Hilltop RISE Moves to Renovate Two Historic West Broad Buildings

A local nonprofit is fixing up two old buildings in the Hilltop and keeping the rents low. The group is Hilltop RISE Economic Community Development Corp. The buildings sit at 3085-3099 West Broad Street in the Westgate area. Renovation work is set to begin this spring, as first reported by Columbus Underground.

Here is how it came together. Columbus City Council approved a $1.2 million grant for the purchase. The vote was unanimous on September 8, 2025. The nonprofit closed on the buildings in December. Both buildings are more than 100 years old. One of them once held the Beck & Orr Book Binding company.

The two buildings hold about 10 apartments. They also have a little over 6,000 square feet of ground-floor space for shops. Hilltop RISE calls the apartments naturally occurring affordable housing. That means the rents were already low without a government program forcing it. The group plans to keep them that way. Rents will be limited to tenants earning 80% of the area median income or below. Existing residents will stay in place.

Why does this matter to you? On many corridors, an old building gets bought, fixed up, and the rent doubles. Long-time tenants get pushed out. This plan tries to do the opposite. It fixes the buildings while keeping the people. Danny Peterson, the Hilltop RISE executive director, said the area needs commercial investment. He said the project can send a vital signal that West Broad Street is worth investing in.

There is a bigger picture here. The Central Ohio Transit Authority is planning a rapid bus line on West Broad Street. Better transit tends to raise land value. That is good for owners, but it can be hard on renters. Keeping some units affordable now, before the transit line arrives, protects families from being priced out later.

The ground floor has room for about six businesses. Right now only one commercial unit is leased. That is a big opportunity. New shops and restaurants bring foot traffic, and foot traffic brings life back to a corridor.

Here is what to watch. Watch how fast the vacant units and storefronts fill after renovation. Watch whether more owners on West Broad follow the same fix-and-keep-affordable model. And watch the timeline on the COTA rapid bus line, since that will shape values along the whole street.

Here is your takeaway. The Hilltop is drawing real investment, but this project shows it does not have to mean displacement. If you own property along West Broad, the mix of transit plans and public grants points to rising interest in the corridor. If you rent here, this is a rare case where a renovation is designed to keep you in your home. If you want to put money to work in a changing neighborhood, you can deploy capital where the fundamentals are lining up.

Sources: Columbus Underground, Yahoo News