Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said the city has put up money for preliminary work to be done to the site, trucking away years of old bricks and foundations from past buildings.
“This specific project to do all of the site work is about $340,000,” he said.
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That work will take about 30 days and needs to be completed before construction of the townhomes can begin.
The townhomes will be about 1,300 square feet and will cost about $200,000 — but future homeowners will also have a 15-year property tax exemption.
The $8 million project is being undertaken by Charles Simms Development. The firm has constructed 118 units in downtown Dayton over the last five years, and Springfield’s development will be similar to those with slight modifications.
“Housing is the key,” Charles Simms, president of Charles Simms Development, said. “Once you have the people living in areas, then everything else comes. It’s not the other way around.”
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According to information on the developer’s website, each townhome will be three stories.
“(The floor plan) will feature an attached garage and first floor foyer, bonus room rear load garage and front door entry. The popular open truss ceiling will be a standard feature throughout the entire second floor, a powder room and large dine in kitchen island, large kitchen pantry, dining room, and living room all within steps that makes for an entertaining living level,” the company says.
Heck said 2019 will be a momentous year for the downtown area.
He said in about a month or so, the city will also be breaking ground on the new downtown parking garage.
The project has been discussed for several years as a way to provide additional parking downtown as the city works to attract more retail and business to the city center.
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The site at the corner of Fountain Avenue and Columbia Street is now a city-owned parking lot. The plan is to build a two- to three-story structure with between approximately 275 to 325 parking spaces, city officials said previously.
Simms has a goal of putting down the first townhome’s foundation by late spring or early summer of this year — and by the end of the 2019, he’s hoping to have a model townhome completed and ready for people to see.
He said he’d ideally like to have 15 of the townhomes completed in 2020 and the remaining units constructed by 2021.
Anyone with questions or potential interest in the development can go to the developer's website.
The townhome project is a partnership between The Turner Foundation, SpringForward and the City of Springfield.
$8M — cost to construct downtown townhome development
$340K — money City of Springfield has put up for preliminary site work
$200K — average price of each townhome
34 — number of townhomes to be constructed
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