casey

Yawn. David Glimcher is hopelessly trapped in the mindset of 1998. Everything popping up at this exit is like some zombie idea fever dream from 20 years ago On my list of things I wish our region would spend $2B on this ranks so low...

8 cars?! Ugh this sucks. Honestly the city should have just paid car2go whatever subsidy they were asking for. That service was infinitely more useful and actually contributed something meaningful to their whole "Smart City" schtick

Hmmm... Amazon plans Thursday announcement for Columbus — but it’s not about HQ2 Amazon has confirmed that it plans an announcement Thursday that involves the Columbus region. The company won’t say what it is, other than it does not involve the Seattle-based retailer’s plan to develop a second headquarters. http://www.dispatch.com/business/20180627/amazon-plans-thursday-announcement-for-columbus---but-its-not-about-hq2

I haven't been down that way in a while to check on progress, but the "Smart Columbus Experience Center" is opening this Saturday. They're holding a block party and featuring lots of different mobility options (I'm still bitter about car2go though...) SMART MOBILITY BLOCK PARTY Saturday, June 30th 9:00AM - 2:00PM To celebrate the Grand Opening, we’re surrounding the Smart Columbus Experience Center with all the mobility options Columbus has to offer in a Smart Mobility Block Party! Come take a spin in a new electric vehicle, climb aboard a COTA bus, learn bike safety tips and discover new ways of getting around, and stay for food, fun and prizes! https://smartcbus.com/experiencecenter/ Also, here's a rendering,

Oh please

Major California vibes from this. Very different from anything else we have going up. I like it

Yikes. I really love the concept (4-story mixed use), but that design is a total mess. It's so busy and jittery... Bizarre planes and surfaces coming out of nowhere and going every which way for no reason All the Berardi designs always come out of the gate like that. (Remember that crazy iteration of the SN White Castle?) I don't get it. UARB needs to tell him to rein it in

They honestly need to do something with the garage, it looks terrible from every angle. It's weathered like crazy all along the sides, the 3rd street retail arcade is decrepit and abandoned, they screwed some generic vinyl tarps into random parts advertising "courthouse/columbus commons parking" which are now faded and torn, there's a bunch of mall signage inside that was never removed/replaced, etc etc...

I know Wood Co has a lot going on right now (even that's a huge understatement), but I wonder if they'll ever dust off the plans to add 4-5 stories of apartments on the back side of the Winders Chevy (Hubbard Grille) building?

^ Possibly this "micro apartment" project on Norwich? https://www.urbanohio.com/forum/index.php/topic,20875.msg884503.html#msg884503

^My problem with it is more that the pancake as designed will exist in a bubble, not as part of the urban environment. Plop this pancake down on the Mount Carmel site with some structured parking and you would really start to have something. Height would be nice, but I agree it's not what's really important. Spinoff activity and connections are. That's why the city is jumping through hoops like crazy to incentivize developers to build commercial office space in the Short North. It optimizes investments in parking by increasing usage during the day, which residents and visitors then use at night. It encourages and allows for more people to bus, walk, and bike to work. It produces all kinds of daytime activity to support shops and restaurants in the neighborhood. Etc etc How many people are going to bus to work at the McKinley pancake? Zero. They'll drive in by themselves and park in the Polaris-scale surface lot. Where can someone working there walk to nearby to grab lunch or shop? Nowhere. They'll go downstairs to the cafeteria/vending machines, or hop in the car and pop over to Wendy's The pancake will be totally dead nights and weekends as much as any Dublin office park. Yes, its a sleek rendering and will look nice when you drive by it at 65 mph on 670. But no, I don't think it's a particularly smart or advantageous scheme for urban development

As a Franklin County resident this whole thread is so strange to read... Up here our commissioners just took a 5-year "temporary" .25% sales tax increase imposed in 2013 (solely by them, not voters) which was originally for a new jail and morgue, and made it permanent to fund as-of-now vague and undefined "county operations." There was maybe one or two cursory articles in the Dispatch about this, but otherwise not a peep from anyone. Total silence. The Franklin County GOP I suppose still exists, in theory, but the last time I even remember them putting out as much as a press release about something was probably circa 2002 And we are actually pretty heavily taxed I'd say, plus this issue in particular you would think might have gained attention because it was directly reneging on a still-recent commitment to the public, but absolutely no one is either aware of or even interested in discussing, let alone fighting it. Comparing that to what you guys are constantly battling down in Cincinnati is astounding to me

I don't know how successful it would be considering the McKinley site has family ties or how much leverage there really is to work with, but the city should at least try and steer CoverMyMeds into the Scioto Peninsula or another proper, shovel-ready urban site Biz1st made an interesting comparison between this project being a similar size to when AEP relocated their HQ here in the 1980s. Then, we got a very transit-accessible 31-story downtown skyscraper, now it looks like we're getting a 4 story pancake with a surface lot wedged between the freeway and the tracks...

