DTCL11

Looks like there may be some units for rent but otherwise, the hotel and retail will be the big focus. They want to attract medical professionals and campus visitors so I'm assuming extended/corporate stay may also be an element of it.

My money is that the family dollar site will be a SpongeBob meme for quite awhile. The land owner isn't a developer in the sense of building new. Thats not their interest. They have the equity through their other properties, and may get tax benefits for the vacancy, and by sitting on it they intend to wait until they get a massive payout. The mortgage is long paid off. Their overhead is basically taxes. While the land is valuable as is, it's not uncommon for folks to sit on a property until the right, significabtly over value, comes through. They know someone will pay well above market rate for it someday. Today is not that day. The fact that they haven't leased the property to another retailer and are just cashing in on parking makes me more convinced this is the case.

It was always intended to be a hotel. The land owners (if it's still the same) are hotel and office space proprietors. They currently have Hamptons and Holiday Inns but this was supposed to be a boutique hotel with first floor full service restaurant build out.

They already got the city to adopt hours and limit concerts once. If they have complaints, it will be entertained by the city. The new public play hours for the plaza fountains and events are slightly shorter than they were before the renovation as well. Nothing will stop them from complaining about it and trying to defeat it's entire purpose. They have historically also tried to get the city to change races for their noise complaints.

Until the Waterford and Miranova complain enough to get the city to never use them.

Construction fencing for the new deck was going up this week.

That's what I mean and my point of reference for my comment. I'll be upset since that's some of the options. In the meantime, the AD to Peninsula bridge concept that the city has included in every master plan for over 20 years falls off the wayside so we can better connect blocks of government offices and corporate offices instead of finally prioritizing connection the highest concentrations of residential develop and regional attractions. I feel like these don't appropriately take in to account Link US. Notice that all these have buses mixed with traffic but LinkUS specifies West Broad should have dedicated median downtown to Hilltop and then mixed traffic past Hilltop. So these two proposals aren't cohesive. Also, I'd love this to include artwork under the bridges. The board street bridge already has preformed areas perfect for murals at the minimum if not hanging sculptures.

I swear to Jesus, if we get a pedestrian bridge from the Downtown core to the Peninsula before the AD to the Peninsula because of this plan....

They mention that we should double the number of pools but also mention that the current aquatics center is nearing the end of its usable life. There's no mention, that I saw, of whether they also intend to keep the SN center. If not, a nice new, big aquatics center is wonderful, but moving it to the NE Corridor decentralizes the location to the disadvantage of the southern and western population. Ideally they intend to add one to the NE side and renovate the current location.

I'm well aware. I'm well aware of its purpose in design as well. It is also more commonly applied with those caverns facing the rear elevation. IG the Atlas Building as a local example. Doesn't change my opinion on whether I think it's a good design to be applied as regularly as it has been of recent, let alone 4 caverns within 2 blocks. I might change my mind if the street wall was 4 or 5 stories but 1 and 2 story street walls like this in high density areas don't look good to me.

I'm still not sold on the Open areas facing the main roads. I think having the severe stepback at 2 stories looks... not great. I appreciate varied stepbacks for architectural variance and opening up the street wall but these street facing caverns are terrible to me. The occasional one, it is what it is. But Edwards now proposing so many in a small area. I dont mind the way they were done on the LCs because they face the side street so even rotating one might help here.

They're not. The average household income within 3 miles of most locations doesn't mean there aren't lower household incomes nearby. Proximity to New Albany helps bring that average within 3 miles up closer to average TJ levels. In cases where the 3 mile characteric isnt quite there, the 5 mile target usually helps. TJs can be next to lower household incomes, but surrounded by them on all sides is not common (which is the case for anything downtown or inner core) without the corresponding density to compensate. Also, being part of Easton itself may have been a trade off for the more common characteristics. But again, that's nearly all, not necessarily all. GV crossing has a better shot I think. But unless it's part of a massive project where TJs likes the specifics of it, like an Easton, I don't see where much of their location patterning to date leaves much hope for anything in Downtown or adjoining neighborhoods until density reaches a more significant tipping point. That's just looking at statistics. But maybe there's the off chance that they deviate and see something to make the choice that doesn't fit those common models. TJs doesn't release their official site selection Requirements but there's a handful of studies out there that analyze this information if one gets bored. A newer one I haven't read yet analyzes proximity to SNAP households in LA.

I'll repeat it til the cows come home. Unless Trader Joe's deviates from its normal model, we will not see one for a long time downtown or adjacent. As GCrites points out, there's too much low income adjacent to the affluent core neighborhoods. The average annual household income of nearly all Trader Joe's locations within 3 miles exceeds $100k. Often pushing into the 120s and 130s. Franklinton has an average household income of $60k. Any location inside the core is not going to meet that standard. There are a few deviations but population density is a factor in those cases and Columbus will not be able to meet those deviations very easily anytime soon.

