casey

I generally find almost all campaign email lists to be incredibly incompetent, incessant, and off-putting, even for candidates that I really like. But with that said, the ODP is definitely in dire straits and has been for a long time. Ed FitzGerald should have been the wake up call and low point to come back from, but honestly statewide the Dems aren't doing any better today. I don't know what the solution is, but yes it's a disaster and a total embarrassment

City numbers will be released next Thursday the 24th, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/estimates-advisory.html

I think Cordray is unfortunately facing an uphill battle, even if Brown wins by a comfortable margin. DeWine has much better name recognition, and despite the Trump takeover of the ORP and somewhat bruising primary battle with Taylor, he's still seen as a moderate, sane, Kasich-style Republican. I can foresee a lot of split tickets, especially in suburban areas that vote for both Brown and DeWine

I don't think these fulfillment centers really have anything to do with corporate jobs. They are strictly placed according to where they need to go to efficiently distribute/deliver orders. Almost every large city now has at least a few of them. I still would agree we don't have much of a chance for HQ2 landing here, but I wouldn't read anything into this news about that

Today in Franklinton... River and Rich is beginning to get its colorful metal panel exterior installed. Brickwork and balconies are complete Out of Town is quickly coming along and has a nice street presence Brewdog is now open And finally Gravity which might be my favorite project going up around town right now

~3 months later...

Quick update on 711 N High while stuck in this afternoon's traffic. Moving right along...

Oh please. Your last sentence is the only thing around here that sounds ridiculous. I've been up and down Price many many times and lived on 1st a block off High for several years. The tower portion will be across from Pizzuti's apartment project and have practically no effect on homes further down the block other than raising their property values. I just don't see any reasonable argument against this project

Cool! Nice to finally see the medians getting underway as well after being in the works for more than a dozen years. Somewhere I have a Clintonville Community Directory from the early 00s that has renderings of the future High St medians on its cover...

You just described every cross street in Manhattan. It works there thousands of times over. I think it can work here in Columbus at least once

Here's a second rendering showing the true width of Price. Keep in mind the Pizzuti project which will be two large buildings, and the new UDF and White Castle projects are not shown here

COTA is actually running a regular bus route on it now, the limited stop 2L express from Downtown (which is great btw). But, if you get off anywhere along Polaris Parkway itself you're still dumped straight into a drainage ditch and then have to hike through landscaping to your nearest parking lot in order to get anywhere... Thankfully there are pedestrian signals at most intersections, but you aren't really given enough time to make it across 10 lanes, especially without a median refuge island and needing to dodge distracted drivers making no-stop right turns. It's an incredibly hostile environment to anything not on four wheels

It's not saying much, but that new "Point" office/apartment project is probably the best thing anyone has going up at Polaris. If it's successful and the developers are smart, there's an opportunity to expand it using the same template on empty land next door and across the street Then, with some small investments to Lyra Dr and the parking lot on that side of the mall, you could actually have a nice, little walkable node there in the middle of our sprawling hellscape

I was pretty neutral about this change honestly. On the surface it seems like a token appeasement to those who wanted districts, but in reality it doesn't mean much of anything because everyone will continue to be elected citywide Also with only 9 members, each "district" will have well over 100,000 people in it by 2024 and need to encompass a pretty wide geographic area as well. So it won't be a problem for the FCDP to spread their preferred candidates around and basically keep the current status quo firmly in place even under the new format

Yikes

Columbus fourth-hottest housing market in country For April 2018, from Realtor.com, 1) Midland, TX (?) 2) Boston 3) San Francisco 4) Columbus http://www.dispatch.com/entertainmentlife/20180508/columbus-fourth-hottest-housing-market-in-country https://www.realtor.com/research/april-2018-hottest-markets/

Wow. This has become a very substantial project! Definitely should serve as a template for other corridors as well And while there's no bus route that runs on Lane Ave currently, UA, OSU, and Columbus should at least collaborate on putting down bike lanes along here linking to the greenways and High St

