Proposed apartments roughly the length of a football field facing pushback in German Village
After more than a year of revisions and meetings with the German Village Commission, the proposed Cedar Square development could finally face a vote next week.
And a group of German Village residents is making one last push against it.
The proposal from Mershad Development would replace an existing office building and parking lot near East Livingston Avenue and South Sixth Street with a three-story residential development containing around 52 apartments and 61 parking spaces.
It’s also really, really long.
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According to the German Village Society, the development stretches approximately 327 feet from east to west. For perspective, a regulation football field is 300 feet from goal line to goal line — and 360 feet including the end zones.
The project would also create more than 300 feet of continuous building along the historic Blenkner Street, according to a petition opposing the proposal.
The petition, launched by German Village resident Michael Gallaugher, has 419 verified signatures. While some residents don’t want new developments in the historic Village at all, the opposition on the petition isn’t necessarily against developing the site.
“We recognize that the Cedar Square property can and should be developed,” the petition states. “Our objection is not to the development of the site.”
Instead, residents are questioning whether the proposal fits the guidelines governing development in German Village, Columbus’ first historic district.
Opponents point to the project’s three-story height, density, lot coverage and sheer length, arguing that the scale is out of step with the smaller buildings and varied setbacks that define the neighborhood. They have also raised concerns about pedestrian safety, emergency access and traffic along the area’s narrow streets and alleys.
But there’s a bigger concern, too: precedent.
The German Village Society says approving a project that it believes falls outside the district’s established guidelines could make it more difficult for the commission to reject similarly scaled developments in the future. Residents say developers are already looking at properties along Livingston and Thurman avenues.
Cedar Square has already been significantly reduced from earlier proposals, which called for as many as 96 apartments. The current plan has just over 50.
Mershad, meanwhile, disagrees with the idea that the current proposal violates German Village guidelines. At a June commission meeting, Mershad Vice President of Development Kareem Amr said the team felt the project was “well within the guidelines,” particularly after reducing its height and massing.
Now, the commission will have to decide.
The German Village Society Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting Wednesday, Aug. 26, and unanimously voted to oppose the project in its current form. The Society is asking Mershad to make revisions to bring the proposal into compliance with the German Village Guidelines and Columbus Municipal Code.
The German Village Commission is expected to take up Cedar Square Wednesday, Sept. 2, at 4 p.m. at 111 N. Front St., Room 205. Cedar Square is No. 12 on the agenda, so it may not be discussed until later in the meeting.
Residents can submit a speaker slip and have up to three minutes to address the commission.
“Other cities have mountains, lakes, beaches,” German Village resident John M. Clark told 614Now. “Central Ohio has German Village, and it deserves to be protected.”
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