A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Tuesday for Starling Yard, a new affordable housing community in Columbus' Franklinton neighborhood.
Part of the $32.7 million development includes the old Starling Middle School, which was renovated into an apartment building containing 45 units. Architects worked to preserve some of the historic features of the old school building, including the tin ceilings, flooring, trim and chalkboards. The housing community also includes two new buildings, bringing the total number of apartments to 97 units across the community.
The building was constructed in 1908 and was originally West High School. The school closed in 2013 and was vacant until Woda Cooper Companies purchased it in 2020. The company bought the property without a financing plan and worked for a few years to put a plan together before remodeling and construction began.
Jeffrey Woda, founder of Woda Cooper Companies, said the company didn’t want a real estate developer to come in and demolish the historic building.
“What really piqued our interest was, not only did the school itself lay out well for residential, but there was a pretty good sized piece of land that came with the school that we thought, not only could we turn the school into units, but we could build additional new construction units on the school grounds,” Woda said.
The company was granted a federal tax credit and rents apartments to households that make 30 to 80% of area median gross income. The rents range from $401 to $1,295, depending on income restriction and apartment size . All residents have to be income-certified to live at Starling Yard and occupants have already started moving in, as of a few weeks ago.
“It was a great mix of state, county and local funding opportunities that helped us put the capital stack together to make it come to fruition,” Woda said.