Developer seeks $850K from Franklin County for more affordable housing in Merion Village
A busy Columbus developer and property management firm wants to create 46 affordable apartments in Merion Village.
Woda Cooper Cos. Inc. is seeking up to $850,000 from Franklin County's Affordable Housing Magnet Fund for the Columbus Renaissance, a proposed 46-unit complex at 33 W. Morrill Ave., just west of South High Street, according to the county's Economic Development & Planning Department.
The units will be priced for residents who make at or below 60% of area median income, which amounts to $40,000 for a family of two or $50,000 for a family of four, based on 2021 data.
The Franklin County Board of Commissioners will consider the proposed agreement at its meeting Tuesday.
More:Franklin County commits $4 million to affordable housing apartments
Created in 2020, the county's Magnet Fund provides a local incentive for developers to pursue federal low-income housing tax credits and other funding for housing construction and rehabilitation projects. Economic Development & Planning selects projects through a competitive application process that requires developers to get 4% low-income housing tax credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
Every dollar the county provides leverages $11 from private or nonprofit entities, according to the county.
Previous projects include developments at Cleveland and Myrtle avenues in Linden, south of West Broad Street near Lincoln Village and Hilltop, on Lockbourne Road on the South Side and on Reeb and Morrill avenues on the South Side. Of those projects, Woda Cooper was involved in at least three of them, getting a total of more than $2.6 million.
But they aren't the only affordable housing projects Woda Cooper has pursued in recent years. It also has been involved in the following projects:
The Livingston, a 45-unit senior complex, 1567 E. Livingston Ave., which incorporated the façade of the former 1946 movie theater;
134 low-income apartments at an old industrial site at 1826 E. Livingston Ave. in Driving Park;
McKinley Manor, 1048 W. Broad St., a 44-unit, four-story building that will house former YMCA residents 55 and older;
60 affordable apartments for senior residents on a once-blighted site near Westland Mall;
Jenkins Street Lofts, 27 W. Jenkins St., another 60-unit complex, just west of South High Street, near Merion Village.
nshuda@dispatch.com
@NathanielShuda
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County funds sought for Merion Village affordable housing
