DTCL11

Millenials will be collecting social security (if it still exists) by the time anything gets built there. Might as well start marketing it as the Alpha Tower for the Children of Millenials to live in.

The average Trader Joes has a household income well over $100k within 3-5 miles of the store many approach $200k within that range. That can be compensated with population density. Even on the lower end of the radius of 3 miles, you're encompassing all of the University District, Hilltop, Linden, Merion Village, etc. It would also poach from grandview which figures into the Sawmill location calculations, however Dublin growth may help compensate for that loss as well. The best hope for a TJs in perhaps the population density at the income threshhold is sufficient. Not entirely out of the picture but still a longer shot based on their general location demographics. Madison WI might be a close example to what we'd ideally like to see. Downtown adjacent. In a nice area. By a university. A big difference being the population of downtown Madison exceeds 35,000. I'm having trouble finding another comparison. Even with a location nearby, by bringing in a different brand, Kroger might consider tapping into that niche demand with some of their other models. Kroger would likely have a lower threshold for income and population density might accommodate it better. In a dream world it allows them to shift their 5th avenue location east toward milo-grogan and the land can finally be redeveloped. Not that it's a likely option but it would be nice since Kroger seems to do ok with more urban models. At this point, maybe it can be a new Dollar General. Dollar General. DGX. And NOW DG-XL!

If it's a Trader Joe's, it would be outside the normal. Awhile back I detailed it but the TJ income level is high and might fit VV, but the typical income radius they use would encompass too many parts of other neighborhoods etc that bring it down. Would be nice to see if Kroger can bring in one of their urban concepts for something different. They only have what seems like half a dozen concepts they can choose from at this point. (Not that this is an urban build anyway)

This was part of the Dispatch article on the congressional allocation of funds for it. "The airport wants the relocation project to start next spring and hopes to have it finished by the fall of 2026." https://www.dispatch.com/story/business/2022/05/25/john-glenn-columbus-move-taxiway-make-way-new-terminal/9924304002/

And downtown strategic plans

...and we can all live in Harmony... while a towering Christopher Columbus watches over all from the top of Capitol Place Tower... like a pheonix from the as...phalt... they shall rise...

I'd still like to request all the downtown plan discussion gets moved to its own thread. I think there's plenty of discussion around the downtown plan that it doesn't need to keep clogging up the random development thread IMO. I know anyone can create a thread, but I can't transfer this and subsequent discussions to it (to my knowledge).

^sounds like a movie title lol Do we have any more info on park improvements? I know there were on and off again agreements of what Wood would do to improve the park and various ideas floated but I dont recall if anything was set in stone?

Marker's most significant project to date looks like Wilson Place which would fit the same description. Otherwise they have done fire stations, parking garages in Grandview Yard, Canes, some campus buildings, etc.

They can't afford to take it down without outside investment and insane tax breaks 😅

Lulz. Tempting to revisit a parking rant. There is SO MUCH opportunity here. From 11th to Hudson. On State land and private land. Many solutions aren't even that bold or exorbitantly expensive. Many solutions would improve events, expand event opportunities, etc even more bold and expensive solutions offer greater opportunities. But again, too many entities thinking individually. Especially when dealing with a weird history of tradition accommodating fairs and fairgrounds. Maybe they'll surprise us with the 2050 plan but without a willingness to work with other entities, say goodbye to older facilities and rebuild new in a more efficient campus, relocate the State Patrol, buy more land east of Clara and South of 11th, build garages, improve roads and exits, add transit options, etc. the State will continue to manage land nearly equivalent to Ohio State between High and 315 within close proximity to the University and be a poor manager of said property. One of my weird oreferences would be an expansion of the ODNR park. It's a cool asset that goes underutilized and could be so much more for the adjoining communities year round as well.