The near east side seems like it's finally starting to pick up steam!

Damn. I was hoping for an Alamo Drafthouse

Woof... That site plan keeps getting worse every iteration this goes through... I hope they can get on with it soon, I'm scared to imagine how it would change next

In all fairness to the developers, the city's method of accounting is what's screwing with the numbers here. The Joseph development has wayyy more than 20 people working there across a restaurant, bar, 11-story hotel, 5 floors of fully-leased office space, 2 retail stores, a parking garage, and an art museum. By any truly objective measure it's a massive success

^Basically, the facade as built is inconsistent with the design that was approved. This was first discussed at the October 2017 UARB meeting, • Mr. Ferdelman reviewed the inconsistencies between approved drawings and as-built. a. The cast stone portions of the facade were clad with running bond stone rather than rusticated piers and vertical stone pieces between the piers. b. The upper cornice was set lower on the facade than as designed and parts of the cornice seem open to the weather. c. The Southernmost portion of the facade has a brick bridge above the storefront windows that was not part of the approved drawings. • Mr. Ferdelman commented that the purpose of the review and remediation is that plans approved by the Board are expected to be built as reviewed and approved unless modifications are made know to the Board and approved by them. • Mr. Petruziello remarked the entire parapet is lower than was in the approved drawings. • Mr. Goodman expressed the concern that the execution of the design was inconsistent; the Board expects a higher level of care especially on High Street; speaking for the Board we expect substantial adherence to the approved drawings. • Mr. Petruziello commented that stone should return in the insets; the running bond versus rusticated stone seems less important than removing the stigma of the thin veneer applique on these storefront bays. • Mr. Grado commented that the brick and stone should return along the entire High Street facade. • Mr. Goodman remarked the Applicants should respond to the comments with proposed design solutions. • Ms. Uhas-Sauer commented that the solution should be compliance to the Board approved design. • Mr. Grado concurred that the proposed remedies should be aimed at compliance with the original design intent. • Mr. Fleming commented that some work will be required on this building; the building as built calls into question the entire design review process. • Mr. Ferdelman stated that the ground level at minimum should be addressed. • Mr. Petruziello stated that drawings and details must be reviewed by the Board prior to doing any remedial work. https://www.columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Columbus/Departments/Development/Planning_Division/Boards_and_Commissions/University_Area_Review_Board/Meetings/2017/UIDRB%20Meeting%20Summary-2017-10-19.pdf It was brought up again in December, https://www.columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Columbus/Departments/Development/Planning_Division/Boards_and_Commissions/University_Area_Review_Board/Meetings/2017/UIDRB%20Meeting%20Summary-2017-12-21.pdf And again in March, https://www.columbus.gov/uploadedFiles/Columbus/Departments/Development/Planning_Division/Boards_and_Commissions/University_Impact_District_Review_Board/Meetings/2018/UIDRB%20Meeting%20Summary_2018-03-15.pdf

As of today signage is up for Target, and the interior looks pretty much done. Lots of wide open windows directly into the store from High St too. Should be nice

Bit different final view of the Edwards project here. I still don't like the details/finishes on this, (hopefully UARB and the city are sticking to them to make the requested facade changes), but the overall massing really blends pretty well with the streetscape

Most of the cladding is on now at 7th/High. It doesn't look terrible. I'm glad they scrapped going with scarlet and grey

Update on 5th and Summit starting to go vertical

Yes but I imagine CAPA doesn't care how the back looks (and probably doesn't have the money to spare even if they did). It mostly affects the commons, so just guessing that CDDC would need to foot the bill for any improvements

This is from earlier in the week. 800 N High is going to be very impressive

^^ Greyhound absolutely needs to stay downtown IMO. I think ideally it would work best in a consolidated facility with Amtrak/commuter rail near the convention center Pittsburgh has a beautiful, state-of-the-art, really very very nice Greyhound station on the ground floor of a parking garage across the street from their Amtrak stop. It works extremely well and is so convenient. I wish we could just copy-paste the same thing over here to Columbus