Landing an $800,000 tax credit to turn the First National Bank and Trust building into a business, retail and apartment center was good news in so many ways for Lima:
• It is the first time the Ohio Housing Finance Agency backed the city’s plans for renovation of a historic building. The hope is that future projects will have a better chance of securing tax credits now that Lima has made it onto the agency’s radar screen.
• A 90-year-old downtown landmark that has sat idle for nearly a quarter of a century will now become a huge part of a continued downtown renovation that already includes several restaurants, a hotel, the YMCA, a new Lima Senior High School, a renovated stadium and a parking garage. A likely addition of a Rhodes State University satellite campus is also in the works as is a new headquarters for Dominion gas.
• The project also will offer much needed housing opportunities for local college graduates who are being recruited by employers to work and live in the region.
• And local construction jobs will be generated as the 12-story building, constructed in 1926, is turned into a modern facility.
The renovation will happen quickly, beginning in April and taking just over a year. The plan is to have tenants moving in by the summer of 2018. There will be 47 housing units, including some with three bedrooms. Ten of the units will be available at the “market rate” while the others will be based on income, from low to moderate.
The first floor or lobby will have 9,000 square feet of commercial space for business ventures, such as a restaurant or retail. The next two floors will be office space. The housing units will take up the rest of the space.
Lima city officials deserve credit for their vision in working with the Woda Development Group to make this project happen. Woda, based in Westerville, is the fourth-largest affordable home developer in the nation. The $800,00 tax credit for Woda adds to $500,000 the city received in a federal HOME grant.
The building is currently owned by Town Square Center, a company formed by Michael J. O’Connor of Lima, but Woda has signed an intent to purchase agreement. The building is valued at $142,000 now, but expect that number to change dramatically after the project is complete.
Revitalization in any town is a slow process that takes diligence. Looking back at what’s been done in Lima, and looking ahead at what is planned, provide reasons for city residents to be proud.
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