Touchstone Field

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/05/10/south-columbus-affordable-housing-ymca-residents.html 2023/05/10 New affordable housing on the south side of Columbus will serve Central Ohioans recovering from addiction or who were formerly homeless. Touchstone Field Place, located at 2565 Lockbourne Road, has 56 units of permanent supportive housing from the Community Housing Network. A second phase is slated to begin later this year, pending funding from the city of Columbus. The second phase would have 44 units. Touchstone serves as a new home for some of the men who were previously housed at the downtown YMCA. That facility closed in 2022 and is set to be redeveloped into workforce housing by the Columbus Downtown Development Corp., its new owner. The downtown building had served 100,000 men coming out of rehabilitation programs or recovering from homelessness since 1924. Samantha Shuler, CEO of Community Housing Network, said other Touchstone residents have come from shelters. CHN works to connect residents with benefits and healthcare, support for job readiness and life skills. A case manager from the YMCA is on-site Monday through Friday at Touchstone. "Typically, folks who are homeless need support and housing. If we take care of stable housing, they can rebuild those other support networks themselves," Shuler said. Residents stay with CHN five years on average, Shuler said. Units are subsidized, so residents pay what they can. The nonprofit has 1,400 units throughout Franklin County. Carolyn Ford, the first person to move into the apartments, said she came from Nancy's Place, Faith Mission's women's shelter. "My favorite thing is just having my own place," Ford said. "My journey was rough and bumpy until I got here." 'The hardest project' Shuler described Touchstone as "the hardest project" CHN has ever done. Columbus City Council voted 4-3 to rezone the site in 2020, despite some neighborhood pushback. The project did secure tax credits to help with financing. Shuler said community support for affordable housing is stronger today, but it is more difficult to do with current economic conditions. "We closed (on the site) during the pandemic, but the start was delayed because lumber prices wouldn't settle," Shuler said. "We had all of these people relying on us, so we needed to finish." "Finding land and labor are challenges, and costs increasing make projects more difficult," she said ______________________________________________________________ Plans call for a 3 story, 100 unit apartment complex. It will be built in 2 phases; the first phase will consist of 56 units and the second phase will consist of 44 units. As of July 15, 2022, this project is in final design stages. Information regarding a construction timeline has not been confirmed. *Project information, including timeline and contacts, has been obtained through public sources. The content management team continues to pursue additional details; however, the contact(s) listed have yet to disclose or confirm any information. Inquiries should be directed to the contact(s) listed.

3 Stories Above Grade, New Construction, New Construction.

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