casey

Fast-growing Klarna expanding its role easing e-commerce By Tim Feran, The Columbus Dispatch Sunday March 27, 2016 5:33 AM The Swedish e-commerce company Klarna recently made Columbus its North American headquarters. In slightly more than a year, the Columbus headquarters has grown from a handful of employees to 85 and is expected to have several hundred employees in the next year, and as many as 500 in the next three years. ... "We're looking at 700 percent growth this year, although our head count won't grow that much," he said. "In the next 12 to 18 months, we'll expand to several hundred people. We might need our own building. We're in it for the long haul." http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/03/27/1-fast-growing-klarna-expanding-its-role-easing-e-commerce.html

Pretty interesting data released this morning. I don't think there is a specific Columbus population thread, so I'll just summarize here. The Columbus metro was estimated to have added +24,324 people between 7/1/14 and 7/1/15, and Franklin County to have added +17,596.

^ The new renovations to the terminal really look great IMO. A huge and much needed improvement, especially to the ticket lobby. In other CMH news, passenger traffic in Feb continued to rise - up 11.5% from the same month last year. This should continue to climb moving forward too, as Frontier returns and begins service this summer. They have already claimed a spot on the north side of the lobby, in between Delta and AA, and will apparently also be returning to operate again out of their old spot in the B concourse. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/03/22/passenger-numbers-at-central-ohio-airports-keep-rising.html

Definitely good news for Whitehall, but still disappointing that moving to the historic Port Columbus terminal building didn't work out...

Port Columbus handles 6% more passengers in January than year earlier By Marla Matzer Rose, The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday February 24, 2016 Port Columbus handled 6 percent more passengers in January than a year earlier, according to the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. Southwest Airlines, the airport's biggest carrier, saw the biggest increase: a 17.8 percent surge in passengers, the authority reported Tuesday. The airport served 497,087 passengers in January, up from 468,868 in January 2015. The growth continues the momentum from 2015, a year in which passenger traffic increased 6.9 percent from 2014. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/02/24/1-port-columbus-handles-6-more-passengers-in-january-than-year-earlier.html

The parking entry on Lane is really bad.

Seriously? Not even close. This is standard suburban sprawl.

I visited Cleveland last month for work and luckily was staying downtown so I got to visit Heinen's for the first time (after reading so much about it from you guys on here). Overall, I thought it was fantastic, but would echo what others mentioned above about needing to make it more visible/obvious/enticing from the street. Also, the article referred to by rockandroller is probably this one from Cleveland.com, which has the following quotes, "We're crawling before we walk, but we're definitely in the game. There simply aren't enough people living downtown yet to truly support the store," Tom Heinen said. "It's very rare that anybody in our business opens a store and makes money within the first few years. Even as high as our brand awareness is here in Cleveland, you're still dealing with a neighborhood shop, that local residents have to want to support." http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/02/heinens_downtown_cleveland_finds_its_niche_as_an_urban_grocer_as_store_marks_1st_anniversary.html

CoGo starts daily bike rentals through new app By Rick Rouan, The Columbus Dispatch Monday February 15, 2016 CoGo Bikeshare riders who want to purchase a day pass can now do so with a smartphone app. Users can download "Transit App," which tracks how many bikes are available at CoGo kiosks, and they can purchase a code through it to unlock a bike from the dock. Previously, users had to use their credit card at the kiosk. http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-city/2016/02/cogo-app.html

+1 I would hope a new tower on Public Sq, or at least a downtown location in CLE is at the top of their list. It would seem to be keeping with MM's corporate culture of both seeking a highly visible presence in the urban core as well as being very civic-minded. Here in CBUS, they not only consolidated their offices onto Capitol Sq, but also around that same time signed on (to the tune of $1.25M) as the presenting sponsor of our bike share. That system is focused on downtown and adjacent neighborhoods, and together the moves have increased their visibility in the community many-fold.

Interesting. I don't remember the McDonald's but if you look through the windows today the interior is still outfitted with booths and painted with the colors from when it was a Skyline Chili in the late 90s. Such a shame these buildings have sat empty for so long.

Very cool. I'd like to see them go forward with a hotel + retail for the Yoga on High site. Other than Le Meridien, there really isn't anywhere to stay in the SN outside of BnBs. You're either across the river on suburban-style Olentangy River Rd, or Downtown right at the convention center. Would be great to see more options embedded in the neighborhood itself.

