COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Latitude Five25 towers could soon be torn down after a company agreed to buy the property for $7 million. The Sawyer Towers have stood on the east side of Columbus for decades but have been vacant for the last year and a half after tenants were forced to vacate on Christmas Day in 2022.
But the purchase brings hope to many in the East Side community.
"We're hopeful about what's going to happen next,” Kate Curry-Da-Souza, chair of the Near East Area Commission, said.
Nuveen, a real estate investment company, has offered to purchase the property for $7 million, which is about $2 million more than the receivership hoped to get for it. If approved, the group intends to demolish the towers.
"Having the community be part of that conversation has been really important throughout this process,” Curry-Da-Souza said.
Many of the community members have been outspoken about what they’d like to see done with the property, attending meetings in recent months held by the Near East Area Commission.
Curry-Da-Souza said they’ve worked closely with the city attorney’s office to make sure the community’s voice is heard in plans for the future.
"A lot of changes coming now and I'm happy for some of the change and I'd like to see everything get better like it used to be,” Al Edmondson, owner of A Cut Above the Rest Barbershop and president of the Mount Vernon District Improvement Association, said.
Edmondson has owned his barbershop on the east side since the 1990s. The towers take up part of the view from his shop. He said affordable housing should be the priority for the property.
"You look out here, a lot of these people are here at night, homeless, walking around all day, and I want the people that are here to be safe in houses,” Edmondson said.
While many people in the community have expressed concerns about the towers being torn down for their historical significance to the area, some business owners like Edmondson said they just hope the safest option is taken.
"If they can't make it safe for our residents, I want them to tear 'em down and build new housing for our residents,” Edmondson said.
The former owners of the property, Paxe Latitude, faced nearly $20 million worth of fines for violating the state’s asbestos laws.
Curry-Da-Souza said their focus is what is best suited to accommodate the people who live there: more housing and more affordability, "so we can have what existed here before with Poindexter Village, what we had here before the highways were torn down, which was community,” Curry-Da-Souza said.
New plans for the property include a development with more than 400 units, with half of them designated as low-income housing. There would also be 170 generational units for people who live with their parents.
Now, Curry-Da-Souza said they look forward to continuing discussions with potential new owners to keep the community’s voice involved.
"That's what the Near East side is is respecting the past but also being very mindful of the future,” Curry-Da-Souza said.