CMH_Downtown

Having been in a similar situation many times before, it seems people are satisfied with a rough geographical description. When I get the confused look after saying I'm from Ohio, I say it's in between Chicago and New York, and the person(s) I'm speaking with are generally satisfied. By in large though, many people I've come in contact with are aware of Cleveland's existance, so that makes things easier. As far as what's IN Ohio, I don't think I've ever gotten that far except for with friends and relatives in Puerto Rico. Given their respective geographical positions, climate is always the main topic. I tell them it gets to 35F and people are just wearing heavy sweaters, which usually gets a few gasps, since the lowest temperature ever recorded on the island is in the low 50s. Population statistics come next, and most people, both in Puerto Rico and also when I've visited Europe, are pretty impressed that Ohio has several cities with metro populations of 1 million and over.

PLEASE let it be a grocery store!

A map of the proposed motor bike park:

Gateway countdown Developers optimistic despite unleased space as opening day nears By Mike Pramik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH In about a month, the first tenants will move into the long-awaited South Campus Gateway project. Will Gateway be ready? The answer is no, not as a completed concept. The $151 million development, nearly a decade in the making, has plenty of office space and retail storefronts unspoken for as tenants secured so far prepare to move in. But the project’s developer, observers and at least one signed tenant say Gateway is well on the way to fulfilling its objective of becoming a successful, unique campus residence and entertainment area. To date, 12 of the expected three dozen retail tenants have been announced, although they represent more than half the available 225,000 square feet of retail space, Campus Partners President Terry Foegler said. Ohio State University’s human resources department will begin operations in 50,000 square feet of office space Aug. 8, leaving about 40,000 square feet unleased. Apartments will be ready in early August for occupancy by law students, medical students and others affected by the school’s limited semester system. Most of Ohio State’s students begin fall quarter in late September. More at http://www.dispatch.com

Sounds like a great plan to me. Anything that will add jobs and be a regional attraction would be nice. Franklinton embraces plan for motorcycles at the Coop By Robert Vitale THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH A Franklinton business group has endorsed a plan to turn Cooper Stadium’s 47 acres into a motorcycling megaplex that would include a hotel, restaurant and dealership, as well as a racetrack on the field where the Columbus Clippers now play. In the proposal by A.D. Farrow Co. Harley-Davidson, Farrow would leave the stadium’s seating largely in place, but spectators would watch races from grandstands that first offered views of minor-league baseball in 1932. It’s one of four plans submitted to a panel that Franklin County commissioners formed in April to study new uses for the county-owned stadium and grounds. The park will be vacated when the Clippers move to a new ballpark in the Arena District by 2008. A member of the committee said a recommendation could be made to commissioners by year’s end if not sooner. The idea already has won a letter of endorsement from the Franklinton Board of Trade, a group of West Side business owners. Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/07/42/20050704-E1-03.html

Just out of curiosity, where did you get the 76,000 figure for the Columbus area? Just searching the main colleges in Franklin County alone, I got 92,000 students: OSU: 58,000 CSCC: 23,000 Capital: 4,000 CCAD: 1,300 ODU: 2,800 Otterbein: 3,000 I couldn't include Franklin University or the Pontifical College Josephenum since they didn't have student population figures. And that just Franklin Country. Include Ohio Weslyan in Delaware Co. Kenyon College in Knox Co, etc. and you have a student population of well over 100,000. One must also remember that Columbus is the destination point for essentially all colleges and universities in Southeast Ohio, including OU, Muskegum, and others which would also be drawn to a store the likes of IKEA.

Here's another rendering: Looks uber-snobby, kinda lik Bexley.

Haha, cool! I love the rolling comments under the OHIKEA logo! Here's hoping Ohio (please be Central ;-)) gets an IKEA store one of these day...

Grange Insurance considers adding to Brewery District headquarters By Mike Pramik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Grange Insurance is considering expanding its Brewery District headquarters, perhaps incorporating the Salvation Army thrift store on Front Street. Grange spokesman Patrick Flaherty said company executives have had discussions with city and state officials about expansion of its location at 650 S. Front St. Grange’s premiums have increased 70 percent in the past five years, and that growth is spurring the need for new space. The insurer has 875 employees at its 10-story, 267,000-square-foot building in the Brewery District. It also has 150 workers at a claims center in Gahanna and 45 at Grange Bank in the Brewery District. Grange would like to consolidate its central Ohio employees. While that might mean constructing a building in the Brewery District, Flaherty said Grange is keeping its options open. Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/06/25/20050525-C1-02.html

