aderwent

Zaftig Brewing and DiCarlo’s Pizza sign as The Beeker’s first commercial tenants "The five-story Beeker building will house 89 apartments and construction will wrap either this spring or summer. More pizza and beer will be coming to Italian Village. The F.W. Beeker building, the mixed-use development under construction at the corner of 5th Street and Summit Street, signed Zaftig Brewing Co. and DiCarlo’s Pizza as their first two commercial tenants. “We wanted to make a jump into that Downtown scene,” said Zaftig’s co-owner Jim Gokenbach. “We want to join our friends Seventh Son, North High and others in that area.” The Worthington brewery will be opening the brewpub on the first floor of The Beeker." https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181130/zaftig-brewing-and-dicarlos-pizza-sign-as-beekers-first-commercial-tenants

I didn't notice til now, but there is a second hotel aside from Aloft shown in this site plan. It's across from the garage that is to the south of Macy's. Someone on Reddit claims they have credible information that a 5-Star St. Regis by Marriott is coming to this development. Looking at their other locations, it looks like Easton is exactly the type of location they're in in Atlanta and Houston. The Atlanta location is complete with the upscale Restoration Hardware!

10TV has another article with more photos including these site plans: https://www.10tv.com/article/500-million-expansion-announced-new-district-easton-town-center

Google Earth of location to be developed. I was just here yesterday and the entire site is cleared.

Easton Town Center to add $500 million in development "The expansion, to include hotels, offices, housing and retail, will continue Easton’s mixed-use evolution. A $500 million expansion of Easton Town Center is underway, as the development approaches its 20th anniversary. The addition, which will include offices, hotels, housing, entertainment and retail, represents the next step in Easton co-developer and L Brands founder Leslie H. Wexner’s vision of Easton as not just a shopping center, but a “neighborhood.” "The idea that you could build an urban shopping area in a suburban location and have it become a neighborhood on its own is something I thought and thought about,” Wexner told The Dispatch in a January 2017 interview. 'It’s not just a shopping center anymore.'" https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181119/easton-town-center-to-add-500-million-in-development

Tech-driven mortgage firm Upstart to open local office "Columbus may have lost the contest to get Amazon’s HQ2, but another West Coast tech company will open its second headquarters in central Ohio early next year. Upstart, which launched in 2012 in the San Francisco Bay area, will bring about 100 employees in its first year and expects to grow to 400 or 500 within a few years with a plan to overhaul the mortgage lending industry, said Dave Girouard, founder and CEO. Girouard founded Upstart after working for Google, and has hired some staff away from the search engine giant. It was while working at Google that he became interested in applying technology to other industries." https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181118/tech-driven-mortgage-firm-upstart-to-open-local-office Sounds like Upstart and CoverMyMeds could be the next "big things" in Columbus. Growing organically from the start instead of landing Amazon, Google, and Apple et al. I like it!

JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon emphasizes workforce in Columbus visit "Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO, pushes workforce skills on trip to Columbus to mark the bank’s 150th anniversary of its Columbus ties. The CEO of Columbus’ largest private employer wants to make sure his company has the workforce it will need in the future. And he’s counting on local colleges and universities to continue to help. Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., visited Columbus Thursday as part of the bank’s celebration of its 150th anniversary of its ties to Columbus, where the bank employs 20,000 workers." https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181115/jpmorgan-chase-ceo-dimon-emphasizes-workforce-in-columbus-visit

Computer scientist moves back to Ohio to open bookstore in Short North "A longtime dream will come true when Prologue Bookshop opens in the Short North next week. The store, at 841 North High St., will be the first independent bookstore in the neighborhood in more than a decade. But for owner Dan Brewster the store fulfills a lifelong interest in books and publishing. “I grew up in the Cleveland area and worked for the county library in high school, so even then I had interest in it and really enjoyed it,” said Brewster, who hopes to open the doors Tuesday. After going to school in St. Louis for computer science, he moved to San Francisco in 2012 and worked for Goodreads, the book recommendation website that was bought by Amazon in 2013." https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181116/computer-scientist-moves-back-to-ohio-to-open-bookstore-in-short-north

Brunner Building opens in Short North, with $4,000 penthouses "One of the Short North’s newest apartment complexes rents some of the most expensive penthouses in the city. The Brunner Building, at 936 N. High St., rents three 1,350-square-foot penthouses for $4,000 a month, making it one of at least three new Columbus apartment buildings to top out at $4,000 or more. People “can move from their shoebox in Manhattan to a unit like this for relatively the same price,” said Tyler Puhl, leasing manager of the developer, Wood Cos. Rent starts at $1,750 for the building’s 33 apartments, which range from 876 to 1,350 square feet. The first residents moved into the six-story, $15 million mixed-use project in August. So far, about half of the residents are from outside Columbus." https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181114/brunner-building-opens-in-short-north-with-4000-penthouses

Short North tenant departures illustrate neighborhood’s transition "Despite departures of some long-term tenants, Short North remains robust. Grandview Mercantile, Flower Child and Roy G Biv spent a combined 55 years in the Short North. So when all three of them left the neighborhood in the past year, plenty of long-timers shed a tear for the good old days. Not so fast, say the businesses and Short North officials." https://www.dispatch.com/news/20181118/short-north-tenant-departures-illustrate-neighborhoods-transition

Lots of good pictures in this article from Business First. Here's Gravity: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/11/18/franklinton-update-more-projects-lined-up-for-2019.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2018-11-19&u=8jkupSw9zIRhc%2BySqW4WOQ0354f4c7&t=1542638046&j=85098971

Whatever happened to this? Too expensive due to engineering around that cap retaining wall? Nothing comes up when searching permit tracking for that site.

