aderwent

But I wish I knew more about this radical rebuild of Gay Street. I haven't heard or seen anything about this project, other than that April construction photo I posted earlier. https://www.columbus.gov/publicservice/streets/project-information/Creative-Campus-Roadway-Improvements/

It has just stormed pretty bad, and it's only supposed to get worse over tonight and tomorrow. I'm sure some acts will be cancelled, and attendance will be low.

Awesome news. Still think a massive indoor sports pavilion between 3rd and 4th streets connected to the convention center would be a huge boon to hosting amateur sporting events. Not sure why that idea has been tabled for 8 years now. This center here might "steal" some events the convention center should have grabbed years ago.

Does the Downtown Commission have any guidelines to base decisions off of other than parking and height requirements? The Victorian Village commission, via the Short North Design Guidelines, would never allow such hideous materials. The worst you're going to get is the Castle. That isn't nearly as bad as this thing. Did the Downtown Commission know what these EIFS panels look like before they approved their use? If not, why didn't they ask for samples? If so, what horrible taste. Why couldn't they go with how they clad 250 High?

Another Wood Companies aerial of Hubbard Park Place. 711 N High clearly visible as well.

$50 million office, apartment, hotel project planned for Hamilton Road Just south of the Giant Eagle. "A new $50 million mixed-use development is planned for Gahanna, to be built on the east side of Hamilton Road south of Morse Road. Hamilton Towne Centre will include 48,000 square feet of offices, 150 luxury apartments and a four-story hotel. Several restaurants, a specialty coffee shop and a fitness center also are part of the plan." http://www.dispatch.com/business/20180621/50-million-office-apartment-hotel-project-planned-for-hamilton-road

And they were approved this time around! Trolley barn, auto dealership awarded historic tax credits to aid renovation "Two long-vacant East Side properties, including the former Columbus trolley barn complex, received state financing approval Wednesday that will allow the properties to be renovated. The state awarded Historic Preservation Tax Credits to the two projects: • The Columbus Electric Trolley Barns, 1600 E. Oak Street. Developer Brad DeHays, with Connect Realty, plans to convert the crumbling complex into a food market, brewpub, barbecue restaurant and offices. The $20 million project, which received $2 million in tax credits, also calls for building 103 apartments immediately south of the trolley barn buildings. • The McClure Nesbitt Motor Co., 1503-1507 E. Main Street. Columbus Compact Corp., a nonprofit East Side developer, plans to convert the former auto dealership into a theater, art gallery, music studio and event space topped by 11 second-floor apartments. The $2 million project received $250,000 in tax credits." http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180620/trolley-barn-auto-dealership-awarded-historic-tax-credits-to-aid-renovation

CoverMyMeds proposes 1,000 new HQ jobs for Columbus in return for tax deal "Prescription software firm CoverMyMeds plans to add 1,000 new jobs to Columbus that pay a median $60,000 a year and lease a proposed new $100-million, 200,000-square-foot headquarters near Downtown, representatives told the Columbus Board of Education Tuesday evening. CoverMyMeds currently is negotiating a 10- to 15-year lease on the new building, which would be located at the Orange Barrel Media site near where Rt. 315 corsses [sic] Interstate 670 on the Scioto River west of Downtown, said John Lenio, a site-relocation consultant with CBRE Group, Inc." http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180619/covermymeds-proposes-1000-new-hq-jobs-for-columbus-in-return-for-tax-deal Would be a huge development. Wonder if this was the deal that fell through for Buckingham's Scioto Peninsula plans?

I forgot I took this photo last Thursday, but the old Acorn building is almost finished with demo:

If those two regions want a top 20 metro, then build a top 20 metro. It's not like there's someone at the Census Bureau who hasn't flipped a switch.

The picture from the NBC article shows it at the current Tesla showroom; the former McDonald's. An addition, Tesla move, or just a stock photo?

DHL buys land to build headquarters "Westerville’s investment in Westar Place has brought the city another new tenant, this time in the form of a new headquarters for a Fortune 500 company. At its May 15 meeting, Westerville City Council approved a purchase agreement with Hyperion Properties for a 10.1-acre parcel of Westar Place that sits across the lake from the newly opened Renaissance Marriott Hotel, 409 Altair Parkway. According to City Manager David Collinsworth, Hyperion is the real-estate subsidiary of German logistics company DHL, which plans to use the space for a 145,000-square-foot, 4-story facility, worth $20 million, that will be its new North and South American headquarters. Collinsworth said DHL is already a “major employer” in Westerville, thanks to its location at 570 Polaris Parkway that employs 630 people. When construction of the new facility is complete, Colllinsworth said, DHL will move its operation to Westar Place." http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20180529/dhl-buys-land-to-build-headquarters

A view of the High Street corridor from South Campus to Downtown. From an airplane photo from Instagram.

According to this article... https://allsteelmidrise.com/portfolio/beatty-building ...it won't be complete until Fall of 2019!

Just two miles down old 161 into New Albany's new "town center" is a series of "light urbanism" developments. I'd take that over this generic 90s development.