Council supports Gowdy Field grant request Columbus threw its support behind a request for $3 million to clean up a former landfill and pave the way for a new Time Warner Cable office on the site. Columbus City Council voted Monday to support the Columbus Regional Airport Authority's application for $3 million from the state's Clean Ohio Fund. The money would help clean up Gowdy Field, a 19-acre site on the west side that was used as a landfill during the 1960s. The city of Columbus cannot apply for the money directly because it owns the site and had a direct role in creating the environmental damage. Time Warner hopes to build a $20 million, three-building complex on the site by 2007. Columbus Urban Growth Corp., a nonprofit development agency affiliated with the city, is master developer for the 19-acre site. Urban Growth has tentatively selected developers Daimler Group Inc. and Wagenbrenner Cos. to lead development of the project. Time Warner would consolidate 450 jobs on the Olentangy River Road site from other Central Ohio operations, and might add as many as 200 more from other parts of the country Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/06/20/daily12.html

Looks like Time-Warner might be interested in consolidating and adding jobs at up to two of the new office buildings proposed for Gowdy Park. Time Warner looks to Gowdy Offices pegged for vacant site Brian R. Ball, Business First A proposed $20 million office project for Time Warner Cable could spur the transformation of a former city dump northwest of downtown Columbus. Time Warner Cable wants to consolidate the bulk of its Columbus operations in a 120,000- to 140,000-square-foot office building at the Olentangy River Road site between Goodale Street and West Third Avenue. The 19-acre site also could accommodate two additional 60,000-square-foot office buildings, one of which could serve as expansion space for Time Warner. Columbus Urban Growth Corp. has tentatively selected developers Daimler Group Inc. and Wagenbrenner Cos. to lead development of the project. "We're taking a site deemed undevelopable and recycling it back into the market," said Odis Jones, Urban Growth's managing director. "We're building jobs while adding to the city's tax base." The proposed project would preserve 450 jobs and possibly lead to the creation of 200 more positions during the next three years. Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/05/20/story4.html

I can't for the life of me find the original topic concerning the conversion of the Buckeye Building to a Residence Inn, but here's an update. I thought the project might have been cancelled or put on hold, since there haven't been any outward signs of progress. I guess that'll be changing. Downtown hotel update Progress was difficult to see from the outside, so the owners of the Buckeye Building have put up a banner assuring passers-by of their intention to turn the historic Downtown structure into a Residence Inn. Concord Hospitality has been working with owner Lubert-Adler for a year on the 78-year-old building at 36 E. Gay Street. The banner proclaims that the 126-suite hotel will be ready by spring. Interior construction should start in a few weeks, Concord’s Deborah Adcock said. "It’s moving, it’s just slower because of all the requirements for historical status.’’ Adcock said. "With an old building, it takes time to get the behind-the-scenes work done.’’ More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/

Another update and a new rendering...I like the old one much better. Developer of Short North condos faces varied challenges By Mike Pramik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Being a young developer is tough enough in Columbus without having to play dominoes. But one might have to fall if Tony Sharp is to get his ambitious condominium project off the ground. The Columbus native is developing Arena Park Place, a 60-unit complex at the northeast corner of Spruce and Park streets near the North Market. Sharp said the $30 million project will require tearing down a building that was built in 1999 to house Club 504. There are other structures on the site, though. One is the home of Columbus Children’s Theater, 512 N. Park St. Sharp said he has a purchase agreement on the building, but a theater executive says it wants to find a new home before vacating. Randy Black, the city’s historic-preservation officer, has approved the condo project in concept and is awaiting final drawings from Sharp, who has hired Moody Nolan to design the buildings. The concept includes a five-story edifice facing Park Street, rising to nine stories to the east. More at http://www.dispatch.com

Lucas County Improvement Corp.? Bah, they shoulda come up with something more creative... Toledo + Lucas = TOLCAS: Toledo Office of Localized Cultivation of Advancement and Success (okay, pulling stuff outta you know where for that one) or maybe... Lucas + Toledo = LULEDO: Local Urban League Endowed to Development, Organization Any others?

Developer gets plans OK’d Interior work on the Casto Co. project at Broad and High streets is going strong a month after the developer’s final plans for the project were approved. There’s "quite a bit’’ of asbestos to be removed from some of the buildings, Casto partner Bill Riat said. Building demolition, including the property at 4 E. Broad St., is expected to begin within six weeks, Riat said. The project was revamped in part because of objections by the Ohio Department of Transportation, which said that several planned signs were too large. Casto Co. tweaked the exterior design. Perhaps the most-visible change, in addition to smaller signage, is the curved television screen that now appears at the corner of the project. Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/2005/05/30/20050530-Pc-C1.html

City Council to seek money for Timken site cleanup Columbus City Council voted Monday night to apply for $3 million in state grants to clean up the former Timken Co. manufacturing site on Cleveland Avenue. The money would pay for soil clean-up, excavation and engineering, according to City Council. Council will apply for a grant from the Clean Ohio program, which helps clean up old industrial sites. Columbus developer Jerome Solove is working to redevelop the 30.9-acre property. Solove told Business First in September he set up a nonprofit development agency, the Milo-Grogan Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., to handle the site. Tentative plans call for a $12.5 million, 550,000-square-foot mixed-use project. Canton-based Timken operated a ball bearing plant on the site for 90 years, but closed it in 2001. More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/

:lol: Many thanks for the renderings, Grasscat. Great find!

