MOUNT VERNON – According to Ariel Foundation Director Jen Odenweller, the upper-level apartment spaces being renovated on the southeast corner of S. Main St. and Gambier St. will be used exclusively by three major community institutions upon completion.
Knox Community Hospital, Mount Vernon Nazarene University and Kenyon College will own the apartments after the project is finished. Kim Rose, of Cornerstone Commerce Centre LLC (which owns the building), said the goal is for construction to be complete by the end of 2019.
While administrators for the three institutions are not yet sure how the 16 apartments will be divided up, they are sure that the new space will benefit a specific, common need between them: upscale transitional housing.
For Kenyon, the apartments will be used to house two types of faculty: those who are working at the university short-term, for one or two years, and long-term employees who need a place to live while searching for their own home.
Kenyon already has a small apartment complex on the north side of Gambier which has 16 apartments used for that purpose, Chief Business Officer Mark Kohlman said. But the complex was built in the 1950s and could use renovation itself. By acquiring space in downtown Mount Vernon, just five miles from campus, Kenyon could move incoming faculty there while renovating its old complex.
And afterwards, Kenyon would have two newly renovated transitional living spaces, nearly doubling its overall space. This would be helpful, Kohlman said, as the college hires 15-30 new faculty members per year.
“It’s beneficial – first, because it increases the number of units that we have total, and second, it also gives us an opportunity to let us work on our existing units,” Kohlman said.
While MVNU officials could not be reached for comment on how the university plans to use the space, Odenweller implied it would mirror Kenyon’s plan. It is unclear whether or not MVNU currently has housing for transitional faculty, however.
Knox Community Hospital will use the apartments like Kenyon and MVNU, for transitional use, except it will instead offer the space to physicians and medical providers. Jeff Scott, KCH Director of Marketing and Development, said last week that short-term providers could use the space, as well as employees who are on-call for weekends or overnight hours.
Scott said the hospital is excited about the prospect of increasing its presence downtown during its time of growth. He added that, as KCH looks to recruit and hire additional providers in the future, “this could be a place for them to live and could also showcase everything that Mount Vernon and Knox County has to offer.”
All three institutions will be able to use the apartments as they see fit – there will be faculty living there for different time periods, for different purposes – which Odenweller sees as a positive.
“This gives them the flexibility to decide how to use their spaces to meet their needs,” she said.
Odenweller said the idea for the downtown apartment renovation project began years ago, when The Ariel Foundation asked Kenyon “about their needs, and kind of their dreams and desires.” When those talks grew to include MVNU and Knox Community Hospital, it became relevant that all three institutions had similar ideas.
“It just started out of a natural conversation, and from there has obviously developed to where we are today,” Odenweller said. “And it sounded like there was kind of a common need here, a thread related to the other two partnering institutions for needs for apartment-style, apartment-sized – and especially for them, downtown-located housing.”
All three institutions already own space in downtown Mount Vernon – Kenyon has the Wright Center, MVNU has the Buchwald Center and Stephen W. Nease Center, and Knox Community Hospital has downtown offices on S. Main St.
These renovated living spaces will increase the institutions’ presence downtown. The benefits will be two-fold, Odenweller said: KCH, MVNU and Kenyon will get more faculty living space, while downtown Mount Vernon will receive an upscale renovation to a highly visible corner property.
“The downtown area is becoming an even more inviting entertainment space – you know, after hours, weekends, cultural, arts-related – and with so many developments happening in recent years, it just seemed like this is the right place and right time to explore really using a very underutilized asset in the community, which is upper-level housing spaces,” Odenweller said.
The Ariel Foundation issued a press release on Nov. 29 announcing the project. Cornerstone Commerce Centre LLC will be donating the second and third floors of the corner building and The Ariel Foundation will provide a grant for renovation costs and exterior improvements.
Odenweller could not say how much the grant is worth, as she cited the complexity of the deal; there are other moving pieces to consider, such as the construction of the parking area. However, she did describe the deal as a “significant investment.”
“In all honesty, I don’t have that figure to give you because it’s kind of ever-developing,” Odenweller said. “I will tell you, it’s a significant investment. We recognize that. But at the same time, as part of a downtown development strategy and economic development strategy, this project enables a number of different things to happen. So we see it as a very exciting time.”
According to The Ariel Foundation’s press release, the apartments will resemble “condo-style settings often found in larger cities.” First floor businesses will be maintained by their present occupants.
The release states that “every effort will be made to plan for minimal traffic and parking disturbances on E. Gambier and S. Main Streets” during the year-long project. The building once known as ‘The Office,’ located on E. Ohio Ave., will be demolished and the gravel lot will serve as an interim parking solution for downtown business owners and employees who regularly park along Blackberry Alley, which will neighbor the renovated building.
“Contractor access, dumpster placement and material deliveries will be concentrated to the parking areas along Blackberry Alley whenever possible,” the release states.
Given all The Ariel Foundation has done to spur downtown Mount Vernon’s revival, Odenweller said this project was hard to resist from a partnership standpoint. She warned that the project may incur skepticism, as change is almost never met with complete support, but the foundation believes it will be worth it in the end.
“There’s always pros and cons to everything. Not everyone’s going to love everything, and that’s fair,” Odenweller said. “But we do think it’s exciting.”
