The project rebuilt underground infrastructure, and transformed the road for two-way traffic while adding elements to enhance the appeal to residents, visitors and businesses, Franklin City Manager Jonathan Westendorf said.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“It sells the entire project short just to say it’s a beautification project. It is not,” Westendorf said. “It’s truly a transformation project that is designed for new residential living in our downtown, new commercial, new restaurants.”
Its completion followed the closing of a deal to bring a new brewery. The $3.5 million project for a 150-seat business expected to be a downtown draw when it opens at Sixth Street and Riley Boulevard, where Ohio 73 and Ohio 123 meet.
The redevelopment projects followed Franklin officials designating the entire city a New Community Authority, or NCA, Westendorf said.
NCAs allow cities to raise revenue through a community development charge, according to state law.
The city also annexed the 19.66-acre Dial Park from Franklin Twp. The move gives Franklin side-by-side outdoor recreation areas with Community Park across Ohio 123.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Residents are upbeat about “the direction the community is going, everything downtown, the parks, new development, business growth. A lot is going on in the city,” Franklin Mayor Brent Centers said.
More is expected in 2025. That includes:
• A second effort at landing a $25 million federal grant to pay for much of its $47 million Great Miami River development plans.
Ohio projects awarded funds this year included one to reconnect Toledo’s historic neighborhoods. It received $19.1 million to build about 4,184 feet of a one-mile multi-use path as part of the Glass City Riverwalk project, federal records show.
Franklin officials met with Toledo Metroparks staff about how to improve their odds of being awarded a grant. Franklin is working with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office on forming a coalition between Butler, Montgomery and Warren counties, city records show.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
• Approving new guidelines to improve business growth from downtown to the city limits along Ohio 123, Ohio 73 and Dixie Highway.
The three roads are the focus of a development moratorium that was recently extended into mid-April.
“The city needs time to study and evaluate the types of public infrastructure, building improvements and land uses that are best-suited for the targeted corridors,” Franklin records state.
• Slipcast Brewing starting construction on its site. Plans call for an 8,000-square-foot building and 32 parking spaces.
The business will be in a Franklin Community Reinvestment Area the city approved earlier this year. The area provides tax exemptions for up to 15 years, city records show.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Slipcast is in a tax increment financing district that requires it to make annual payments, according to an agreement the city approved in August.
Slipcast’s locating in Franklin “is going to be a big development” and is expected to be “the talk all next year” in the city, Centers said.
Centers said he expects the business to break ground early next year.
• Construction of a roundabout on Ohio 123. The $2 million project is expected to start in the spring and be finished in December, said Mandi Dillon, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The roundabout will be built in front of Franklin High School and realign the Community Park entrance, Dillon said.
It will also extend the existing sidewalk up to the school and add a crosswalk with rapid flashing beacons, she added.
The state route will be closed for 120 days. The closing is not yet scheduled, but will likely occur in the summer, Dillon said.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The Main Street project was a milestone for the city that followed a widespread change in downtown zoning districts, Westendorf said.
“We have a master plan that we put together to kind of bridge that gap from where our existing buildings from the 1880s exist while at the same time creating space for new construction to blend into that,” Westendorf said.
“From a restoration, preservation perspective, we have created the opportunity for new construction to come in and complement the existing historic nature of our downtown,” he added. “I think that is going to give us a very strong competitive edge.”
The project’s completion ended a series of road closings that were headaches for motorists, but necessary for downtown’s revitalization, Centers said.
“We told everybody we’d do it in one year, and we did it exactly in one year,” Centers said. “It was a tight timeline, but we wanted to rip the Band-Aid off.
“It was better than dragging the project over two-and-a-half years, which is probably what the project should have taken,” he added. “But we didn’t want it to be inconvenient for multiple years. We made one very, very strategic plan and stuck to the plan (and) got it done in 12 months.”
Next year, Ohio 123 drivers will experience similar issues as the roundabout is built, Centers said.
The work “is going to be as inconvenient for those traveling regularly on 123 as the downtown was for those traveling in downtown in the last year,” he said.
“It’s going to require some patience,” Centers added. “It’s going to ultimately be a huge relief to all that traffic.”
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