A short six-and-a-half miles from Ohio’s capital of Columbus sits the city of Whitehall. Within Whitehall sits the abandoned neighborhood of Woodcliff – a neighborhood which has sat entirely vacant since 2019. While it has only been vacant for a few years, many of the homes have sat empty for much longer. The neighborhood of Woodcliff spans approximately 36 acres, containing over 150 condos, most of them duplexes. In all, Woodcliff had 317 units.

The homes in this neighborhood were built in 1953, and at this time were a very desirable place to live and raise a family. Through the 1980s, this Columbus suburb remained a clean, mostly crime-free place to reside. The area offered plenty of good jobs, and the neighborhood was quiet, and kept up quite well. Unfortunately, this would begin to change near the late 1980s. Things started small, but would see a snowball effect take place as the years went on. Cultural barriers and indifference between residents started to arise. These growing tensions, along with the housing seeing few updates moving into the 21st century brought more trouble for the future of Woodcliff. Drug issues arose, bringing more crime to the neighborhood streets.

As the crime rate grew, the neighborhood shrunk. Residents fled in search of better places to live, and their homes were abandoned. With a rise of blighted homes in the neighborhood came a rise in the transient population. Poor management is partially to blame for letting things continue the way they did over the years.

 By 2007, Woodcliff had already been rattled pretty hard. Things had already gone bad, but were about to take a turn for the worst for this neighborhood. The city and county filed a health complaint in 2007, noting that the condo association management had been disposing of residents’ trash by simply dumping it in the swimming pool, and hiring contractors to clean it out every month. The property was declared a public nuisance in 2008.

Between 2007 and 2018, there had been numerous property-code-violation complaints and reports made to the city of Whitehall. Streets were crumbling, homes had problems with roaches, sewer backups, mold and various structural issues. Among these issues, the landscaping and overall neighborhood cleanup and upkeep continued to be neglected by condo management. Woodcliff was no longer the safe and comfortable place it once was. Whitehall police were averaging two calls per day to the neighborhood. Now only a shell of its better days, with things too far gone, there is no way back up unless proper redevelopment takes place. Of course, proper redevelopment will take an equally proper amount of funding.

In August 2018, there was a court order for the property to be sold. The multiple property owners all voted to sell the property to the city, and in 2019, the city finalized this sale, purchasing the blighted neighborhood for approximately $10 million dollars. This sale finally closed a nearly 12-year public health nuisance lawsuit – the longest in Franklin County Environmental Court history. Legal fees totaled upwards in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When the city purchased the property, they announced that residents would need to vacate their homes. However, an exception was made for some, allowing families with children attending Whitehall schools to stay in their home until the end of the school year. At the time of purchase about one third of the units were already vacant, some having been purchased by investors over years, and others not owned.

About 20 residents owned the homes they lived in, and were given up to one year to leave. Renters were given only until their leases expired. Under a court order, home owners received up to $45,000 per unit, but around a dozen practically got a smack in the face, being given only $1,000 or nothing. This was due to favoring of owners that had owned and occupied their homes prior to 2007. Many investors that had purchased properties within the five years prior to this were given more than their purchase price.

Former residents have fond memories of growing up here in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, and are saddened to see the way things have become.

Demolition was to begin late 2019, but in 2021 the condos still stood empty and decaying. With costs easily well into the millions to demolish all of the homes, it’s unclear exactly how long the process will take to complete, but as of March 2022, about three years after the initially planned date, demolition has started.

Redevelopment is planned to take place over the decade, most likely seeing things come to completion closer to 2030.

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