Housing Shortage Looms Large as Central Ohio Prepares for Intel

By Carol Rich

Ever since the announcement last year that Intel would build a $20 billion manufacturing complex in Licking County — central Ohio has been anticipating the economic boom expected to transform our region. But the arrival of Intel is also amplifying the Columbus area’s housing shortage.

“Clearly, Intel is the hot topic in central Ohio and its impact on our industry is being felt today in challenges with labor and supply chain and material issues. However, we haven’t yet seen a related housing boom due to the project,” says BIA Executive Director, Jon Melchi. “As our housing study showed, we already had a significant demand in central Ohio and what is coming is simply going to be additive to that demand.”

Melchi points out, the housing study confirmed and expanded upon the need for housing of all types throughout our region.

“There’s clearly a deficit of housing all up and down the spectrum, whether it’s single families, condos or apartments,” says Tre’ Giller, president and CEO of Metro Development.

Central Ohio’s shortfall of homes in different price ranges adds to the Intel-related housing challenges ahead. Among the most serious deficit: Giller singles out the “missing middle” — affordable housing such as townhomes, courtyard apartments and duplexes — as an especially underserved market segment.

Construction underway

Intel’s two semiconductor chip plants are being built on 1,776 acres that New Albany annexed from Jersey Township. The plants are slated to be completed by 2025.

Changes are already taking shape on the rural land that Intel will soon call home. Right now, the area is still primarily farm fields. But signs of construction — bulldozers and road closings — have already begun to appear.

Intel has hired Bechtel, an engineering and project management firm, to serve as the general contractor for phase one of building the new facilities.

Preparing for growth

Throughout central Ohio, officials and planners are preparing for the expected growth surge due to Intel. Franklin, Delaware and Fairfield Counties are all looking to ramp up plans for utility expansion and improve their transportation networks. But Licking County faces the most intense challenges.

For years Licking County officials anticipated the County would grow, and they expected that new growth to arrive at a steady pace due to eastward spread from Delaware County. But with Intel’s arrival, the County suddenly needs to broaden the scope of its strategy and accelerate the speed of planning and implementation.

Zoning approvals and transportation improvements top the list of the growth challenges the County now has to meet in a short timeframe. Close behind in the priority list: adapting the county’s utility infrastructure to meet a larger population.

The BIA’s Builders and Developers Council has provided information and support to local jurisdictions in the area surrounding Intel’s site. For more detail on the Council’s work, see the Government Affairs column on page 24.

FRAMEWORK’s focus is centered on 15 jurisdictions that will be impacted by economic growth sparked by Intel and other companies that include Amazon, Google and Meta.

“We are just cresting the halfway mark of a three-phase process. This current phase is focused on crafting the vision and analyzing conditions and opportunities,” says Sarah R. Wallace, chair, Thomas J. Evans Foundation and neutral convener of FRAMEWORK.

In its second phase, FRAMEWORK has been gathering and analyzing public input.

“We have collected insight from over 2,500 members of the 250-square-mile study area,” Wallace says. “All that input was organized and analyzed and formed into statements of intent. They are relatively general principle statements that will guide more specific recommendations on how and where growth should take place.”

The responses collected by FRAMEWORK underscore the need for housing choices that run the gamut.

FRAMEWORK, a public-private planning initiative

As municipalities and businesses throughout Licking County scramble to prepare for the changes ahead, a new initiative has been launched to create a collaborative vision for the region’s future. The Thomas J. Evans Foundation’s FRAMEWORK is a public-private planning effort addressing issues that range from land use to character of place.

“Home builders would be interested to know that principles are emerging that support a wide range of housing types, mix of use and quality of place and design,” Wallace observes. “The community supports inward development adjacent to and within existing developed areas in order to conserve open space.”

Of special interest to BIA members: the BIA housing study played a key role in FRAMEWORK’s efforts.

“The staff and consultants of FRAMEWORK have found the BIA 10-County Region Housing Study completed by Vogt Strategic Insights in 2022 particularly useful as we work through growth analysis and projected housing needs,” says Wallace.