Dorrian was fenced off for reasons other than future construction. With or without a new project, the county wanted people to stay out. From the 2021 Dispatch article "Even under the most expeditious scenario, we're years away" There seemed to be alot of buzz in a short amount of time but the county is in no rush. It seems more like a long term conceptual master plan process that they intend to walk with than a short term transformational master plan they intend to implement quickly. The new jail received its press tour last week with a target of receiving new inmates this fall it seems. I can't find any hard dates on when one opens and when the downtown jail is expected to close. Perhaps we will hear more once the transition is complete but I might put my money on nothing spectacular. Especially at this point in the Covid pandemic. They already have a surplus of space, and requiring employees to come into offices can result in significant resignations so it's causing entities to consider the long term viability of offices. At first it was the long term viability of safety in offices. Then it was whether people would want to. Some companies and agencies are finding that as soon as they flip the switch to in person, they lose significant staff and further struggle to recruit. So then do you suffer through recruiting and being short staffed or amend policies to be more flexible and further reduce office space needed? Lots to figure out and the county is less motivated to do anything quickly right now.

The original proposal was that the city, ODOT and Zimmer would reconnect Mound street so switching to a mixed use path is a reduction from the original concept. The Dispatch has updated their article rendering now and show the standard 2010s-2020s clad style buildings. Otherwise, there's alot of scarcity on site plans etc right now. The one shown on CU is actually a bit better than the previous one in terms of access and green space so I'll take that as a small win for now but we really need more details.

If we keep allowing, let alone requiring in some areas, building units with a parking ratio of 1+ spots per unit, and businesses with similar ratios, there will never be an increase in demand for transit. We can add 20,000 units but if they all have a guaranteed parking space at home and a guaranteed parking space at the destination, people will drive and it is stupid inexpensive. Americans are conditioned to drive even with decent transit. Infill for the sake of infill allowing car dependency doesn't create any stress on the system or increase demand for transit among the general population. The powers at be need to stop with the chicken and egg, carrot and stick, back and forth and just start doing the right thing. That being said, it's NEVER going to happen here. Under no circumstances will we see, in most of our lifetimes, a scenario where Columbus moves beyond car dependency because leaders are too afraid. And Columbus will continue to fall behind mid size cities. I also find the City's argument of 'this is housing so it's the public good' being the get around for the state law to be a bit of a farce here. Using that argument sets the precedent that any developer can seek to acquire land for that purpose as long as they can articulate 'we are contributing to the regional housing shortage'.... and the city saying 'sales to private utilities' is comparative to a private housing developer. Come on.. This is what I agree with no matter what: What needs to happen for the road is the city needs to aquire an easement along the entire rail tracks to create a public road that services the apartments, the neighboring business park, and the park itself. The center road can be closed and converted to a non vehicular path. There is plenty of room behind the warehouse as well for easement or it can wrap around front. Then the park can sell to the city for the greater good and avoid the legality of selling land for a private road servicing a private complex under the guise of 'if you don't, then it will ruin traffic in your park so you really should see it as a public good allowing the private entity to buy it or else.' Removing that center road is a benefit for all regardless of the final approved residential build. Again. Too many people thinking about their individual parts and not the peninsula as whole.

I understand the symptoms. It's 80 years of bad policy. I can rant for days about the city, COTA, ODOT, and it's transportation policies. But at this point, I'm much ragier and closer to not giving a you know what and banning cars and parking than I am to 'its reasonable that we should expect 765 units to increase trips by an average of 4100 per day on the penisula a stones throw from downtown, a major grocery store with pharmacy, mutiple bus routes, and the most significant bike path in the city'... and just being like, 'well, it is what it is because of what it is'. That's almost 5.5 trips per day per unit and 1.3 parking spaces per unit. 'Well, some of those units will include multiple residents and multiple cars and blah blah blah.' I just don't care about the case for cars for this project, or any within the core as untold thousands go without cars and manage the terrible public transit as is on a daily basis. We just discount it because it's the unseen poor neighborhoods and we are apologetic about new apartments adjacent to downtown that they might be inconvenienced by not having easy access to parking and in and out? They might have to go a little farther for transit than just outside their door? And the more we continue to be apologetic about decades of failed policy, the more the city and developers stay complacent. Yes, there are solutions to fix the in and out and I'd be more lenient, again, if it was a worthwhile project with a 'whole of peninsula' approach but its not. Apartments for the sake of apartments in this location while single handedly blaming the parks for not ceding to cars is not it for me. Again, there are solutions thay will better both, but to end up with the same lackluster development in the end? No thanks. I've said it more often on the COTA thread but the absolute absurdity of the car dependency of this city and its clear lack of urgency for transit overhaul is my number one detractor for Columbus and the top reason why I'm considering living anywhere else. And no more chicken and egg stuff. No more 'we need to have the options first'.. Time's up.

