‘Heavy demand’ for new housing
Multi-family housing is a big component of the ongoing growth around Huber Heights.
“There’s still a heavy demand for housing, especially for our little town,” Vice Mayor Don Webb said last week. “People want to live here and we can’t build them fast enough.”
On Executive Boulevard near The Rose, Metropolitan Holdings will construct an apartment complex on a 25-acre site, offering a total of more than 300 individual units.
Work on this project, called Reverb, is set to begin in September, according to City Planner Aaron Sorrell.
To the east, RHM Real Estate Group will construct a 530-apartment complex on a section of land that also includes plans for commercial development at 7125 Executive Blvd.
“RHM is actually looking to expand their project site before they start construction,” Sorrell said. “They want more (because) there’s just a huge demand.”
The construction timeline for the RHM project is still to be determined.
Developers broke ground last week on a new housing development at the former Marian Meadows shopping center site.
Continental Properties will begin construction on a 288-apartment complex, known as Authentix Apartments, on roughly 16 acres of the western portion of the site, located in the 6200 block of Brandt Pike, just north of Fishburg Road.
Construction on that project is estimated to be complete in 2026, developers said.
On Carriage Trails Parkway, two apartment projects are in the early planning stages, with one set to be presented at the July planning commission meeting, according to Sorrell.
Multiple single-family housing developments are also underway, including 117 homes planned for a site on Chambersburg Road.
Ryan Homes is also developing new townhomes in the Heathermere Woods neighborhood on Conifer Circle.
“We’re diversifying the housing stock, which is necessary so that there’s a product to fit everybody’s current situation,” Sorrell said. “Residents can be born, live, grow, and age in Huber Heights.”
Business development
Many of the housing development projects in Huber Heights also incorporate commercial or retail options.
“The residential drives the commercial. Every commercial development that comes to the city, whether it’s a chain or a mom-and-pop restaurant, they’re doing that pin drop and determining who lives here within a certain radius,” Webb said. “Because of that, these residential projects have an impact on their decision making.”
As part of the city’s agreement with Metropolitan Holdings, the city will receive a four-acre lot near Reverb on Executive Boulevard, at no cost, for the purpose of developing the site to attract a full-service restaurant or brewery-type establishment, documents show.
Details on what establishments may open at that site are still in the works, officials say.
“We have serious interest at that location from two major restaurants,” Webb said.
Commercial development is also included in the Marian Meadows project.
As part of that revitalization, the city demolished a section of a small strip mall, situated at the corner of Brandt Pike and Fishburg Road. The remaining section of the strip was renovated.
“That leaves huge parcels available in that area,” Webb said, adding that both restaurants and retail businesses are being considered.
Webb highlighted the growth in business expansion as going hand-in-hand with housing development for other reasons, as well.
“It’s not just here in Huber Heights, it’s everywhere,” he said, noting that as businesses like Intel — with its plan to construct a $20 billion chip manufacturing plant in New Albany — enter into the Ohio market, so too will an increased need for housing.
“When we consider all the new developments coming to the state and the subset of jobs that feed into those developments, Ohio is a hotspot right now and housing is in a critical shortage,” he said.
Providing reasonably-priced housing must be a top priority, Webb added.
“It’s hard to have affordable housing during a housing shortage because, let’s face it, you could have the worst apartment complex in the city and still charge premium amounts because people are starving for apartments,” he said. “As we fulfill that need and get people into market-rate apartments, then those other apartments can be re-established as affordable options, so it all drives from the top down.”
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