Expansion Opposition

Expansion of Single Family Homes into Student Dorms

Columbus Dispatch Article

On Monday June 24th, the Columbus Dispatch ran the Front Page story “Neighbors upset as landlords expand houses near Ohio State”

Only here you will find more of the story

Deb spoke with Jin Choi about the property on 404 Wyandotte when Songzhe first purchased the property. Jin told us that she was his interpreter and that he was going to be moving into the property and that we would see some great changes to the property. She stated that he was planning on living in the house after it is rehabbed. Weeks later Deb again spoke with a contractor that worked for Jin, and the contractor stated that the plan was to expand the home into about 5 bedrooms for student rental and that Jin owned many more properties on Indiana as similar projects. This is when we first understood that Jin was not telling us the full truth and we started researching the properties. We indeed did find more houses and other upset neighbors about the trash, noise and parking problems that surrounded these monstrous units. Do a search on her phone number in Google “614-537-2959”

Google Map of House Expansions

Google Map of known properties tied to the group of investors that Jin Choi works with to purchase and expand these properties.

Review of the Dispatch Article

The original article written by Mark Ferenchik of the Dispatch on June 24th, 2013 (see link above for article).

The back wall of a house on Wyandotte Avenue is gone, so the studs and the worn, creaky floor inside are open to the elements.

The back of the house was demolished by two guys in an unmarked van, wearing only painters paper masks for breathing protection. They were on the inside of the house with sledge hammers and knocking outwards the the rear wall. The siding of the house is made from asbestos tiles. The EPA was called out due to flying debris and dust particles from the tiles as they were being hammered off of the house. By the time the EPA arrived on the property, the tile was already loaded into the large yellow dumpster and the dumpster picked up by the trash company. The EPA could not charge the workers as the evidence was gone, except for trace amounts of asbestos fibres found on the property. Before the walls were knocked down a couple months back, the house was gutted and all windows and doors removed back in November. The house sat with no windows all during the winter months, where rain and snow was allowed to settle within. It was only since April when the windows and doors were boarded up, due to vandalism of the copper and heating ducts.

The 103-year-old house in the University District isn’t supposed to be that way for long, though. Last week, mason Joel Rodriguez Jr. was busy laying concrete blocks in a trench to serve as the foundation for an addition.
“Four hundred blocks,” Rodriguez said.
The owner plans to expand the number of bedrooms from three to five, and bathrooms from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2, in an effort to attract more tenants — specifically college students — to a neighborhood of smaller, one- and two-family houses.

The only reason to expand a house to five bedrooms is to attract multiple single renters, like college students. We already have students living in the area, there has never been a need to attract more tenants as all of the properties in the area were over 95% occupied. This was never an area that was hurting for residents. The problem with the increased size is a heavier load on the the utilities, traffic, parking, noise and potential for crime. The house already had three bedrooms and could have been easily rented to a small group of tenants and still be profitable. The history with rental properties that have been expanded to this size has shown to pack many more tenants than the number of bedrooms, in essence treating the tenants as cattle in order to maximize profits. The biggest foreseeable problem will be in the next couple years as OSU expands their on campus living and recall the sophomore student population to live on campus. After the students leave, what happens to these oversized houses. (Hint: see what happened in the Weinland Park area some years back, at a large cost to tax payers to revitalize the area)

Expanding campus-area houses to attract Ohio State University students is nothing new. Yet some residents in the South of Hudson neighborhood are pushing back after several area houses recently have been expanded.
“To me, if you see the community as a fabric, each one of these homes … is (putting) holes in our fabric,” said Deb Supelak, who has owned her E. Maynard Avenue home for 22 years. She and about 20 neighbors met with city officials this month to discuss their concerns. “It’s the destruction of the ‘family feel’ of the neighborhood,” she said.

The expansion is nothing new to the University Area District, but what should be looked into is how different types of expansions have long lasting effects on the neighborhoods. More and more long time residents are leaving because they are tired of the crime and noise that comes along with these large properties.

 There was enough concern that the University Area Commission decided last week to write to Columbus City Council asking for a moratorium on building permits that allow enlarging residential properties in the University District by more than 10 percent.
Commissioner Jim Bach, a Weinland Park resident, said he wants the city to adjust its housing codes to address the issue.
“I would like officials to see how other cities have dealt with this issue,” Bach said.

The moratorium suggestion is to allow time for the upcoming planning review for the University Area Overlay. This moratorium would only apply to large expansions and should not have effect owners looking to make normal expansions.

