The project is split between two sites: a three-story, 27-unit building at 2300 E. Livingston Ave. and a three-story, 16-unit building roughly two miles away at 420 N. Cassady Ave. The Cassady Avenue building will also house a new 3,500-square-foot senior center, replacing a smaller temporary facility on the same property.

The developer, The Community Builders, first submitted zoning applications for both sites in late 2020, and Bexley's Board of Zoning and Planning approved them in 2021. Neighbors of the Livingston Avenue building then appealed that decision to city council, which upheld the ruling, and then to the Franklin County Common Pleas Court, which reversed it. The 10th District Court of Appeals upheld that reversal in September 2023, despite appeals from both the developer and the city.

The appellate ruling turned on the wording of a single section of Bexley's zoning code. City council responded by revising the code in spring 2024, which allowed the project to proceed. The developer then held a new round of public meetings and submitted revised plans, which won approval last year from the Board of Zoning and Planning, the Architectural Review Board, and the Tree and Public Gardens Commission.

At last month's groundbreaking, Bexley Mayor Michael Price framed the project as part of a broader effort to keep the suburb welcoming to residents of all income levels.

"We are expanding affordable housing opportunities while creating a dedicated space for senior services," Price said. "Together, these investments will help ensure Bexley remains a welcoming, connected community where people of all ages and incomes can live and thrive."

Ben Kessler, who stepped down in September after 14 years as mayor to become the first executive director of the Regional Housing Coalition at the Columbus Partnership, praised the city's persistence in seeing the project through.

"For leadership in Bexley, it took a lot of grit, tenacity, and determination to work diligently with The Community Builders to see this project, in many ways the first of its kind in Central Ohio, through to this groundbreaking," Kessler said. He described the development as a model of the "persistence, partnership, and creative problem-solving we need to replicate across Central Ohio with housing of all types to address our region's housing shortfall."

Project materials describe Bexley Apartments as the first affordable housing development approved by one of Columbus's first-generation suburbs, a group that also includes Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and Worthington.

The project was awarded Low Income Housing Tax Credits and will serve residents earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income. Construction is expected to finish in late 2027, with leasing to begin in early 2028. Renderings were produced by RDL Architects.