By CANDY BROOKS
ThisWeek Community News Wednesday October 16, 2013 10:15 AM
Step by Step Academy plans to purchase the former Harding Hospital site to expand its autism treatment center.
State Sen. Kevin Bacon has introduced a bill to authorize the nonprofit organization to purchase the 45-acre property from Ohio State University. The reported sale price is $4.5 million.
Step by Step has leased two buildings on the land since 2007. Plans call for expanding into a former OSU residential treatment building for on-campus treatment, Worthington economic development director Jeff Harris said.
Step by Step currently has 190 full- and part-time employees. Ninety new employees could be added as a result of the expansion, increasing the current $6 million payroll by $2.8 million, Harris said.
The land would be exempt from property taxes.
OSU purchased the property from Harding Hospital in 2003, with plans to expand its mental-health services. That did not come to fruition, and an emergency-service agency at Harding later was moved to OSU's main campus.
The Harding site is seen by Worthington planners as second only to the United Methodist Children's Home site as having potential for redevelopment.
The UMCH site is for sale, and the city actively is planning for its redevelopment.
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Step by Step to convert Harding into autism treatment center