Housing, retail development pitched for 49-acre Delaware farmland

DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) -- More than 49 acres of farmland in Delaware could soon be home to a new development with restaurants, shops and a range of housing.

A proposal by Fincon Epic Ventures calls for the 49.9-acre Delaware site on the northeast corner of South Section Line Road and Marysville Road to be developed into four sections, each referred to as a "Sub-area" in the proposal. Areas A and C would feature multi-family housing, while Area B would include single-family housing and Area D would be dedicated to commercial space.

The proposal lists several likely opportunities for the development's commercial area, including offices, a day care, banks, retail and restaurants with outdoor seating. Other possible ventures, like a car wash, a gas station or a fast-food chain with a drive-through window, would need to undergo additional review.

The Delaware Planning Commission approved Ventures' request on July 17 to rezone the 49-acre site to allow for a mixed-use development. Now, Ventures can continue tinkering with the proposal before returning before the commission for further review.

Todd Faris, CEO of Faris Planning and Design, is aiding Ventures' proposal and last month also presented before the Dublin Planning Commission to build a new neighborhood on part of a 101-acre site divided by railroad tracks. However, for the second time, the commission shot down the design and argued that a more creative development should be proposed for a site that is divided by a railroad.

Ventures' proposal is one of several other developments take shape in Delaware. The commission approved in May a proposal to construct the last three of six phases making up Winterbrooke Place, a sprawling subdivision built by M/I Homes, Rockford Homes and Arlington Builders. Plans call for the development’s final three phases to include 84 lots, increasing the subdivision’s total footprint to about 260 homes.

Maronda Homes is building 655 homes as part of a residential and commercial development named “Donovan Farms” on a 114-acre site next to Boulder Park, east of South Section Line Road and west of Houk Road. Fincon Bowtown is developing 132 for-sale townhomes across a 16.8-acre site home to city-owned farmland, located north of Bowtown Road and west of the Village Gate Apartments complex.

Romanelli and Hughes is constructing 97 single-family homes to continue building out the 473-acre Terra Alta development north of Braumiller Road and west of Berlin Station Road. The plan calls for 43 homes to be built on 27.2 acres and 54 homes on 21.2 acres.

Further, Addison Rutherford is moving forward with plans to expand its central Ohio footprint by building more than 72 single-family homes across 22 vacant acres. The developer is one of several development companies owned by Jason Friedman -- a prolific real estate developer also constructing Delaware’s sprawling 273-acre Addison Farms development.