You're not wrong. And that speaks to how Columbus is failing on so many levels. That we need to stop saying 'well, these are the reasons it just has to be this way' while we bend over backwards to make sure it is convenient for drivers at the cost of parks, pedestrians, bikes, busses, etc. This has the opportunity to be something amazing but all parties are complacent in the existing circumstances and not actively working to take the opportunity for a better master plan for the site for residents, the park, and businesses. The city also has roads with right of ways that can be collaboratively addressed with the railroad. A singular parking structure with a vehicle bridge connection to Sycamore etc. Eliminating the middle road altogether for a shared road along the tracks the city owns and maintains to avoid potential state laws preventing the sale etc. Bringing back the cbus which stopped just 3 blocks away (with pedestrian bridge), adding a private shuttle like University Village, and so on. The list is extensive as to the collaborative options to provide something better, which is where I stand in that we will end up with a mediocre at best, Car dependent development when we don't have to have it that way at all. I'd rather see this sit vacant for another 10 years then end up with this.

Such a ridiculous cluster for a mediocre at best project on such a prime piece of property adjacent to one of Columbus's best assets. Edit: Mediocre at best, HEAVILY CAR DEPENDENT urban core project

Are there updated renderings or material information? We haven't seen anything in over a year on it so maybe(?) There are some changes.

The BIG question is when do we see the excavation of the cemetery. Weren't there earlier comments on that needing to take a decent amount of time itself? It seems like that detail has kind of fallen off the more recent reporting.

True. But whatever they are working on connects and/or directly abuts the original market. There was another set of contractors there doing interior and exterior assessments of where the two buildings will join etc. As a semi regular visitor, preferably Mondays when it's much less foot traffic, there's definitely activity in and around the market that I view as the most sure sign of impending construction that we've seen.

The future home of the next Cameron Mitchell concept. Close runners up will be Bobby George or Corso. 3rd prediction: tacos.

Utility work appears to be underway. The north entrance to the lot is closed.

I think one of the things that sticks out to me now that the barriers are down is how wide High street is here. 7ish lanes? And NW BLVD between High and Front is even wider. Let's hope there's some plan to help that. At least an extension of the NW Boulevard medians would help. I won't hold my breath though. And I don't recall the exact details, but in the Ohio Center Way revamp, was there a plan or concept to cap one of the openings for Greenspace in the turn around? Or is that just a hope of mine?

Without getting too far down a political rabbit hole, the more time that has passed I honestly don't think the CHIPS act will pass prior to election. While incredibly impactful for many reasons, it's too obsolete in the daily lives of most Americans that there isn't as much political momentum behind it as there is political leverage over it. And that goes with my original hesitations and tampering of expectations. Any project that relies so heavily on incentives, lending legislation, or 'finding the pieces of the funding puzzle' should be met with caution. Factories to residential towers. Intel will have an impact, but how much is probably overblown with so much in the hands of politics. Where on the scale of FoxConn will Intel fall? I know people get hyped up over the 'largest investment in state history' but that's the nature of the build. For reference, FoxxConn promised 13,000 jobs with $10 bil in investment. Ford is adding 1800 jobs with a $1.5 bil expansion in Avon Lake. The 'guaranteed' part of Intel is 3,000 jobs with $20 billion investment. So whether that 80-100 billion pipe dream means much at this point, I'm not convinced. Build it. They will come. What the impacts of Intel will be beyond the surrounding towns... I'm skeptical.... still.