The land previously owned and slated for development by Oberer Land Developers, pictured above, has been purchased — at least in part — by Dave Chappelle. (Drone photo by Bryan Cady)
Dave Chappelle buys Oberer land
- Published: June 22, 2022
Yellow Springs resident and comedian Dave Chappelle has purchased at least a portion of a 52-acre property on the south side of the village from Miamisburg-based Oberer Land Developers Ltd., which had planned to build a subdivision of houses on the land adjacent to Chappelle’s home.
Chappelle’s publicist, Carla Sims, verified in a phone call last week that Chappelle recently bought the Oberer land. Sims was unable to specify, however, if he had purchased the entirety of the property. Property information on the Greene County Auditor’s Geographic Information Systems website confirms that at least 19 acres of land previously part of Oberer’s development plans are now linked to Iron Table Holdings LLC, which is owned by Chappelle.
After multiple attempts to follow-up with Chappelle’s publicist for clarification and additional comment on the sale, Sims wrote in an email late Wednesday afternoon that she could provide no new information at that time.
Although every lot within the original 52-acre property is now owned by Spillan Rd LLC, as listed on the auditor’s website, the mailing addresses for the LLC vary.
The largest 33-acre parcel lists Spillan Rd LLC’s mailing address as 344 Newmark Drive, Miamisburg, Ohio — the same address as Oberer. Fifteen parcels, totaling 19 acres, show the mailing address of Spillan Rd LLC as PO Box 739, Yellow Springs — the same mailing address as Iron Table Holdings.
The auditor’s website shows the sale price of the 15 parcels as $1,715,000 — which is what Oberer paid for all 52 acres when the company purchased the land from Ken and Betheen Struewing in November 2020. However, it’s unclear what Chappelle has paid.
Oberer sought to develop the land to accommodate a residential neighborhood with at least 140 dwelling units. Last fall, in cooperation with Village staff, the company approached Village government to rezone the land from a mixed zoning status — largely featuring Residential-A zoning, which allows for only single-family units — to a planned unit development, or PUD. Under a PUD designation, a variety of dwelling units, such as townhomes, duplexes and single-family homes, are permitted. Additionally, an acre of land would have been donated to the Village to develop its own affordable housing.
Chappelle was vocally opposed to the development. During a public hearing at the regular Village Council meeting on Feb. 7, Chappelle told Council he would divest from the community should they approve the ordinance to rezone the land to a PUD.
Ultimately, the ordinance failed to pass after a 2–2 vote, with one Council member abstaining.
In the months since the ordinance’s failure, little has occurred on the land. In late February, Oberer felled a number of trees around the property, presumably in preparation for moving forward with a single-family development of the originally planned 140 units.
Then, at the April 12 Yellow Springs Development Corporation meeting, Village Manager Josué Salmerón reported to the quasi-governmental body that ownership of the land had been transferred to another LLC, which was later determined to be Spillan Rd LLC, according to the county auditor’s office.
According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s website, articles of organization for Spillan Rd LLC were filed with the state on March 4.
In a follow-up interview, Salmerón told the News that the property transfer occurred on April 6, although he was uncertain whether that’s when Oberer officially sold the land, citing the unavailability of any public records on a sale.
“There is no indication currently that the [Oberer] project is moving forward,” Salmerón said at the YSDC meeting.
In response to a call from the News earlier this month, George Oberer neither confirmed nor denied the sale of his company’s land, only stating that Oberer was “considering market options” at that time.
The News will continue to provide updates as they become available.
4 Responses to “Dave Chappelle buys Oberer land”
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Please consider lifers who were essentially born and raised in Yellow Springs, but cannot afford a $500,000 house!! Those of us run out of town or those who have had their affordable houses stolen by the local “affordable housing” company would live to come back!!
Living with no air conditioning, no electricity, no heat and no water makes us appreciate how good we had it!! I had no idea you can purchase a shower at a truck stop!!
I appreciate how my parents grew up, now I gotta go empty my pee bottle!! Lowes makes the greatest large buckets that double as a toilet!! Kind of hard on the touche, but they get the job done!!
Well Done Yellow Springs on having the cooling stations!! Another option for those not close by, put a ton og ice. if you can afford it in a huge plastic tote!! My grandma was born in the 1800s and both parents lived through the Great Depression, I learned a few things from them!!
Guarantee you the Chappelle name in proximity would be a good selling point for purchasing or renting a property there! Dave should buy the whole city!
Rather, extremely retaliatory, I’d say! Hopefully, YS or Dave can acquire the rest of the properties. We need a protected greenbelt with green space surrounding YS so the land and wildlife habitats are safe from development.
The trees were felled on February 8, the day after the vote failed. They were quick to remove that bat habitat. I witnessed this on February 8. I remember because It seemed rather retaliatory.