RealEstateBoy

Also this was passed by city council a few weeks ago, very interesting. I certainly think we could be in the running or a serious contender... http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170727/city-council-crafting-incentives-for-firms-with-big-plans I forgot about this! It goes in line with the wording of the search for HQ2. Especially adding making a point to add the words high paying jobs. I also HIGHLY doubt that Amazon doesn't have a list of cities they are already talking with, but they are going to leverage this as much as possible for a tax incentives.

Oddly enough... Columbus can. Currently Franklinton, which is literally across from downtown is basically a blank slate ripe for development. Much of the property in Franklinton is city owned with Mt. Carmel about to free up even more space, its an up and coming creative neighborhood, plus it has the benefit of being on high frequency bus corridors of Broad and Town streets that could easily become LRT corridors. Anyway, I think things are about to get interesting... and maybe brutal with this competition. Not to mention the sea of parking lots on the east end of downtown. I think this would be more then enough space for an urban Amazon campus.

I honestly think Ohio has a fighting chance with this one. As mentioned previously Ohio already has a significant Amazon presence that is only going to become more significant over the next few years. Amazon already has plans on expanding their presence in the north suburbs of Columbus, from three to fifteen data centers, which will be a significant amount of the companies computing power. They are continuing to add more fulfillment centers across the state and the international cargo hub is at CVG. If I were a company I would want to have key executives to as much of this as possible. I also think Amazon's contract with AEP being made was made public was conveniently right before Amazon said it was looking for a location for HQ2, and we will never know what is really in the blacked out portion of the contract Amazon has with AEP. Not sure if I think this is coincidence...

What is going on with the mansion at the corner of Auburn & McMillan? It has been for sale for months. Looks like a gas station waiting to happen. I've been too a few meeting recently with historic preservation groups, and I know that they are pushing heavily to keep the building intact. Medical office space or other office space is much more likely, the property has a significant historical background.

I continue to find the parking complaints ironic. Downtown, where there are at least 40,000 parking spots and 40% of the land is used for parking, retail consistently struggles outside of maybe a small section of Gay Street. When the Short North had tons more parking, its retail corridor was full of holes and population in the area was falling. Complaining about a lack of parking for Gallery Hop is like complaining that you can't find a spot close to a store at Easton on Black Friday. 99% of the time, it's relatively easy to find a spot in the Short North, especially after the new garages were built. God forbid anyone have to walk more than 100 feet- or *gasp* a few blocks- to find a spot off High. I'm not sure what people think is going to happen with the SN parking situation. There is only so much room for parking, and all of the new development projects have included parking, so they're not really adding to that problem. You either tear stuff down for more garages/lots and lose some of the vibrancy/popularity of the area and therefore decrease demand for the parking you just built, or you accept that this is an urban neighborhood with limited space. If your business plan needs a drive-thru, the SN is probably not going to work out for you. If you need to park 10 feet from the entrance to a restaurant, maybe you should stay in Hilliard. This is just how urban neighborhoods work. Simply put, there is never again going to be a time when parking is cheap and abundant in the Short North. Can't handle it, stay away. I'm willing to say that Whit's didn't survive because it doesn't have the name that Jeni's does, and people are willing to stand in that line. Parking is like building onto a road, people will fill to the capacity that it provides. However, to say that parking is an easy task any Friday or Saturday is a joke. Non-residence of the Short North are unable to park on the majority of the side streets, the garages fill up quickly and valet zones take up valuable space on High Street. I've never been unable to find a spot, but I have looked for a spot for close to an hour at times. Unfortunately parking is something that Columbus has to have, it has to be built into new developments, because adding 100+ new residents to the neighborhood makes it that much harder for non-residence to find a place to park and patronize the restaurants, bars, and shops in the community.