Seems like any discussion from yesterday got wiped. Could have sworn I saw the article about the new parking garage and slight update on the new hospital tower was posted. And then someone asked about a possibility on the height of that tower. Well, the new tower is to have 800 beds; more than twice the number of the 20 floor James that opened a few years ago. I'm not saying it will be twice as tall, but I wouldn't be surprised to see 25+ floors. The site (the current North and South Cannon garages) is a little larger than the James footprint, but if they continue the road between McCampbell Hall and the new garage they're building from King to 10th all the way to 12th, that will leave a similar footprint. They'd surely build a connection over that road to connect to the James. Anyway, it sounds like they'll have a design and go for funding approval a year from now. Will be interesting to see this going forward. Also, in regards to the 15th+High project, the original RFP said a developer for the hotel would be selected by July of this year. Did they not receive any proposals they liked? There was no update of that portion in the new articles from this week.

Entertainment company Rise Brands plots big growth for 16-Bit, Pins Mechanical "Rise Brands is going big. The parent company of Pins Mechanical, 16-Bit, No Solicitation and a soon-to-be-revealed quick-service restaurant, is going all in on what can only be called a mega-concept. At Bridge Park in Dublin, its latest 16-Bit, a 7,000-square-foot space full of arcade games, game consoles, big squashy chairs and couches, not to mention a bar with more than 20 taps, is set to open this week. Next door is the more than 14,000-square foot Pins Mechanical, which opened last year. A pair of garage doors connects the two hangouts, and the corridor between will house the company’s new restaurant." https://www.dispatch.com/business/20181111/entertainment-company-rise-brands-plots-big-growth-for-16-bit-pins-mechanical

Bridge Park continues Dublin’s urban transformation "Dublin’s Bridge Park has been under construction for several years, and will remain so for probably another four or five. But it already has become a bit of a mecca for developers and city planners. Once a week on average, a group comes to tour the still-developing, 30-acre mixed-use project at Riverside Drive and Rt. 161 and talk to those involved about how they did it." https://www.dispatch.com/business/20181111/bridge-park-continues-dublins-urban-transformation

In this article from the Dispatch it says Pins Mechanical/16 Bit Bar+Arcade is coming to Easton in a 30,000 sqft two story configuration. That's more than 33% larger than the Bridge Park joint location. That will be massive! It says that development is to break ground next year. Anybody have any more info on this one e.g. location?

A grainy Instagram photo of the view from Gravity. Gravity 2.0 site across the street.

Youth sports complex seen as potential economic driver in southern Delaware County "A youth sports complex could be the latest addition to a titanic investment in Delaware County and an economic anchor in a fast-growing area. Officials revealed last week that developers behind the 1,200-acre Evans Farm development are in final negotiations for a new youth sports complex to complement 3,100 housing units and 580,000 square feet of commercial space in the $1.5 billion project, which would be built in Orange and Berlin townships with major work to begin next year. Termed “Project Grant Slam,” the nine-field complex would represent an investment of more than $20 million, with indoor and outdoor facilities for year-round baseball, softball, football, lacrosse, track, baseball and soccer events." https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/11/05/youth-sports-complex-seen-as-potential-economic.html

Really it stretches from Big Walnut Creek/Hoover Reservoir all the way to 33 between Marysville and Dublin. Check out the Jerome Village area. It's insane to drive around that whole area with thousands upon thousands of new homes, not one of which is cheaper than $500,000. The Dublin, Crosswoods, Polaris, Westerville, and New Albany corporate strengths have really been a boon to southern Delaware County residential growth.

Planning Underway for Major Redevelopment Project in the Brewery District "Local architecture firm Schooley Caldwell is now attached to a plan to redevelop the former Hoster Brewing Company complex in the Brewery District. The collection of large, interconnected buildings includes the former Wasserstrom Company headquarters, at 477 S. Front St., as well as the brewery’s former mash house, which has been empty for years. Also included within the scope of the project is a surface parking lot, which could potentially be developed with new buildings." Existing: Preliminary drawing: https://www.columbusunderground.com/brewery-district-redevelopment-bw1

This is nowhere near the type of atrium they were claiming to build when their design was chosen. It was supposed to be part of expanding the North Market, and ran North/South between the new and existing buildings. This thing is ugly, bare bones, and basically looks useless. Everything about this new design screams, "Cheap!" This should be a showpiece of Columbus, and they've stripped this thing to bare minimum. If you can't afford to do it right, give the chance to someone else. This place will be a center point of Columbus tourism. Let's get it right.

The strip center next to the Wood Co building will probably be redeveloped once Wood finishes their multiple large projects they're working on now; i.e. Hubbard Park Place, Parkside on Pearl, and Market Tower. I'd like them to purchase the IBEW lot and have one large project that might more easily pass the commission, and financing rounds. The check cashing place, and the old Dollar General can't hold out too much longer I wouldn't think. In addition to the Luxe 23 project at the former Yoga on High building you also have the Corso Ventures property that currently houses Montecristo House of Cigar that had that preliminary Miami Beach-looking condo building that was put out there. Other than that, you have the city-owned parking lot across from the Stonewall building south of the Garden Theater that needs developed. That's five, perhaps six, projects before the Short North is fully built out and it moves north to fill the Weinland Park gap to campus.

An aerial of the progress being made on Cannon Dr's relocation.

800 N High is almost topped out.

So they got rid of the garage being connected to the Vine St garage, making a curb cut necessary on Wall St. They also lowered the height by 10 floors. As long as density remains that's fine. The atrium they got state funding for appears gone, too. Changed significantly at least. This is also much uglier than the errantly released rendering. In a completely different way it's just as ugly as the original; if not more. The addition of the hotel and office is nice, but about the only thing I like in this revision.