DTCL11

Lefty's is taking over the space. They have been for some time now with menu changes and such. 614Now got the jump on it in August but it didn't make big news rounds until it was rephrased as 'Harrisons is Closing' They’re planning on rebranding the entire place. Harrison’s has been the local neighborhood spot for drinks and food for the past 15 years, and it’s housed in a 125 year old building. Both the owner and the team behind Lefty’s are going to gut the place, remodel it, and “work towards bringing back the neighborhood bar that everyone talks about. We’re going to revive it,” said TJ. https://614now.com/2023/food-drink/patrons-worried-local-bar-grill-is-closing-due-to-sign-on-door-heres-what-happened

I was looking back at old S&W articles and found this: "Lapine said Smith & Wollensky is working on a Downtown location that she could not yet identify but one that would be "bigger, better and stronger" than the Easton site." The Easton Space was 10,000sf. So if they are actually looking for more square footage, the Wood Co building wouldn't fit the bill being under 7,000sf. That was before removing the second level. Plans may have changed so I still think there's a chance it is it, but that really depends on whether they truly wanted bigger or were just throwing words out there.

I return to who pulls the levers. We dont see it but indeed the fossil fuel industry, car industry, and rail industry have entire lobbies and studies and campaigns that have had a grip on American opinion and policy for a century. Rail doesn't want alternative transportation to interfere with its money maker, freight. Fossil fuels and auto makers don't want alternative transportion methods. So yeah, that's what holds us back in the grand scheme of things. Has nothing to do with being untested. Lack of funds. Or ambition. It's all in how the American mindset and policy has been cultivated for 100 years. They are so ingrained into the population and policy, we get to say 'well, its because we havent had it here'. Rail and streetcar transportion was a tried and true and tested technology in this country and Columbus and now we are having to reinvent, beg, and fight to get it back. And even in those places where it's still tested, those big 3 still work hard behind the scenes to block expansions or policy prevents it. Specifically here, the city has brought this up for 40 years. The railways say no way to sharing every time. Eminent domain is likely to be unsuccessful. Acquiring or sharing right of way with 670 and or any other state route is to be blocked by the state. The state itself is prohibited from creating a transit authority without new legislation. Need a levy passed? Wait for the lobbies and opposition that tank almost every voted rail project. Need federal funds? You have to pay half, but to do that, you usually need the levy. So no passed levy, no federal funds. The institutional road blocks are far greater than 'someone just needs to take a chance'... and they have been designed that way at the behest of said big 3. Heck, the US hasn't been able to enforce passenger rail right of way laws since it was passed because the freight rail lobby is too powerful, and now the freight trains are too long for their own pull offs. Anyway. It's more than someone needs to just take a chance on an untested idea here.

I miss the good old days of satirical cartoons of the barons of old. I feel like the names have gone away so most people don't realize how much control fossil fuels, rail, and auto have over this country from a local to national level. It's not ambition. It's control. Many of our solutions are easy. Many people have ambitous ideas. City leaders. Think tanks etc. And perhaps the money exists. But wrestling control from the titans of industry for something as common sense as a rail line? It's only been on city and county leaders' minds for roughly 40 years.

I'm really curious about the tenant. Also seems like alot of work, time, and money for a specific tenant. Must be an ironclad, valuable, long term lease or some restaurant Wood assumes will have longevity.

Is it me or is this alot of work and time for a relatively negligible change in building use and presence?

Don't even need to pilot it. Just copy the Kroger on the Rhine.

After 478,209,162 years of waiting for it to get off the ground, I'm surprised how little we think to document Parkside on Pearl now that it's actually happening.

So you're saying Kaufman has secured the package?

If Kaufman has purchased the land but to the public knowledge, the land land was listed for sale since 2019 and never sold. If Kaufman hasn't bought it by now or talked the current owners down by now, again at least publicly thay is, that too seems like a tall order. If the current owners are waiting for an out of towner who will pay a higher premium for the land, that building is most likely toast. Well, even half of in town developers won't both with it. They'll pay their engineers to write a report saying it's a danger and imminently going to collapse, more, and the city will likely say, 'OH Nooooooo, can't have a dangerous building! Tear it down!' Of course, they won't do that with the building having partially collapsed already, just once folks with financial influence decide its best for their bottom dollar to tear it down.

My money is on Spaghetti warehouse being torn down.

I was going mention 400 as well and the owners of the building would be getting much better rent like they want... at the cost of affordable lost spaces... Know what also would have been perfect? The old cols storage in the 'warehouse district'. Multiple large open space floors with the space for a sizeable purpose built expansion.....

They kept the church sign from the old Hudson Theater 😅

If you were the Arshot Comms director for the last 10 years, your job has been a freaking cake walk. Getting paid to ignore requests from media and governments on plans of your developments this whole time.

Money

Highpoint non masonry features are looking like sh**

This. Always this with Columbus. Reinvent the wheel instead of just implementing best practices. Bussing. Bike routes. Zoning. Downtown plans. Etc etc. Just freaking do it. We talked briefly above about other cities but honestly, every city has good and bad builds. Columbus should be most envious of cities building miles of bike lanes and BRT every year instead of our pathetic numbers. But hey, gotta do more studies!

I agree. It's not that it wasn't built to potential or that Nationwide is wasting anything. The commercial space is there. The plazas are there. The walkability (except Neil) and ample parking are there. The residential is there. The offices are there. The people aren't. The people are the ones choosing to go elsewhere outside of game days. Even with a fully built out Arena District with more of all of the above, it still might be dead outside of game days. Kind of the same with brewery. It seems like the Short North and now Franklinton kind of suck up alot of that mass draw to some of the other hubs of activity. It's more about the pattern of behavior than what has been built. The AD was also an early adopter of such a concept. Other than some legacy stadiums in cities, building an arena and basement stadium not *entirely* surrounded by parking lots was a newer idea then.

I write when they push back on height and density. But I'm out of state most the the year for work to attend.

Hey now, some of us that live in Glen Echo welcome height. Bring on the better mixed use along Hudson/Summit/Indianola. But also. The arguments are even more dumb when you look at the reality that many homes in the UD are already 30-40ft above street level. The peak of my home is 36' (excluding Chimney protrusion) above sidewalk level and folks will throw fits to complain about a 45' building. And many of those homes along Iuka are the same or more drastic with the terrain.

The city needs to revive the Franklinton Gateways plans, especially with the explosion of growth on both sides of the tracks.

Imagine if, at the very least, the entire southern half was all glass and how much sharper it would look. There was a tour a number of weeks ago and the guide said 'we wanted the building to be all glass from one angle and all limestone from the other'... and I'm just like... who thought that an all limestone 20+ story 200+ ft wide building was a brilliant concept?

Ah yes, market rate housing... those f****** peasants. Keep those who can't afford 150% market rate OUT of our communities!!!!