Columbia Borough Council votes to sell 400 Locust St. to Cimarron Investments

When: Columbia Borough council meeting, May 23.

What happened: Council members voted 4-2 to sell 400 Locust St. to Cimarron Investments for $60,000, preempting a $60,500 offer from Habitat for Humanity. Several council members and Mayor Leo Lutz said they thought Cimarron was a better fit for downtown Columbia.

Details: Both entities presented plans to build a multiuse development with commercial tenants on the first floor and residences slated for the second and third floors of what is now a vacant lot.

Differences: Cimarron will build two retail establishments and between four and six market-rate apartments at the site. The development would be worth about $1.5 million when completed. Habitat for Humanity offered one retail space and two 1,200-square-foot condominiums that would have been valued between $1.2 and $1.3 million.

For: Vice President Eric Kauffman and members Barbara Fisher, Todd Burgard, Peter Stahl and Joanne Price voted in favor of selling the land to Cimarron.

Quotables: "I've seen the effect that Cimarron has done in the last 10 years in the borough," Burgard said. "It's incredible." Fisher pointed to Columbia's commitment to support businesses as a reason to sell to Cimarron. "We need to focus on Locust Street," she said.

More: "This is in the heart of downtown," Lutz said. "Putting two homes there doesn't do what we want in our business district."

Against: President Heather Zink and member Sharon Lintner voted against the motion, because they want to increase home ownership in the borough.

Quotable: "The comp plan said encourage different housing opportunities for all people and all incomes," Zink said, referring to the borough's comprehensive growth plan. "I love the fact that this (Habitat for Humanity's offer) would encourage home ownership."

More: "I believe Habitat presented a better plan for the property, and they actually offered slightly more," Lintner said in a text message after the meeting. "Habitat said their homes would be 1,200-square-feet each, which to me sounds pretty good."

Question: Brad Chambers, a Democratic borough council candidate, asked council to require Cimarron to offer apartments with lower-rate rents. The borough is unable to put any deed restrictions on the property, Zink said.

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