Wow, that makes 14 hotels within a half mile of the Polaris/71 exit. Insane. Any other destination retailers on their way?...

Really wish Crawford Hoying were doing this project. The Big Lots HQ is built well for the most part, but I can't help but think this could have been Bridge Park New Albany. There are tens of thousands of young people who live in thousands of apartments (and ever more being built), because it's convenient to their good jobs in the area. I can't help but think a good portion of them would flock to a more urban development. The developers could have gotten way more for their money here. And the City of Columbus should have really pushed for something more, too. This looks no different than the mess over around Cemetery/270 in Hilliard. Preaching to the choir here, I know. Just very disappointing.

That looks way better than the previous iteration where you could see the massive garage from Lane. That appears to no longer be the case. Lane Avenue turning into what 5th Avenue should be!

Relevant to some conversations about city leadership in Ohio cities, but on topic for this thread: http://go.columbusregion.com/webmail/185592/1049624068/63aab0cffac808dfbbc9e7a95a6e4185a9fb1eab38b6b5d0c6e470500caa95b3 "Keeping – or at least, trying to keep – the status quo in your local economy has never been so costly. There is a high price to pay for not dislodging the way we educate and train a ready workforce, move citizens to and from the workplace, plan and build housing, and deliver economic development services. The Great Recession did dislodge many of these ideas, but the gravitational pull back to old ways is constant and compelling. It would be easy for community developers, city and regional planners, workforce partners, and business attraction groups to go back to staying in their lanes and out of each other’s business. Or, we can forge ahead to define a new era of collaboration and innovation, to grow our local and regional economies in ways that lift more people and create advantage for our entire country. We can resource local, regional, state and national economic development teams with funds to compete. And we can support the training of a diverse new group of professionals that will look more like the citizens it serves." -Kenny McDonald

It's amazing how close the statistics are for Columbus versus Nashville...there are certainly signs of physical growth in Columbus, but in Nashville the sheer number of tower cranes and small infill projects is on a much higher level. It is pretty frustrating, but they've grown about 50% more than us since 2010; but they grew only 3,000 more than Columbus this past year. So if Columbus keeps that momentum in the coming years we could start to see us approaching their crane levels. And considering we're neither in the South nor a tourist destination, I'd say getting to their level would be quite impressive. We're seeing a flurry of development right now that a lot of is finishing up this year. Once lenders see them get occupied (residential, retail, and commercial) we should see our next flurry of proposals soon. Hopefully this time we'll get some height!

Correct.

I cherry picked the stats for each of these cities (minus Raleigh-Durham) this morning. I took the recession lows, and the post-recession highs. The only thing that happens is Cleveland passes Pittsburgh and Charlotte is on the fence if not over into the "explosive" group. City: Low Date - High Date: Jobs Added (%) Pittsburgh: February 2010 - November 2017: 108,200 (9.9%) Cleveland: January 2010 - June 2017: 103,200 (10.6%) Cincinnati: January 2010 - June 2017: 144,700 (15.1%) Kansas City: January 2010 - December 2017: 158,500 (16.8%) Indianapolis: January 2010 - November 2017: 187,300 (21.1%) Columbus: January 2010 - December 2017: 196,900 (21.9%) Charlotte: July 2009 - December 2017: 270,300 (29.0%) Nashville: July 2009 - November 2017: 258,100 (34.8%) Austin: July 2009 - March 2018: 296,800 (38.9%)

German Village Hotel Proposal Grows to Six Stories "A proposal to build a hotel on the northern edge of German Village has grown in size. When the project was brought before the German Village Commission in March, plans called for a five-story building with 129 guest rooms. The latest concept, which was heard by the commission last night, calls for a six-story building with 156 rooms and an underground garage with space for 148 cars. Located at 31 E. Livingston Ave., the hotel would be built on the site of a surface parking lot and a one-story office building, which would be demolished. Two existing buildings are included within the scope of the project and would be renovated; one at 489 City Park Ave. and the other at 46 E. Blenkner St." https://www.columbusunderground.com/german-village-hotel-bw1

Using the BLS link posted in another thread, I tallied the jobs numbers for the 3Cs and their closest competitors since March 2008. They seem to fall into four categories: stagnant, fair, good-to-great, and explosive. Stagnant: Cleveland: 5,100 jobs added (0.5%) Pittsburgh: 37,100 (3.3%) Fair: Cincinnati: 52,500 jobs added (5.1%) Kansas City: 78,900 (7.8%) Good-to-great: Indianapolis: 116,800 jobs added (12.3%) Columbus: 135,700 (14.3%) Raleigh-Durham: 132,600 (16.5%) Charlotte: 172,500 (16.7%) Explosive: Nashville: 196,400 jobs added (24.7%) Austin: 270,600 (34.3%)

Axe Throwing Lounge Coming Soon to Downtown Columbus https://www.columbusunderground.com/dueling-axes-downtown-columbus-tm1 This will be a block south of 16-Bit, Dirty Franks, et al in the South Fourth (Short Fourth?) area of downtown. Looks fun!