Path to Fort Rapids redevelopment hinges on city funding
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A California developer wants to turn the former Fort Rapids water park site into affordable housing, but says it will require public incentives. Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
The abandoned Fort Rapids water park property on Columbus' east side is moving closer toward an affordable housing project, but a potential buyer and developer says he'll need city incentives to finalize a deal.
Why it matters: Since being ordered to close in 2016 due to code violations, the site has been declared a public nuisance and called a blight on the area.
- The city has attempted to find a new owner and a use for the 16.5-acre space off Hamilton Road.
Driving the news: Last week, a Franklin County judge appointed Dublin's New Perspective Asset Management receiver of the property, allowing the company to secure and maintain it while legal proceedings continue.
Flashback: Fort Rapids opened in 2006 amid an indoor water park craze as a 60,000-square-foot attraction with more than 300 hotel rooms, conference space and meeting rooms in an attached Holiday Inn and Suites.
- With low occupancy rates, the property was put on the market two years later, kicking off a series of sales that would continue until California investor Juzi Cui (also known as Jizi Cui) bought the site for $2.5 million in 2017.
- Before it could be redeveloped, Cui died in 2019 without a will. That led associate Jeff Oh Kern to assert himself as the presumptive beneficiary, though he is not legally considered the owner of the property.
Catch up quick: This summer, a judge ordered his arrest after he failed to appear in local environmental court. He has remained in California.
- California investor and developer Maxwell Drever has worked for years to buy and redevelop the property. He had been in talks about a purchase agreement earlier this year.
- But in October, the hotel building was severely damaged in a fire, pausing the plans as damage was assessed.
State of play: A path forward may be emerging.
- The property being handed to a receiver "really helps" a potential sale and redevelopment, according to NAI Ohio Equities vice president Dan Sheeran, who listed the property in 2018, found Drever and has overseen the sales process.
- "This allows for the funded clean up and securing of the site, which benefits all parties," he tells Axios. "The buyer can continue his due diligence without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the site."
The latest: Drever is "thrilled" to hear the receivership news, telling us he's walked away from previous development projects due to damage caused by vandals.
- He's "encouraged that adult supervision is going to be brought to the site."
What's next: If a sale can be negotiated, Drever wants to build over 300 affordable housing units.
Yes, but: Drever says he needs Columbus' help in the form of incentives or grants to make the project financially feasible.