City officials Wednesday moved forward plans to develop the former site of the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Columbus’ west side.
Columbus Plan Commission members signed off on a request by Midland Atlantic Properties for approval of a major subdivision preliminary plat at 2480 W. Jonathan Moore Pike near Interstate 65, known as the former site of the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center.
Members also approved two modifications to the subdivision control ordinance related to the proposed development, but denied a third partly because of access concerns from the fire inspector.
The subdivision will create seven lots and one common area totaling 20.73 acres. Four of the commercial lots are proposed to have frontage on both State Road 46 and Jonathan Moore Pike, as well as a proposed internal subdivision street, to be known as Gateway Trail.
The applicant is also planning to reroute the People Trail nearby to the southwest, which will ultimately be subject to review by the city’s parks board and board of works.
The potential development of the former Clarion site marks the latest turn of events after Columbus Regional Health bought the property in 2017 for $4.25 million. The hotel structure was demolished shortly after Columbus Regional Health (CRH) purchased the property. Initially, CRH had plans for a mixed-use development on the site but those plans have since fizzled out. The property has been vacant since then.
The matter was continued from the plan commission meeting last month to give the applicant more time to address a number of comments by planning staff and the commission.
Since that time, the applicant requested three modifications to the zoning ordinance as part of the development, related to the length of what will be a permanent dead-end street in Gateway Trail, another to allow a hammerhead turnaround design at the end of the Gateway Trail, instead of the required cul-de-sac design, and the final modification to allow a portion of Johnson Boulevard to be developed without sidewalks.
Plan commission members denied the modification related to the hammerhead turnaround in part because the city fire inspector in the staff report said the maneuverability of fire equipment would be challenging once the development is fully built out.
Each modification needs to meet five different criteria to get approved, and commission members found that the hammerhead modification didn’t meet one criteria that states a proposed modification must be needed because of physical conditions on site. Midland representatives said they sought the hammerhead design instead of a cul-de-sac because of cost considerations.
As part of the major subdivision preliminary plat approval, planning staff is requiring a number of minor revisions, including that the hammerhead design be redrawn as a cul-de-sac.
The site has been vacant for so long in part because of the many challenges on site, including those related to infrastructure. Midland representatives also confirmed that there is an ongoing discussion about the city providing a grant to support infrastructure costs related to the site’s development.
The preliminary plat includes a map with seven lots, ranging in size from 1.12 acres to a larger 8.03-acre lot to the west, which officials indicated would be more of a challenge to develop because of flooding issues.
Three of the eastern six lots are less than 2 acres, while the remaining are 2.02 and 2.79 acres respectively, according to city documents. The property has portions in the 100- and 500-year floodplain.
During an interdepartmental review, Columbus City Utilities staff expressed concern about the initial placement of proposed utilities, which the applicant was able to rectify in the past month.
Parks staff said flooding on the People Trail will likely continue and possibly get worse after development, saying they would work with the developer to make sure that’s addressed. Part of the trail located in an easement will need to be raised, parks staff said.
Midland representatives said they had been with the officials from planning, engineering and parks in the past month to talk through the those details.
Notably, the property is located within the Columbus Front Door Overlay Zoning District, meaning the development of each of the proposed lots will be subject to plan commission discretion later on.
Sam Boyle, development manager at Midland, said they don’t have solidified plans for the property, but indicated that they have proposals where they would retain ownership of the lots after development and others where they would just sell them off.
While Columbus Regional Health System Services LLC is still listed as the property’s owner, CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue previously told The Republic that CRH’s intent is to sell the entire plot to Midland.
Midland Atlantic Properties has offices in Indianapolis and Cincinnati and owns and fully leases Columbus Crossing Shops at 2075 West Jonathon Moore Pike, with tenants including Buffalo Wild Wings, Verizon Wireless, Heartland Dental, among others, according to it website and public real estate records.
However, the company sold the properties now housing McAlister’s Deli and Panda Express on the city’s west side, as well as the properties housing WellNow Urgent Care and Valvoline Instant Oil Change on National Road.