cityscapes

Yeah you're right. If you're going to go through the trouble of fixing bad outdated zoning in these big corridors you might as well address the rest of it. I like many others really would like to see action on all of the things in the study, but until I see real progress I'm skeptical based on the regions track record of repeated studies and reports but no concrete action to accomplish anything contained in the studies. It's great these issues are being talked about but they're serious issues we actually need to address and not just talk about. I hope this time local leadership actually makes a move.

High & Cherry is now under construction.

"North North Market"

Finally a link to back up my earlier claims. Everything looks good about the final phases but the taller building is kind of ugly but that's subjective.

You can see two mast climbers being assembled on the lower floors of the west side of the building. For more information on the Rhodes Tower Modernization project Ohio DAS has posted a new newsletter for March 2019: The website can be found here and has more photos from their own Flickr account: https://das.ohio.gov/Divisions/General-Services/Properties-and-Facilities/Rhodes/Rhodes-Modernization#4897410-newsletter-

Both images taken today.

The demo permit for Yoga on High was issued on 3/21 and all their building permits are issued so this is likely the beginning of construction for the project and not the next phase of the High Street improvement project.

these violent delights have violent ends

Yeah that's what I thought the question was: After it was answered you've said everyone was going off topic...

Cincinnati has a streetcar, one designed to be a circulator through the city center just like the one in Kansas City, Portland, OKC, Milwaukie, Atlanta etc. Toronto also has a streetcar but they run much longer lines, sometimes in their own ROW, and connect to multiple bus and subway stations. The vehicles are often the same as the ones used in light rail system, however light rail is designed with stops separated wider distances, run at higher speeds, and often serve an entire region not a city or just a neighborhood. Light rail is a large investment that attracts more development around the stations and has a much larger capacity than a streetcar line. As other comments have stated light rail or streetcars attract greater investment / density along the route because they can't easily be removed. If COTA decided the CMAX wasn't working out they could probably get rid of it with minimal barriers, it would take a lot to dismantle an entire rail based system that cost billions to construct. Light rail most of the time runs in a dedicated ROW unlike a streetcar or BRT system and has fare gates like a subway and sometimes have sections that are underground or elevated. You can find examples of BRT or Streetcars that do go underground or elevated but that's uncommon. There's really no set definition for each because they can all contain some or all of the elements you'd find in a regional high capacity system like a subway line.

I think that 5th & Summit project is getting revised drastically. There's a very recent variance application in for FAR which makes me think they've changed the design of the project. Hopefully some renderings surface soon it would be nice for it not to be stalled anymore.

One buying in a development like that should be well aware that the completion of the project may result in the loss of a view etc. If they want their skyline view back they'll just have to build taller buildings downtown so they can see them over all the new development in Jeffery Park.

This site is also actively making its way though the approval process but hasn't made it to the Downtown Commission yet. Looks like another surface lot will bite the dust.

Just because they haven't made it to the Italian Village Commission where renders would surface for articles doesn't mean projects aren't taking shape in the background. The City of Columbus isn't the most transparent city for finding out what development applications are being filed and where but if you know where to look it's not impossible.

The final version of this project is the photo in this link and the approved site plan for it shows a hotel and surface parking where the office building was proposed. The surface lot might get developed at some point if they decide to build the office building in the future. I'm going to assume it's going to be a surface lot for quite some time. I love that they're preserving the existing facades on the site but I'm less excited about the tower because the final version is the worst out of all of the proposals.

The reason this was downsized is because they're shifting density toward the southern most portion of the site with 6-10 floor buildings proposed there. It kind of makes sense because this will block any noise from the interstate from the rest of the Jeffery Park site, but I'm concerned about more density and the traffic it generates in that portion of the development having to traverse a bunch of narrow streets with parking on both sides to get in and out.

They're out of touch thinking anyone is going to pay that to live there especially when the market is slowing down. They're going to wind up with no development at all.

No pictures because none were worth taking but the trees have been cut and the pedestrian bridge at the Battelle site have been removed and there is some construction equipment on site. Seems like they're close to prepping for construction there.

I would not want to pay Upper Arlington prices only to open my window or go on my balcony to smell McDonald's and Arby's cooking. It will be interesting to see how this project evolves based on the staff memo as they're asking for a lot of variances that don't seem to be supported. I got bored and read through their zoning code and it's really good. It's pretty much everything the Columbus code should be trying to do.

Wait what?! The term all about the Benjamin's exists because Benjamin Franklin is on the $100 bill...

Maybe I'm overly critical of Columbus or going crazy nitpicking but is it just me or do the parking lots on the Columbus side have less landscaping than the Grandview Heights side of the project? Either way that's a lot of surface parking. Hopefully they can infill the surface parking with more buildings over time.

What you said about those cities is true, but what people need to understand is that Charlotte heavily relies on banking which has historically preferred tall office towers, they're getting taller apartment buildings but they have light rail which definitely catalyzes development intensity near stations. Even though Charlotte is kind of a generic city, their downtown is more desirable than ours which also adds development pressure. Correct me if I'm wrong but the tall proposal right now in Indianapolis is a convention center hotel. Those are usually backed by the city or county which makes the taller building easier to develop. Let's keep in mind we have our own taller convention center hotel that will most definitely get built. Austin is growing at an insanely rapid pace and is getting very tall buildings, but with the tech salaries there and with how expensive those rents and condo sale prices are, that supports the increased construction costs. I am unsure if there's a market for that many $800,000 condos or $3,000 a month apartments in downtown Columbus. Aside from the immediate city centers of those cities, the vast majority of the development they see is 5-7 story buildings just like in Columbus because that is what is most profitable and easiest to build. If you look along the light rail line south of Uptown Charlotte most of those buildings are similar to what you'd see here: https://goo.gl/maps/MDuTWnz1J722 Same in Austin: https://goo.gl/maps/BdwKHAufTk22 Same in Indy: https://goo.gl/maps/nYDTVwrPcPS2 What perplexes me is how other cities can make their taller proposals happen when developers in Columbus can't despite faster growth and a stronger economy. If Cleveland can have Lumen and the Beacon why can't Columbus get North Market tower or this development to pencil out?

You'd think they'd try to involve the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation to get this off the ground. 3CDC the Cincinnati equivalent of the CDDC has managed to get a bunch of significant projects that probably wouldn't pencil out otherwise to break ground. I don't see the problem with some more intervention to help Downtown Columbus grow and prosper. Anything that helps realize a full build out of the River South area would be a big win for the city.

They should rename the project Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tower.

If all these hearings for design review weren't free I feel like it would weed out the unrealistic proposals to an extent. It takes a lot of time and effort to design the projects but it also takes a lot of city resources to review the project and utilize building space for the lengthy hearings not to mention the cost of staffing the department that handles all the historic / architectural review. A lot of cities charge for the service and I think a lot of developers are abusing the process by coming back repeatedly for review and then not building the project.