Kaufman's IBEW proposal has seen some minor revisions (darker materials, reorganizing some balconies) and will be up before the VVC again this Thursday. The height of the tower portion remains the same as last month - 14 stories Tower proposal for Short North grows to 14 stories, awaits approval The building would stretch from W. 2nd Avenue to Price Avenue just west of High Street. It would include about 200 apartments, 35,000 square feet of offices, parking and retail/restaurant space. Most of the project would be included in a single building with several different elevations, the highest of which would be 14 stories high. Kaufman said the new proposal shifts the tallest part of the building toward High Street, away from the single-family-home neighborhood to the west. “Obviously, we think there’s demand in the area for additional density but it’s really about moving the density toward High Street away from the neighborhood, instead of having a single height throughout,” said Kaufman, adding, “A 14-story building in most urban environments isn’t considered to be tall. It’s quite natural.” http://www.dispatch.com/business/20180508/tower-proposal-for-short-north-grows-to-14-stories-awaits-approval

Hmm... Clintonville makes sense, but not sure I can really see this working in Dublin just yet. Even with all their recent improvements it's still a pretty hostile environment up there to anyone who isn't on the inside of a car OTOH, I wonder if Lime will consider adding electric scooters here like they have in SF and elsewhere?

I agree. Mostly what we get I would call "innocent ignorance." It's usually along the lines of a backhanded compliment like, "You won't believe this is" or "Who knew this existed in" flyover country, Columbus, Ohio, etc Our reputation is just that we don't have one at all, or that of a boring, white bread nowheresville with nothing to do. Either can be corrected easily enough

Rumblings are that this project continues to grow and will now extend all the way to Lane Ave and North Star, meaning it will take over the land currently occupied by both Half Price Books and Pizza hut...

Or Columbus for that matter? Curious where you see any ®s running the city?

Since we're all throwing out our opinions on this I'll add mine too ;) I don't think 225 80 on the Commons looks "bad" necessarily from any side. Yes, it's clearly the Borg Cube on 3rd, but I don't mind that actually. A solid, 12-story streetwall is a pretty good addition anywhere in downtown Columbus as far as I'm concerned. Having no other buildings on 3 sides is what makes it look somewhat awkward IMO. Add something of a similar size and scale (or larger!) on the NE and SE corners as well and we'll really be in business The one design choice I question is going with protruding balconies vs recessed for the apartments... I just think I'd feel very overexposed and wouldn't enjoy spending much time out on my little windswept concrete ledge living here versus the inset balconies at 250 High. I suppose anything is better than HighPoint's 'Juliet' doors though...

Not to get too far off track from this thread topic, but google streetview captured this neighborhood in Springfield in 2007 and you can take a virtual tour of it. Block after block after block of historic homes and the street grid they occupied were completely obliterated for a hospital and associated surface parking 4x larger than the building itself. Absolutely disgusting before https://goo.gl/maps/qZjttkhsurz, after https://goo.gl/maps/4Ezy8ZTKSGF2 before https://goo.gl/maps/12R1uFvWGGq, after https://goo.gl/maps/pKSZSvZfWhk before https://goo.gl/maps/yvdz2siQNtH2, after https://goo.gl/maps/vxf8ns6BXEn

Interesting article from the New York Post, New Yorkers are flocking to this Midwest sanctuary https://nypost.com/2018/04/25/ex-new-yorkers-are-flocking-to-this-midwest-sanctuary/ A couple quotes, Driving around the German Village, Short North and Old Towne East neighborhoods, they noticed the city’s positive energy — and the refreshing degree of homeownership. “We started thinking, ‘There’s a momentum here,’ ” says Catherine, now 33. “And we could make something for ourselves that we wouldn’t be able to do in NYC. That was the turning point, and we moved six months later.” For their own home, the couple paid $204,000 for a 1,200-square-foot, two-bedroom, 2½-bathroom duplex in German Village, which is Park Slope-esque — walkable and filled with independent businesses. “I think downtown Columbus is strikingly attractive. I love some of the loft buildings I’ve seen, and there is ample light, as compared to NYC,” she adds. Citing a February Food and Wine article about chefs decamping to Columbus, she adds, “So many New Yorkers are leaving for these civilized destinations!”