With the demolition of the formerly named Sawyer Towers beginning, Columbus is turning the page on a painful chapter and making the largest single affordable housing investment in Franklin County’s history.
“We are standing on a Christmas morning that holds every broken promise this country has made to Black residents and every opportunity it still has to do better,” said Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley. “The people of the Near East were asked to trust again anyways. We will not waste it this time.”
She made the remarks at a ceremony on May 21 celebrating the beginning of demolition, which kicked off with the removal of the steel top of one of the towers.
The twin buildings in Columbus’ Near East Side neighborhood have been empty since about 200 residents had to evacuate the towers on Christmas Day 2022 due to cascading problems. Water pipes burst and the electricity, heat and elevators stopped working.
Years later, a public-private deal is financing the construction of a 380-unit, six-building affordable apartment complex on the site. Paths Management Services, part of global investment firm Nuveen Real Estate, is developing the project with the help of nearly $50 million in public investment. This includes $17.5 million from voter OK’d city affordable housing bonds and investment from the county, which gave $19 million to two of three affordable housing projects Nuveen is undertaking in Columbus.
Crawley, who was one of the first to respond on Christmas Day to the towers, was instrumental in making the deal with Nuveen, which is building or refurbishing nearly 1,300 affordable housing units across three projects.
She said Near East Side residents around this site have endured decades of broken promises from Columbus leaders. It began in the 1960s when the city used eminent domain to bulldoze a mostly Black neighborhood under the guise of urban renewal to build the towers for public housing.
Over the years, the towers were named the Bolivar Arms, Sawyer Towers and most recently, after being sold by the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority, Latitude Five25. For years, private owners neglected residents’ maintenance requests.
Crawley acknowledged that many residents have positive memories of the lives they built in the towers and that deserves to be honored.
“But nobody should have to claim victory just for surviving their housing,” Crawley said. “The victory we celebrate today is different. It is not residents enduring a broken system. It is a coalition doing what should have been done 60 years ago.”
The affordable apartments planned for the site will be rented to those making 60% or less of the area’s median income. The complex will include community amenities like computer labs and playgrounds, as well as wrap-around services for tenants.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said these apartments will house neighbors who make Columbus work every day, from bus drivers to teachers.
“This property cannot remain a permanent and painful reminder of what went wrong,” Ginther said. “It needs to become part of what this neighborhood demands and deserves moving forward.”
Columbus City Councilmember Tiara Ross, who was an assistant city attorney in 2022 who responded to the towers’ evacuation and worked on the civil case against the owners, said what happened that day was unacceptable. But she said the compassionate community response that emerged is like nothing she’s ever seen.
Near East Area Commission Chair Nathan Harris said the ceremony was an act of acknowledgement and homage to every resident who made a life there.
“We honor the history of this place by refusing to repeat it,” Harris said.
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus’ Sawyer Towers come down after decades of broken promises
Reporting by Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
