Explanation
BACKGROUND: Columbus City Council (COUNCIL), by Ordinance No. 2252-2017, passed September 18, 2017, authorized the City of Columbus (CITY) to enter into an Enterprise Zone Agreement (the AGREEMENT) with 93 OHRPT, LLC; Ronald Benderson 1995 Trust & Benderson 85-1 Trust dba Benderson Development Company (ENTERPRISE) for a tax abatement of seventy-five percent (75%) for a period of ten (10) years in consideration of an $8.032 million investment in real property improvements and the creation of twenty (20) new full-time permanent positions with an annual payroll of approximately $700,000 related to the construction of two separate speculative Class A light industrial/flex facilities totaling approximately 267,750 square feet at 6380-6492 and 6530 Tussing Road on parcel numbers 010-200001, 010-007362 and 010-238624 (the PROJECT SITE), in Columbus Ohio, within the Columbus City School District and within the Columbus Southeast Enterprise Zone. The AGREEMENT was made and entered into effective December 11, 2017 (EZA #392-17-01). The AGREEMENT stated that construction on the improvements (the PROJECT) was expected to begin Spring 2018 with all real property improvements expected to be completed by Summer 2019, and that no real property exemption was to commence after 2020 nor extend beyond 2029.
Following a meeting with ENTERPRISE, on August 13, 2019 the CITY received a letter from ENTERPRISE advising of the delay in PROJECT commencement, indicating that they “were now ready to move forward with the redevelopment and plan to prepare the site for the commencement of construction…in March of 2020” and that “the plan is to have these two buildings…completed by December 31, 2020” and so requested that the project commencement date be adjusted to March 2020 and the project completion date be adjusted to December 2020 and to “adjust the effective dates for the tax abatement to run from 2021 to 2030 to meet our new time frames.”
The CITY reported the status of th...
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