A development at The Ridges promises hundreds of new housing units
By: Charlie Ihlenfeld
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – With historic buildings unused and eroded by the elements, The Ridges have been stuck in limbo for Athens and Ohio University. But not for much longer.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, Community Building Partners plans to construct 256 units of housing and about 750 dwellings within those to serve between 1,700 and 2,000 people.
On June 16, the state Controlling Board approved the transfer of The Ridges property partially to the community developer. While Ohio University will retain some properties for its use, Community Building Partners will seek to develop housing of all kinds.
Senior housing, artisan/creative live-work housing, affordable housing for income-eligible graduate students, market-rate housing and commercial space are provided in the vision for the future of The Ridges.
“It was a recognition of how significant and compelling this issue is,” said Joe Recchie, CEO of Praxia Partners, about the decision by the Controlling Board. Praxia operates Community Building Partners.
The Ridges have been a large project for Ohio University to handle. When the 2015 Ridges plan was developed by the university, it hoped to be able to use the property to work with the local community and capitalize on the financial opportunities. Since the plan was authored, the university has invested $30 million into the buildings at The Ridges.
This allowed for renovations to several buildings for the university’s use and other projects like the Ohio Observatory and Ohio Museum Complex. But Athens’ strong commitment to the historical nature of the buildings and their preservation made work difficult.
“Regardless of what the university decided to do with the buildings, it would have been expensive,” said James Kaufman, director of real estate at Ohio University. Environmental damage has impacted buildings, a significant concern for residents.
“There’s big holes in the roof,” said Spjeldnes. “Which means obviously all this rain is going through and creating more damage.”
Recchie was unable to provide an exact timeline on the historical preservation efforts.
Seventy-seven percent of the property will remain under a conservation easement to protect local hiking, birdwatching and research for the land.
Recchie said the focus will be on new homeownership at the beginning of the project. He believed it could be the first site for new homes under a $2 million grant the city of Athens received from the state to build affordable housing.
Housing for artists and graduate students is part of the appeal for the university and the city.
“One of the challenges that we find when we hire someone new (is) it’s hard to find and it’s expensive to find housing in Athens,” said Kaufman. Athens City Council has been working to tackle this issue, and Councilmember Spjeldnes echoed Kaufman about the importance of the project and affordable housing in Athens.
“You can’t recruit people if there’s no place to live,” said Spjeldnes. “We want to support those efforts wherever we find it reasonable.”