Franklinton Commission tends to be much more open than other communities. The fact that it's a shiny new tall development west of 315 may excite them as there's a fair bit of lamenting over the attention 'East Franklinton' gets vs 'West Franklinton' It also sets a good precedent out of the gate for alot of the old warehouse lots along Glenwood.

It likely isn't. The building went up for sale a couple months ago. That group was a fledgling group of real estate flippers.

I like this plan better than the prior residential conversions but this is the 3rd buyer and 3rd plan since AEP sold it so I'll believe it when I see it.

That's part of it. A bigger part, I think, is it fits in the new city zoning revamp so the commission was going to end up with the building anyway. The affordable housing component is what allows additional height with no vareances on the main building in the new code so the developer knew they were going to get it whether it's from the commission now or if they wait for city council to adopt the new zoning plan. I do wish there was some reasonable pushback on the existing building. I worry that maybe the new zoning code will allow easier demolition as well if this is any indication.

Fair. The one I just went to while waiting for my tacos. 🤦‍♂️ I guess the active gas station part kind of takes that out of mind when I think bodega. Lol

It's a niche product and concept they are trying out. Not a traditional coffee shop and geared more toward afternoon and evenings. The lack of tables also limits the amount of 'third space' usage a traditional coffee shop might see. I think we will see some more experimentation with the business model before we see more permanent signage and advertising. He also owns the empty land next to the old Jack's Corner Pub. Hoping for some good potential there. I love this bubble we have. Just wishing we might lose one of the smoke shops and gain a more sit down geared restaurant or another good breakfast place like Babas. And a reconversion of some of the retail space at Indianola and Hudson back to commercial from residential. Wouldn't mind a true bodega either but that's too much big city dreaming.

The Zoning Variance was approved this week but haven't seen anything regarding a site plan. FTR this is the owner of Evolved who also renovated the Hudson Theater that is now the Cava shop

I have a feeling this is also why some more commissioners voted in favor than maybe would have and the developer dropped parking and height. They know the developer could wait it out and then they'd have no choice anyway and the developer knows this for leverage? Maybe we are seeing the impact of the new zoning already.

Maybe it's the first version I found the bed numbers on. So comparing 1 to final, great. 2 to final, meh. But still not mad about it.

The reduction in height doesn't seem terrible. The number of units went up but I can't seem to find a comparison on the number of beds. So if the goal is density, and the increase.of units also means an increase in beds, it's a win win. The developer doesn't have to spend as much on parking and that's less car dependency while adding more bodies than the prior proposal. *pending verification on the number of beds. I'm really tempted to email that Georgia developer myself and beg them to come back now. Or... maybe Harbor Bay can buy that land. Also, this lot is at nearly at the highest elevation of High Street between the convention center and Old North (the highest being just about 100ft away) so it's got some built in oomph to its visual presence.

That's the key. If you build it. The MBTA receives half it's funding from state sales tax. That is it's largest source of funding with fare revenue behind that. Some municipalities also provide additional funds but it's a small portion of the revenue. Improvements are often heavily state involved and MBTA like many legacy cities benefits from rail networks established long ago. The last rail expansion was the early 80s. Most of the rail network, like the NYC Subway system is built off aquiring prive rail lines built as long as 100 years ago. And the expansion of MBTA service to additional suburbs was madated by the state over a period of time with agreements to be reimbursed. Also, keep in mind your Cape Cod transit it a different entity that links up with MBTA. The structure of COTA and Ohio law is vastly different than MA. And largely, only entities that essentially buy in to COTA by participating in the sales tax with some exceptions are serviced by COTA. Not even all of Franklin County pays the sales tax for COTA. For outer burbs, Dublin, Reynoldsburg, Westerville, Hilliard and Grove City also participate so they have limited service as well that could be expanded. Don't get me wrong. A complete restructure and funding SHOULD be done and the state should changes laws and be able to create a rail entity for a comprehensive regional network and I think that demand may increase over time but you'd have to get voters in the remaining areas of central Ohio to approve it, or get lawmakers to change the state code. Its why MORPC can't create it's own regional rail entity as well. COTA is not going to, and shouldn't largely invest in New Albany, Powell, Pickerington, Delaware, etc when they aren't contributing to the operations. So while all the counties SHOULD create a single entity and pact, they haven't and aren't in the near future. Politics is going to have to significantly change. Or, the suburbs will have to create their own transit systems they fund and there will be mutual links. It's always fun to think that Dallas was able to create a pretty remarkable rail network in modern times and Charlotte is working on it but their leaders were and are different. Until we get people elected to think and act differently and voters to see value in the region, we have to focus on what we can do. So when you say, If you build it, they will come, as it is, that's putting the financial burden of servicing suburbs on areas that pay the taxes for it. Heck, we can't even get the county the zoo is in to help support the zoo financially, good luck getting them to buy in to transit. It just comes down to the reality of the situation and I think that's the perspective some of us look at. We all have dream maps, but we have to finish laying the ground work in our own territory and show it can be successful, then maybe we start getting buy in outside the loop.

I guess it's easier to miss when they didn't show the front of the building and still conveniently only highlight the side and rear and don't show the High Street frontage. 🤷