COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A scaled-down proposal to bulldoze a German Village office building to make way for an apartment complex again faced resistance from community members.
Plans by Columbus-based real estate developer Mershad Development call for the office building at 251 E. Livingston Ave. to be razed for a new four-story housing complex named “Cedar Square.” A collaboration with architecture and design firm Berardi + Partners, Mershad’s proposal received another review by the German Village Commission on Aug. 6.
“Back in 1960, Livingston Avenue was an active street,” the developers said in the proposal. “Our goal is learn from the history of the site and develop a project that supports the current site context.”
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When the plans were first shown to the commission in February, Cedar Square was to include 96 apartments to address “the need for housing that will serve all local business,” the proposal said. Since then, Mershad has continuously scaled back the development, calling for 81 units when presenting to the commission in July and now proposing 68 apartments at the August meeting.
The commission voiced concern during the July meeting for the development’s density, while some members said they wouldn’t support the building’s proposed height and suggested that parts of the structure “should be more architecturally significant.”…