NorthGate completes final annexation

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The colored portion of the map shows land that has been annexed from Berkshire Township into the village of Sunbury to make way for the NorthGate Centre development.

The final annexation designed to make way for the NorthGate Centre development was approved by Sunbury Village Council last week.

The 250 acres annexed from Berkshire Township into the village will extend its boundaries to the west side of Interstate 71 and pave the way for the development, which is set to include retail, office, commercial and residential uses.

“This finishes off all of our plans for the development,” said Phil Craig, a spokesman for the project. “Now there’s a clear path for everyone in the county to see how this development is going to work together with our neighbors. It’s going to be really good for the county and the region.”

The residential portion of the development will include 560 single-family homes and 300 multi-family units with a total of about 1,700 residents. Officials say the land on which the multi-family units are constructed will have a higher millage rate to ease the burden on local school districts, according to documents the developers have filed with Delaware County.

The site is also slated to include recreation and entertainment facilities; four to eight hotels with as many as 1,200 rooms; 500,000 square-feet of inline specialty retail and restaurant space; 1.5 million square-feet of retail space; 750,000 square-feet of office space; 300,000 square-feet of warehouse distribution space; and two car dealerships.

Craig said the final annexation will also allow for the creation of a new interchange south of the existing one at U.S. 36-Ohio 37. A new interchange — expected to cost about $50 million — will accompany the development, representatives for developer Pat Shivley have said.

He expects to announce some of the companies that will occupy the development as well as a time line for the project in the next two months.

However, in a lawsuit filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, another local developer, Schottenstein Homes, states that Shivley does not own all the property necessary, nor does it have proper zoning, utilities or financing to bring the project to fruition. The company also claims that Shivley has misrepresented the number of jobs the development will create and the amount of tax revenue it will generate.

The company says that it has lost $3.9 million because of Shivley’s claims that the development is “imminent.” Schottenstein Homes argues that Shivley’s claims amount to defamation.

Once fully developed, which could take as many as 20 years, NorthGate Centre is expected to generate $1.2 million in income tax revenue, $2.6 million in property tax revenue and $20.7 million in sales tax revenue, according to documents filed with the county.

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