Reddington and River roads.
It will also be about a quarter mile from Thornwood Drive, about a half mile from Heath, 1.3 miles from Licking Memorial Hospital, 1.5 miles from Ohio 161 and four miles to Ohio 79.
“It’s a really cool view there, a unique piece of property easily tied into the T.J. Evans Trail,” Hartley said. “It’s a unique portion of Newark. With the new (Thornwood Crossing) bridge open, there will be great access to 161 and Intel.”
Intel Corporation expects to possibly begin production in 2027 at its $20 billion computer chip factories under construction just south of Johnstown, with an estimated 3,000 employees. There will be about 7,000 construction workers at the site and its suppliers could employ another 10,000.
Road projects all around
Work on the $15 million Thornwood Crossing bridge project includes construction of a new bridge over Raccoon Creek and the bike path as part of a new roadway to connect Thornwood Drive to Thornwood Crossing, bypassing the deteriorating Showman Arch Bridge on Cherry Valley Road.
Newark City Engineer Brian Morehead told the planning commission West Main Street will get a left turn lane into Trailhead Vista and other upgrades.
Hartley said Vista has about 42 acres under contract, extending from Trailhead Vista west to Thornwood Drive, then north, along Thornwood Drive to The Overlook. He said there are no plans for the remaining land, partially because of road improvements planned for Thornwood Drive.
The city of Newark and the Licking County Transportation Improvement District are working on financing improvements to the Thornwood Drive corridor, including leveling off the hill at Thornwood and West Main, and possibly adding a roundabout at Thornwood and Faye Drive.
“It’ll be determined by what occurs with Thornwood Drive and a traffic study,” Hartley said. “It’s too early. Nobody knows until the traffic study recommendations. It’ll be a (benefit) for our project. Better connectivity.”
The Thornwood project's long-term goal is to create a semi truck-friendly economic development corridor from Ohio 16 to Interstate 70, with vehicles on Ohio 16 exiting onto Thornwood Crossing, traveling on the new roadway to Thornwood Drive, south in Heath to Ridgely Tract Road, then onto Ohio 79 into Hebron and onto Interstate 70.
The corridor could be used by Intel employees coming from the east, TID officials have said.
New housing everywhere
Newark had no new housing construction for a long time, but the last few years new housing is underway or planned all over.
One proposed development, called The Flats, would consist of 170 units, including an unknown mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. It would be located off of North 21st Street, next to Big Kahuna Ozone Laundry and Walmart.
A City of Newark Community Reinvestment Area Housing Survey, prepared by Taft Stettinius & Hollister legal counsel Chris Connelly in October, accompanied The Flats proposal.
It showed the city has 19,800 total housing units, with 55% owner-occupied, well below the county’s 76% rate. Newark’s median home value ($139,900) and median household income ($52,570) are also far below the county medians of $214,700 and $73,325, respectively.
Hartley said the rent for the West Main Street apartments has not yet been determined.
“We’re still figuring out the overall cost, but rents will be in line with the general median income,” Hartley said.
A proposal for a new tiny home community in Newark could help the city combat the rising cost of living while providing housing for low-income families.
Newark’s Look Up Center has proposed a six-unit tiny home village called Grace Landing, next to the Look Up Center, 50 O’Bannon Ave., to provide housing for people facing barriers to renting or owning a home in Licking County.
Another housing development is underway on the north side of River Road, between Park Trails and Redwood Apartment Neighborhoods, where Rockford Homes is building Willow Bend, a 67-lot housing subdivision on 30 acres.
In 2021, overwhelming opposition from the community and Granville school officials halted Corridor Development’s plans to build 322 homes and 180 apartments on 111 acres on River Road within the Granville school district boundaries.
Mid-Ohio Development is building The Condominiums at Deer Valley, a 52-unit complex on King Road, across from Fox Run condos.
And, across from the Licking County Health Department the Mill Creek Olde Orchard Farms ranch-style condos are under construction.
The recent Newark housing surge began in 2021, when the Newark Planning Commission approved the 49-lot first phase of Conor’s Pass, Newark’s first new housing subdivision in 15 years. The entire 113-home subdivision will be on 55 acres, west of Horns Hill Road, between Wildflower and Randy drives.
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: 308-unit apartment complex planned for Newark's West Main Street
