Commercial buildings can sit idle for a matter of months or for several years. The longer they sit, the less marketable they become.
And while once a building becomes visibly dilapidated — broken windows, rotted wood, a silent but desperate cry for paint — the city can petition owners to clean up and repair their property, there”s no ordinance governing basic cosmetics.
“If there is a building that”s vacant. It”s private property. We can”t just go onto people”s property, (and) say, ”Hey, you”re building is ugly, You need to fix it,”” said Christina Berry, Columbus city planner.
Portions of Columbus, most noticeably Highway 45 North, are plagued by empty commercial buildings.
There are more than 25 commercial spaces listed for sale or lease at loopnet.com, a commercial real estate site, including freestanding buildings and retail or office space in shopping and other centers; many more idle buildings are not listed there.
“When you”re dealing with a privately owned property, we require it to be maintained. … What you run into is a lot of those business owners are not in Columbus,” Berry said.
Those owners receive letters and, in some cases, summons to hearings, but only in extreme cases can the city step in to demolish an already-crumbling building.
“If the property becomes dilapidated, then we do have the 2006 international maintenance code adopted, requiring them to repair, paint, whatever,” said city building official Kenny Wiegel. “We have to be able to actually see the violations from the public right-of-way, unless we are invited in or obtain a warrant.”
The inspections department depends on inspectors and calls from the public to oversee overgrown lots and dilapidated property.
This year, the inspections department already has sent out more than 300 notices to property owners. Last year”s total was about 500.
“The biggest problem is overgrown lots,” Wiegel noted.
Empty buildings and storefronts are “one of those issues that any city faces,” Berry said, adding, “Anytime you have a storefront that”s empty, it”s more of an economic development issue.”
When incoming retailers, restaurants and other businesses are exploring their location options in Columbus, the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link often starts by showing existing buildings.
“We show them what”s available, as far as available buildings, and if they don”t like what they see, we show them vacant land,” said Brenda Lathan, vice president for economic development for the Link.
Often, the companies already have done their research and know where they want to locate. And many times, it”s more feasible to build new than to renovate an existing property.
Local developer Mark Castleberry has said the city “doesn”t show well” when prospective businesses are visiting, due in part to empty buildings along its main thoroughfare.
“Some of them have some value,” Castleberry said of vacant commercial buildings.
Others, he said, it makes more sense to demolish.
“There”s a significant cost in maintaining a vacant building … It”s a lot easier to mow an empty lot than to maintain (an empty building),” Castleberry said, noting some unused buildings “hurt the neighboring businesses.”
While the city of Columbus demolishes more buildings than any other city in the state, most of them are residential.
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