Amercrest

As you drive along Joyce Avenue northeast of Columbus at the intersection of 12th Avenue, you’ll see a large sign at the corner welcoming you to the historic Amercrest – American Addition Community Garden. If you continue down 12th Avenue, you’ll see homes that look like they’ve only been built within the past few years. That community garden and newer homes show that the Amercrest area, specifically the American Addition subdivision, is enjoying a new life.

The neighborhood is one of the oldest in the city, and over 10 years ago, the City of Columbus said they would invest in that area with newly built homes, rebuilt streets and sidewalks. Today, you can see the result of that commitment. Denise Moore is a Realtor with H.C. Bland Realty Company. “There’s a sense of loyalty for people who live there,” she says. “They care about their neighborhood. It’s kept very clean; if you drive through, you’ll see people picking up trash. There’s pride in where they live.”

The newer homes in Amercrest were built by Homeport, a Columbus-based organization that develops quality and affordable homes in areas where it’s needed. The houses were built in the 2010s and are either one-story or two-story traditional homes with three bedrooms and one-and-a-half or two bathrooms. The space inside these homes is between 700 and 1300 square feet. Not all the houses there are newer. Some were built in 1900. The newer homes generally have a price range between $200,000 and $260,000, while you can still pay under $200,000 for some older homes. Amercrest has always been an industrial area, with SA Recycling and United Alloys & Metals being the largest, but there’s room for more houses to be built. “There’s a lot of land available in that area, and there’s a home shortage in the Columbus area,” Moore says. “I know the community would love to see more families move in there.”

Marie Moreland Park was known as American Addition Park and is named after a woman who worked hard for neighborhood improvements while living in the American Addition subdivision. She died in 2017. The nearly five-acre park includes a baseball field, basketball court, playground and an open-air shelter. A short drive to the west on Windsor Avenue is where you'll find Windsor Park, where a community pool recently opened. Windsor Pool has lap swimming for adults, diving boards, water slides and a kids’ area with a splash park. Close to the pool is the Douglas Community Center, which offers a free mobile produce market on the first Thursday of the month. The food comes from the Mid-Ohio Food Collective and is available for eligible families. The center also offers after-school programs for school-aged children.

Amercrest is in the Columbus City School District. Students can attend the Windsor STEM Academy for pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade. Niche says that this school has a 17-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio. It’s a magnet school, meaning students from various city schools attend here. From seventh grade on, students move to the Linden-McKinley STEM Academy. This school features career-tech certification and college preparatory courses. The school has advanced placement courses in Environmental Science, US History and Calculus.

One of the other advantages to living in Amercrest is the old real estate adage of location. It’s less than a ten-minute drive to downtown and the same amount of time to John Glenn Columbus International Airport. “I have a client who lives there who says that it’s Columbus’ best secret,” Moore says. “He says it’s very quiet and close to everything. I also have a cousin that just had a house built there, and she absolutely loves it.”

Written By

Jeff Stapleton

Photography Contributed By

Jesse Snyder

Video By

Antoine Allen