For now, Columbus officials said that as long as property owners obtain permits and follow code and development standards, they can expand houses without zoning variances.
The zoning code does not address where students can live, said Chris Presutti, the city’s chief zoning official.
Doreen Uhas-Sauer, the area commission’s president, said residents wonder what will happen to these expanded houses in the when Ohio State begins requiring sophomores to live on campus. The first 1,600 beds are to be completed by June 2015, followed by the remaining 1,600 by June 2016.
Some residents say bringing students into a neighborhood already densely packed with residents could lead to more problems with parking, noise and litter. In 2006, Steve Sterrett, then community-relations director for Campus Partners, Ohio State University’s development arm, wrote a memo to city and Ohio State leaders about investors who were buying properties in the northern part of the University District.
“As a result, there has been increasing conflict between students/young people and homeowners/permanent residents over parking, noise, late-night parties, trash and litter,” he wrote.

The development standards need to be reviewed and the follow up on code violations needs to be improved in the area.

Jin Choi of Powell was one of those investors. She said she started buying properties about six years ago because students will always need a place to live.
Choi, who owns four houses in the campus area, said she expanded a house she owns on E. Patterson Avenue and is helping her son expand another on Indiana Avenue. “I want to make the neighborhood really nice and clean,” Choi said.

Jin Choi owns more than four properties in the area, and is part of a larger group of individuals that own multiple properties. Research on the Franklin County Auditor website also revealed that she and others are listed as “owner occupants” on more than one property in the area. I emailed Clarence Mingo asking how many properties can someone be listed as “owner occupant” and the reply was only the residence that a person lives at. Jin lives in Powell, as well as two other individuals in the group. As far as wanting to make a neighborhood really nice and clean, this is complete hog wash. Take a drive past any of these properties, and you will find beer bottles, shopping carts, trash and loud parties. Maybe she can elaborate on what she means to do to help create a nice and clean neighborhood. Recently, Jin received a traffic violation at the corner of Indiana and Tompkins. Disrespect for traffic laws does not show to prove respect for a neighborhood.

Some residents in the Weinland Park neighborhood southeast of campus — one that is undergoing a transformation through public and private efforts — also worry about more student housing.

Weinland Park residents have been working on this issue for some time, and recently heard about what we were experiencing. We have joined forces to find ways to promote responsible building and expansion in the University Area.

Tom Heilman, owner of Hometeam Properties, which rents to students, bought a dilapidated house on E. 11th Avenue that he expanded from three to five bedrooms. “We took chicken poop and made chicken soup out of it,” Heilman said.
He said he has spent about $200,000 on the house, which is across the street from his office.
“I’m just trying to clean up my little world.”

All property managers need to be more proactive in promoting a clean neighborhood. Of course he spent money on the property just across from his office, that would only make good business sense. Not really sure what was meant from the chicken poop comment, will just let that one be.

 

Property Listings of Interest

We are currently researching how many of these properties exist and looking at the crime statistics and neighborhood transformation away from single family renters/occupants. We are noticing that this transformation is happening without any consideration for the long term residents, many of which are deciding to move out to a better neighborhood. This change in the North Campus area is creating a situation similar to what happened in the Weinland Park area which has cost the City of Columbus (you as tax payers) large sums of money to try and revitalize that district. We can learn from the early choices that created the Weinland Park situation and apply the lessons learned to our district before it falls to becoming abandoned properties infested with crime and arson. The concern is with the changes being made by OSU and the quick outflux of single families, that the area in the North Campus will degrade, students will be moving back onto OSU campus (all sophomores by 2015/16). These large rental properties will no longer be available to purchase as single family homes at prices near $250K.

Following is a list of properties currently owned by the group of investors

  • 325-327 CLINTON ST – CHOI JIN & CHOI WOONGCHUL
  • 3224 CRANSTON DR – CHOI JIN K & CHOI WOONG-CHUL
  • 44 E DUNCAN ST – XU SONGZHE
  • 2142 N INDIANA AV – CHOI JONATHAN SOOYOUNG
  • 2354 INDIANA AV – XU SONGZHE
  • 2360 INDIANA AV – KIM MALSON
  • 2392-394 INDIANA AV – CHOI SOOGIE
  • 2416-418 INDIANOLA AV – CHOI JIN
  • 76 W KING AV – CHOI JIN
  • 94-96 MCMILLEN AV – CHOI JIN K & CHOI WOONGCHUL
  • 114 E PATTERSON AV – CHOI JIN K & CHOI WOONG-CHUL
  • 5726 WILLOW CREEK CR – CHOI JIN KOOK
  • 404 WYANDOTTE AV – XU SONGZHE

 

 

 

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