MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Land Bank reached a milestone this week with the soft launch of Founders Food Hall at 18 E. Vine St.
“Starting this weekend, we’ll be available for a soft opening for the public. We hope that people realize that means we’re going to be working through some kinks,” Land Bank President Sam Filkins said.
The launch marks the culmination of a six-year project to redevelop the former Mount Vernon News building, which the land bank bought in 2020.
In addition to Founders Food Hall, Sponsler Automotive’s accounting department, Otto Insurance Group, and the Mount Vernon Nazarene University occupy the building.
The land bank has leased five of the seven kitchen spaces in the food hall.
Filkins said the board will take time to evaluate and fill the remaining two spaces “once we get our feet under us a little bit.”
The formal grand opening is scheduled for 11 a.m. on June 30. Filkins expects representatives from the governor’s office, Jobs Ohio, and One Columbus to attend.
Welcome Home Ohio closings expected this month
Filkins reported at Tuesday’s board meeting that most Welcome Home Ohio houses are now under contract, with closings expected before the end of June.
The 12 homes are a joint project between the land bank and Habitat for Humanity Knox County. A $2.46 million Welcome Home Ohio grant financed the project.
Typically, Habitat uses USDA financing for its homes. However, USDA has been slow to act, forcing land bank officials to go another route.
“CES Credit Union has been a great partner. They stepped up and took the portfolio of loans that fell through the cracks from USDA,” Filkins said.
Because of the delay, the land bank sold two homes through conventional financing. Although that meant the families did not get free appliances from Habitat, they did get to choose from Herald’s Appliances.
“It’s great that we can use our own taxpayer money to come back to benefit people both in the houses and the people that own businesses in our community,” Filkins said.
“That’s something that we’ve tried to do, both with hiring contractors on the food hall and all those other things, too.”
USDA’s delay cost the land bank $500,000 in funding
Ohio Department of Development officials recently inspected the homes.
“They were thrilled about what we did; they just wish that we had sold the properties by now,” Filkins said.
Because of the delay in selling, DOD did not approve the land bank for $500,000 in the most recent round of grant funding.
“The reason they didn’t approve us is not really through fault of anything other than we haven’t been able to show that we finished the job on our first grant. So they’re not going to give us more money on the second one,” Filkins said.
“But after their visit, they assured us that once we get these done, they’re excited to help us in the future.”
The remaining two lots will have modular homes, which will be delivered on June 24.
Filkins said the land bank initially was told the lots had both sewer and water; however, they only have sewer.
He will attend the city’s July 2 utilities commission meeting asking for a variance to use plastic pipes for the water lines.
Heartland Commerce Park updates
Weekly food trucks continue at Heartland Commerce Park, which escaped major damage during the recent storm. Power outages affected only Airco, the sole weekend operator.
Other updates include:
- The aqueduct project began this week, closing Chestnut Street near the park.
- Burgess Street paving will begin soon.
- The land bank is finalizing the purchase of the church at 515 N. Sandusky St.
