The Columbus Metropolitan Library has announced plans to sell multiple plots of land that will become affordable housing on the city’s Near East Side.
The library is selling a total of two acres north of its Shepard Branch for $480,000 to Homeport, a local nonprofit affordable housing developer. The land is located on the corner of North Nelson Road and Ridgeway Avenue.
The proceeds from the sale of the land, which the library bought in 2013 for the branch construction, will go to the library’s capital projects fund. Construction of the Shepard Branch was completed in 2016.
The sale comes after the library requested proposals for affordable housing construction on the land from developers last October.
The plan is to use the property on the east side of Nelson Road, around 1.6 acres, to build 26 homes for sale, according to Homeport, which will work with community organizations to design the developments. The other acres, about 0.4 on the west side of Nelson Road, will be used for 25 apartments for rent.
In May, the library’s board of trustees approved a recommendation from library officials to accept Homeport’s proposal for the land. The library hopes to finalize the sale in the coming months, according to a library news release announcing the plan.
“We’re excited to work on this project and provide more affordable housing,” Leah F. Evans, Homeport president & CEO, said in the release. “We credit Columbus Metropolitan Library for thinking broadly about the community’s needs.”
Columbus and central Ohio have a well-documented lack of affordable housing. Statewide, 264,000 more units of housing are needed in Ohio, according to a March report by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).
Other development planned near Shepard Branch
Columbus’ Near East Side around the Shepard Branch library has other developments coming, also related to the library.
“We believe this location is prime for redevelopment,” Columbus Metropolitan Library CEO Lauren Hagan said in the release. “It presents a unique opportunity to meet a critical community need — more affordable housing.”
Beyond housing, the library system announced in February that it is partnering with the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department to create an interactive park on a portion of the Alum Creek Trail alongside the Shepard Branch library.
The park will highlight the area’s historical significance as part of the Underground Railroad that helped Blacks flee slavery in the South.
Underserved Communities Reporter Danae King can be reached at dking@dispatch.com or on X at @DanaeKing.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Homeport to buy Columbus library property on East Side to build affordable housing
Reporting by Danae King, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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