The Reynoldsburg High School Marching Band offered an extended drum roll on Saturday as an excavator began tearing up the facade of the old Kmart at Main Street and Brice Road.
Then the tomatoes started flying – hundreds of them, Reynoldsburg style – and crashing into the soon-to-be-demolished vacant building that is set to become home to a mixed-use, siege-anchored development. National Christian and Family of Churches Missionary Alliance.
Final plans for the region are not yet set in stone and final construction will likely take five to 10 years, but officials hope to include housing, a conference center and a hotel, in addition to Alliance operations and other office space and retail.
“When you come into Reynoldsburg by Main, that’s the first thing you’re going to see,” Reynoldsburg Mayor Joe Begeny said. “…You’re going to see a lot of development here, lots of restaurants, retail, commercial space, we’re going to have a convention center where there’s always something going on. And it will be open to everyone.
Christian and Missionary Alliance:Evangelical Christian denomination behind $200m Reynoldsburg development plan
Begeny joined other Alliance and city officials on Saturday for a festival of sorts in the parking lot of the old Kmart, complete with food trucks, balloons, stilt walkers and a performance by a choir of Ethiopian and Eritrean worship.
The Christian and Missionary Alliance wants to “be the good neighbor”
Alliance President John Stumbo envisions the property as a gathering place for the entire community. The development is called “Alliance Place”.
“We are the back office of a Christian organization that works in 70 countries…” he said on Saturday. “But wherever we go in the world, we always connect with the community, whether it’s a Muslim community, a Buddhist community or a secular community… Although we have our beliefs, we also want to be the good neighbor… When people of faith and people of good will come together for the common good of the city, good things happen.
The Protestant denomination has approximately 24,000 locations and 6.3 million members worldwide, including 2,000 churches and 440,000 members in the United States. Ohio was a natural choice for its transferred national headquarters, with 107 Alliance churches and 40,600 members.
This total includes eight locations and 1,200 members in the Columbus area. And Reynoldsburg is within a day’s drive of more than 700 different Alliance congregations, according to Peter Burgo, director of media relations at the Alliance.
The Alliance based its national headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for more than three decades, but decided it was time to relocate and approach its central operations differently.
“Every Christian organization I know (locates its) offices the same way: you build a building, move our staff in, then lock the doors 40 hours a week,” Stumbo said. “We are an organization whose entire mission is to be there for the people, and yet our staff do not interact with the community when we come to work… Our vision was to challenge the office model for Christian organizations and to scale it to the public so that, naturally, our people engage with a community in a way that benefits both.
Alliance attracted to affordability, diversity of Columbus area
Columbus was one of three finalist cities considered, with a top international airport, more affordable cost of living, and a racially diverse community. Reynoldsburg quickly rose to the top of the list, with the long-vacant Kmart building and city officials excited about the opportunity, Stumbo said.
Town development manager Andrew Bowsher said the property had been empty for about 10 years. A comprehensive plan completed several years ago designated the area for medium to high density mixed-use development, modeled after Grandview Yard in Grandview Heights or Bridge Park in Dublin.
“When we met with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, they bought into our vision and everything we’re trying to do here,” Bowsher said. “And, finally, it will be a magnificent development once it’s done.”
He later added, “It’s the tide that’s going to lift all the boats here in Reynoldsburg. And I think all of the new housing that we’re bringing in, all of the commercial development that we’re working on, that stems from the growth of what it’s going to be.
Begeny said: “You had to start there. It was the first step in a long journey to ensure that all of Brice Road is revitalized.
Construction at the Reynoldsburg site will begin in 2022
The Alliance has already purchased nearly 11 acres, including the former Kmart building. And Bowsher said the largest mixed-use area could be just over 20 acres, factoring in a planned new library branch to the south.
Robb Childs, relocation assistant for the Alliance, said demolition and other work at the site will progress in the coming weeks, with construction expected to start in 2022 and potential occupancy in late 2023 or early 2024.
A first phase is expected to cost between $25 million and $30 million and will likely include the construction of a multi-storey L-shaped building off Brice Road, with a cafe and other retail on the main level.
Stumbo and other members of the Alliance administration have already moved to central Ohio and will operate out of temporary offices until the new building is constructed.
Reynoldsburg hosted its annual Tomato Festival earlier this month, a nod to Alexander W. Livingston, a native son who, in the late 1800s, developed a commercially viable (and tasty) tomato.
Hence the throwing of tomatoes on Saturday and the relative brevity of the remarks prepared by the mayor.
“No one is here to listen to me,” he joked. “We want to throw tomatoes!”
@OhioCapitalBlog
Comments are closed.