ASHLAND — The purchase price for the vacant Pump House building destined to become a hotel recently got a $399,000 discount.
City council unanimously approved of an updated purchase agreement with Pump House Hospitality LLC in which the price of the building went from $400,000 to $1,000.
The move is an effort to ensure the redevelopment of the site moves forward, said Ashland Mayor Matt Miller.
“As estimates have been coming in higher than anticipated, we went back to the drawing board with the developer. They want to do (the project), and we don’t want them to walk away,” he said.
Miller said dropping the price of the building from $400,000 to $1,000 serves as “further incentive” for the developer to complete the project, which has now been in the works for more than two years.
Council approved its purchase agreement with Pump House Hospitality LLC in March 2023.
Miller said the initial $400,000 price tag was the developer’s suggestion.
“They wanted to show they were invested in the community and in the vision for the Pump House District,” Miller said.
The Pumphouse building ownership timeline
The building belonged to Pump House Ministries, a now-defunct nonprofit. The building housed a number of various organizations — non-profit and for-profit — through the years.
In July 2018, Pump House Ministries put the property up for sale. At the time, it asked for $999,000. That didn’t happen.
Instead, in September 2019, the Ashland County Land Reutilization Corporation, also known as the Ashland land bank, acquired the property through a “deed in lieu of foreclosure” as a means to clear the back taxes owed.
Previous Ashland Source reporting estimate the back taxes at the time equating to $200,000.
In September 2020, the Ashland County Board of Commissioners bought the facility for $146,000, intending to use the building to house county offices. That plan fell through when commissioners discovered the nearly $14 million price tag associated with renovating it.
From September 2020 to May 2022, the commissioners paid a total of nearly $290,000 on the vacant building. Expenses included utilities and various maintenance costs.
In January 2023, the city agreed to pay $300,000 for the building. The plan has been to attract investors to redevelop the structure.
Incentive
When completed, the $21.5 million, 68,000 square-foot hotel will include 94 “suite-style” rooms, a marketplace, conference room and guest laundry area.
The hotel could lead to the hiring of 15 full-time employees and 10 part-time employees, along with $1.1 million in annual payroll.
That’s all according to a Community Reinvestment Area agreement the city signed with Pump House Hospitality, the developer behind the hotel project.
The 15-year, 100% property tax abatement represents one of the city’s most aggressive CRAs. It means the company will not owe property taxes until 2041, assuming the hotel is operational by 2026.
That timeline, however, is dependent on the groundbreaking for Vision Development’s planned apartment complex across the way. Vision plans to build 192 apartment units, a park and other mixed commercial spaces.
Miller said he awaits the signing of a development agreement with Vision. Once that is finalized, the Columbus development firm could begin construction in the coming weeks.