Explanation
Background: The Gravity Project 2, LLC (the “Developer”) designed and constructed the mixed-use urban redevelopment project consisting of 189,330 sq. ft. of commercial office, a 257-unit apartment tower, 24 townhomes, and a 105-co-living unit midrise with each of these uses on separate tax parcels (altogether, “Gravity 2”) located along the east side of McDowell Street between Broad and State Streets. Adjacent to Gravity 2, Columbus Housing Partnership, Inc. (“Homeport”) designed and constructed a 50-unit low income housing tax credit project (“McDowell Place”). The Developer committed to dedicate at least two-hundred (200) parking spaces for public use (the “Dedicated Public Spaces”) and another sixty (60) parking spaces for McDowell Place (the “McDowell Place Spaces”) within the eight-hundred eighty-six (886) parking spaces of Gravity 2’s structured parking facility located on the same tax parcel as the apartment tower (the “Parking Facility Project”) if the City would provide a capital grant to pay a portion of the costs of the Dedicated Public Spaces. The Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority (the “CFCFA”) also agreed to issue bonds to pay for the acquisition, design, and construction of the Parking Facility Project, and the City agreed to repay through tax increment financing a portion of the bonds issued on the condition that additional parking spaces beyond the required Dedicated Public Spaces would also be available for general public use.
In order to effectuate these commitments, among others, the City entered into a series of agreements with the aforesaid parties, the Developer’s affiliates who control separate parts of Gravity 2 (the “Developer Affiliates”), and the Gravity II New Community Authority (the “NCA”). Ordinance No. 1732-2019 authorized the City, Developer, and Homeport to enter into an Economic Development Agreement dated September 27, 2019 (the “EDA”). Pursuant to Ordinance No. 0911-2020, the City entered into a Neighbor...
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