Those last two games against Montreal were some sweet, sweet schadenfreude after the way this season started for both teams. Also: Jones is looking better and better, Torts is coming back after the break, and Korpisalo is performing well beyond what anyone could have hoped. We obviously aren't going to make the playoffs, but this is still a fun team to watch and support!

^ Disappointing, of course. But this is still a pretty great project IMO.

Port Columbus passenger traffic continued rebound in 2015 By Marla Matzer Rose, The Columbus Dispatch Wednesday January 27, 2016 Passenger totals at Port Columbus for 2015 reached their highest level since 2008 and were the fourth-highest total in the airport's history, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority. The number of passengers reached 6.79 million, a 6.9 percent increase compared to 2014, while the month of December was up 8.5 percent over the previous year. December 2015 marked the 22nd consecutive month for growth in passenger totals at Port Columbus. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/01/27/1-passenger-traffic-continued-rebound-in-2015.html

^ Really great news, and long overdue. The Dispatch article on this had a few more details, Buses will run every 30 minutes, seven days a week. Passengers will pay a $2.75 express fare to travel one-way. Tickets will be sold at a kiosk that accepts credit cards, and riders also can use cash in the bus. COTA also has a strong marketing plan for the route, he said. The authority is working with Experience Columbus to put ads on the airport concourse, and smartphone users will see social media plugs for the service when they’re in the airport. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/01/27/COTA_plans_line_between_airport_and_Downtown.html

I'm liking this generally except it's interaction at ground level with the street - nothing but blank walls and tiny windows to nowhere. Ideally there would be retail space, but if that's not viable for whatever reason at least a more interesting material treatment or possibly some public art would do a lot to improve the scheme IMO.

Well, NRI certainly doesn't mess around. As of last week, Parks Edge has officially broken ground and is now under construction. :clap: https://www.instagram.com/p/BAiDSWtO1tA/

Interesting. I agree with ColDayMan it's certainly a sizable win for Franklinton to snag this over another more established neighborhood. I wonder if they are eyeing an existing space (somewhere like this maybe? - https://goo.gl/maps/UipydEGU3F22) or are looking to go into a proposed new-build?

Finally some more action on the retail spaces in Highpoint! Condado (popular Short North taco restaurant/bar) will be taking over the space at the far north of the complex for their second location (briefly proposed as a Bibibop way back when). They are also looking to expand in Clintonville and out of town to Cincinnati. Proposed storefront elevation and patio plan at the link below, Taco joint opening 2nd eatery downtown, Clintonville likely up next http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/01/19/taco-joint-opening-2nd-eatery-downtown.html I think this will be pretty successful and help to drive a lot more traffic into the area outside of the workday 9-5. Hopefully it also spurs some interest in filling in the neighboring vacant storefronts (5/3 building, Lazarus building, Schottenstein properties across High, 250 High, etc) sooner rather than later.

This latest proposal from Edwards is the worst. And losing the two historic buildings along 16th Ave would be a tragedy.

Not to nitpick, but, 1. CBC (the restaurant) is not affiliated with Columbus Brewing Company (the brewery). This is admittedly confusing. 2. The Crest is not, and has never been, a microbrewery. It's just a restaurant that serves craft beer.

Hmm... Wexners: The Smithsonian and American Museum of Natural History may come to the Scioto Peninsula http://www.columbusmonthly.com/content/blogs/the-latest/2015/12/scioto-peninsula-wexners.html

Strong growth continuing at CMH. November numbers were up 15% over 2014: Port Columbus reports more passengers, flights in November By Dan Gearino, The Columbus Dispatch Friday December 25, 2015 Port Columbus had 582,430 passengers in November, up 15 percent from a year earlier. Looking at January to November, the passenger count was up 7 percent from a year earlier. The airport had 3,946 flights in November, up 4 percent. For January to November, the flight count was up 1 percent. “We’re seeing airlines bringing larger aircraft into the market,” said Angie Tabor, Port Columbus spokeswoman, explaining why the increase in passengers grew by more than the increase in flights. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2015/12/25/port-columbus-reports-more-passengers-flights-in-november.html

Wow. Very nicely designed IMO. I especially like the inclusion of retail space and garden-level apartment units.