Columbus Clears 534 Apartments at Ackley Place and Demorest Road

Columbus City Council's zoning committee on October 26, 2026 approved rezonings for two apartment projects totaling 534 units: a 318-unit affordable community by Dominium at 2125 Ackley Place and a 216-unit development by Kittle Property Group at 2345 Demorest Road.

Two rezonings, one housing push

The two votes advance a goal the city repeats throughout both case files: adding housing in every part of Columbus. Together the projects would add 534 apartments — 318 at Ackley Place and 216 at Demorest Road — on sites that today hold a few houses and a former church. City staff recommended approval of each application, citing the 2026 Columbus Growth Strategy and the city's stated aim of more housing in all neighborhoods.

A 318-unit affordable project near the airport

At 2125 Ackley Place, the committee rezoned 30.17 acres on the west side of North Cassady Avenue from a commercial-planned district to apartment zoning for Dominium, a national affordable-housing developer. A concurrent council variance clears a 318-unit affordable apartment community of ten three-story buildings, with a mix of 72 two-bedroom, 162 three-bedroom and 84 four-bedroom units.

The staff report says Dominium intends to finance the project with federal 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits administered by the Ohio Housing Finance Agency. The city's development commission recommended approval of the rezoning on a 5-0 vote on August 13, 2026, and the Northeast Area Commission also backed it.

To build at the density it wants, Dominium won permission for 38-foot buildings instead of 35 feet, a 25-foot setback from North Cassady instead of 50, and narrower perimeter yards, along with a bus shelter and a trail link to the Alum Creek greenway. The developer also agreed to contribute $699,882.77 toward future road improvements along North Cassady Avenue.

A 216-unit project on a former church site

On the far west side, the committee rezoned 11.49 acres at 2345 Demorest Road from rural to limited apartment zoning for Kittle Property Group. The limited district caps the site at 216 units built to an approved site plan, with text controlling unit count, access and landscaping.

The land was annexed into Columbus from Jackson Township and had belonged to the Vida Nueva Wesleyan Church, one of the faith-owned properties the city's growth plan encourages converting to housing. The city's development commission recommended approval on a narrower 3-2 vote on May 14, 2026.

Where the plans met resistance

Not every local body agreed. The Westland Area Commission recommended disapproval of the Demorest Road rezoning, and the project runs against the 1994 Westland Area Plan, which calls for institutional use on the site. Staff acknowledged the conflict but concluded the apartments fit the newer 2026 growth strategy, which favors a wider mix of housing types. The records do not include the Westland commission's stated reasons or any resident testimony from the hearings.

What the record does and doesn't show

The legislative record lists all three ordinances — two for Ackley Place and one for Demorest Road — as passed and sent to the council office for signature after the October 26 committee vote. They do not set rents or income limits for either project, break out how many Demorest units would be income-restricted, or give a construction timeline. Neither do they show how individual council members voted, and independent coverage of the two rezonings was not available from reachable local outlets.

CREN reported the Ackley Place and Demorest Road applications earlier in October, when the Demorest vote was postponed and the Ackley apartment variance had not yet been decided; the October 26 votes resolve both. The next checkpoints are the ordinances' signatures and the developers' building-permit and site-plan submissions, which the Ackley variance requires before construction can begin.