NEWS

Plans for a Giant Eagle across the street stalled, but a 232-unit apartment project at the corner of Neil Avenue and Vine Street in the Arena District is moving forward.

Nationwide Realty Investors is scheduled to unveil plans for Flats on Vine at Tuesday’s meeting of the Downtown Commission.

The project, in the works for more than a year, will consist of two U-shaped, three-story apartment buildings and a two-story building that will house a fitness center and community room for residents.

Apartments will range in size from 500-square-foot studios to two-bedroom, two-bath units that are just more than 1,200
square feet.

Nationwide closed on the purchase for $2 million from the city of Columbus on Tuesday. The site was being used for surface parking.

The project will build on and complement what Nationwide has already done in the Arena District, where it’s invested over a billion dollars, said Joe Sullivan, partner in Columbus-based architecture firm Sullivan Bruck.

“We think this will appeal to the young professional market, which made Arena Crossing a success,” Sullivan said, referring to the 252-unit apartment complex that Nationwide opened in 2004.

Downtown residents will have to wait a little longer for a new supermarket, though.

Nationwide spokeswoman Tina Guegold said there are no plans yet for the site to the north of the Flats on Vine apartment project. Giant Eagle and Whole Foods have previously considered building on that site but decided against it.