A longtime local developer and businessman is joining the Columbus Redevelopment Authority board.
City councilmen on Tuesday approved appointing Mark G. Alexander, 63, to an unexpired term ending in September 2022. He replaces the late Tommy Lott, a renowned certified public accountant and founding member of the board who passed away in August.
The five-member CRA board, first established in 2015, focuses on redevelopment projects in the city’s Urban Renewal District. Since its start, the CRA has successfully recruited a developer to purchase the former Lee Middle School property on Military Road for a mixed-use commercial and residential project. It also is purchasing properties in the Burns Bottom neighborhood near downtown in hopes of drawing a higher-value housing development.
Alexander was the only applicant for the board vacancy.
“He’s a truly outstanding man,” Ward 2 Councilman Charlie Box told The Dispatch after the meeting. “He’s a smart, successful businessman. It’s hard to fill the shoes of someone like Tommy Lott. But if anyone can, Mark will get close.”
Alexander formed a national home health care company in Columbus in 1977, and in the 41 years since has invested in real estate development and various other businesses locally. He said other CRA board members asked him to apply.
“They asked me to serve and I said I would,” Alexander told The Dispatch. “I love Columbus, and any way I can contribute, I’m happy to do it.”
Mayor Robert Smith said Alexander’s investments in the community show he will be a “great asset” to the CRA board. He added, however, Lott will be missed.
“Mr. Lott brought so much to the table,” Smith said. “He was a great numbers man, and he knew the city as well as anyone.
“Mr. Alexander is someone who knows redevelopment, and for years he’s put his money where his mouth is,” he added.
Other CRA board members include John Acker, Mark Castleberry, Martha Lee Porter and Robert Rhett Jr..
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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