GALION — The City of Galion is providing funding for new real estate development projects.
Galion City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, July 27 to pass Ordinance No. 2021-65 which authorized a loan of $300,000 to the Galion Port Authority, which the Port Authority will in turn loan to the Five Galion Company LLC to help fund the construction of two new 18-unit apartment buildings at the current Carter Crossings apartment complex on Carter Drive adjacent to the Galion City Schools campus. Eleven covered parking spaces will be included with each new facility. The interest rate on the loan is 1%, per terms of the agreement.
Harry Giltz, a representative of Five Galion Company LLC, said all units in the first two apartment buildings at Carter Crossings are currently occupied. The complex features one- and two-bedroom apartments with monthly rent priced from $825 to $1,125.
“The proposal, simply put, is to have council loan to the Port Authority the sum of $300,000 that would be an interest-only note with a 5-year balloon payment,” Mayor Tom O’Leary explained. “That investment or that commitment will trigger the construction of buildings three and four, for lack of a better nomenclature. What we’re hoping is that (loan) will enable them to buy the materials for the apartments as well as the materials to get two buildings going out (at the Renschville Development) on (Winchester Road).”
Giltz noted that the loan will allow Five Galion Company to purchase building materials in bulk, which will lower the total cost of materials.
Chad Miller of the Galion Port Authority said the loan will also facilitate construction of houses at the Renschville Development, an 11-acre site on Winchester Road that the Galion Port Authority purchased from Five Galion Company LLC.
“Our biggest win here, in addition to helping (Five Galion Company) with the Carter Crossings project, is to start to get the old Renschville plot developed with single-family housing,” said Chad Miller of the Galion Port Authority. “That was another, I guess, gift from council to the Port Authority where we used some of those funds to actually purchase that property. I’m very optimistic that new housing starts in the community will sell very quickly. I think that will be a great attraction not only to the current developer, but also future developers to develop the rest of those plots out there.”
Five Galion Company LLC has an option to buy five parcels located at the Renschville Development. The company was granted access to the property as part of the agreement when the Port Authority purchased the property. Five Galion had the purchase contract to acquire the Renschville property and passed it on to the Port when it sold the property to the agency.
Miller said the Renschville Development site has enough space to construct 20 single-family dwellings.
Construction of the new apartment buildings at the Carter Crossings site is expected to begin this fall.