I'm not overly impressed by the project. They did repair the sidewalks and gutters, but that appears to be it. No new lighting, no burried telephone wires, no new trees. Maybe those are coming last, but every time I drive up that section of High St., I can't help but think the completed areas don't look much different than they did before.

Stadium land-use proposals piling up Business campus, motorcycle center among possibilities By Robert Vitale THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH A panel formed last month by Franklin County commissioners to find a new use for Cooper Stadium met for the first time this week, and as members get down to business, they’ll have proposals waiting for them. One developer wants to turn the stadium’s 47 acres into a recreation center with ball diamonds, basketball courts and swimming pools. Another wants to create a motorcycling center, with a Harley dealership, riding academy and other attractions. Even before commissioners decided to build a new stadium Downtown for the countyowned Columbus Clippers, others had quietly proposed a water park and a racetrack. Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/05/14/20050514-E1-00.html

As far as the DSCC and the BRAC go, when rumors surfaced roughly a year ago that the complex was in line to be included in this year's round of closings, everyone immediately took action. The Dispatch provided status reports regularly on how the DSCC was working to distinguish itself among other similar operations and often printed special segments about the complex. The city of Whitehall, where the DSCC is actually based, depends on the complex for 47% of its annual budget, so city officials quickly got together to formulate a plan to keep the complex open. The Columbus Chamber of Commerce, local and federal officials, and Whitehall teamed up to found "Team DSCC" which collectively lobbied over $1 million in support of the center. The work paid off, and 6,100 jobs at the DSCC are safe, and another 1,600 are on the way. My question is, with the BRAC close at hand, what did the city of Cleveland, DFAS, and other local sources do to prepare for the possibility of the facility closing? It seems that only now that the closing is imminant that local leaders are getting together to address the situation. Was there any foreward thinking and creative planning for the unforseen?

Blasphamy! How DARE you put Columbus in a positive light?!? I'll bet next you'll talk about how Columbus holds one of the largest and longest running Doo-Dah Parades in the nation...for shame.

I swear I'm going to start compiling a list of all the condescending comments Clevelanders and Cincinnatians (but especially Clevelanders) always have to say about Columbus. There's pleanty of it to wade through in these forums. I don't agree with the positions of many NRA supporters, however I'm at least civil enough to realize that there are many responsible people out there that do, for some reason that I have yet to understand, enjoy guns and their associated activities, and they are free to pursue their hobby if they so wish. I do not see how this reflects poorly on Columbus. I don't see Pittsburgh reeling due to their being the host of the NRA convention last year. Houston doesn't seem to be having any problems hosting it this year. Oh, that's right, but since it's in Columbus it has to bad.

That's it! Thanks for posting that thread, it looks like I missed it the first time around.

'Lifestyle' approach planned for Westland By Brian R. Ball, Business First Date: Monday, May 9, 2005, 12:00am EDT Columbus developer Plaza Properties plans to redevelop the Westland Mall after purchasing a half-interest in the 36-year-old retail center in Columbus. Stephen Campbell, Plaza Properties' chief financial officer, told Business First that tentative plans call for tearing off the roof of the mall and putting two streets through the existing collection of shops and three anchor retail buildings, returning the property back to its late 1960s look. "We want to take it back to its original concept, opening it up again," Campbell said. The "lifestyle center" concept was made popular by the developers of Easton Town Center in Columbus, and the open-air shopping approach has appeared in new or planned retail centers in Cincinnati and Dayton. Partnerships affiliated with California investors Sammy Kahan and Jackie Kashani sold a half interest in the 860,000-square-foot mall to Plaza Properties' Weston Town Centre LLC in late April for $5.5 million - the same amount the investors paid for the entire property in November 2002. More at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/05/09/story7.html

Those that live in Columbus will know that the purchase and renovation of the Bundy Building off Neil Ave. in the Arena District is pretty big news. It's an awesome industrial building with large windows, however most are broken and parts of the structure are literally crumbling. Now that it's in Nationwide's hands, I think we can see some good things come out of it, hopefully a condo conversion. Deal sealed for Bundy building Business First - by Brian R. Ball Date: Monday, May 9, 2005, 12:00am EDT The developer of the Arena District in Columbus has an agreement to purchase a downtown bakery equipment warehouse, but less specific are plans on how it will redevelop the property. Nationwide Realty Investors has agreed to buy the Russell T. Bundy Associates property at 237 Neil Avenue for an undisclosed sum. It expects to close on the property's sale July 6. "We thought it was an outstanding site and a natural extension of the development activity in the Arena District," said Brian Ellis, Nationwide Realty's president and chief operating officer. MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/05/09/story1.html