Charter school leases temporary space on Marion Street.

A charter school which ran into community opposition of its plans to locate a campus on a five-acre site in Cottontown has leased temporary space on the other side of Elmwood Avenue in downtown Columbia.

Clear Dot Charter School, which announced plans last year to locate at the former Jim Moore Cadillac dealership at 2222 Main St., has leased a 21,580-square-foot office suite at 2015 Marion St. Colliers International's Tommy Tapp represented Uptown Properties LLC in the transaction.

An open house for the 2019-2020 school year is scheduled atthe Marion Street property tomorrow from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., according to the school's website.

Reached by phone on Monday, Clear Dot principal Lindsey Ott said the site would serve as a temporary campus for the charter school. She said the school has a permanent campus but would not say where that was or if the Cottontown site was still in consideration.

"I'm not willing to discuss anything about our permanent facility," Ott said.

The public, tuition-free charter school was proposed for 2222 Main St., site of the former car dealership, in the fall of 2018. The Cottontown/Bellevue Historic District Neighborhood Association expressed formal opposition to that plan in a letter dated Oct. 30, 2018, citing concerns including increased neighborhood traffic and a lack of parking for school events.

The locating of a school on the five-acre tract across the street from Cottontown pioneer The War Mouth gastropub would also remove the...