NW24HX

I love what this program is doing, I love more local retail businesses downtown, and I love supporting women and minority owned businesses. But it seems a little unnecessary to me to be limiting city support to only those businesses. Downtown retail is still very much a take-what-we-can-get market. Should beggars really be playing choosers right now? I feel like downtown would benefit most from an all of the above approach: more retail all over, whatever we can get, and however we can get it

If they saw any value in the existing building, insurance delays wouldn't matter. It would be relatively easy and low cost to get a temporary fix/stabilization of the building in place. That would at least protect the asset while the claim is litigated. They haven't even patched the hole. They haven't even put a tarp up to keep the rain and snow out What they have done is pay a roofer to say on record it's unsafe to even attempt a repair. Of course, you can pay someone to say just about anything (epecially if it gets them out of doing any actual work). I'm sure they will pay a structural engineer to arrive at their forgone conclusion that the building must be demolished immediately no ifs ands or buts I would propose that anyone requesting a demolition without a replacement use be required to pay the cost for the city to obtain a report on the building's structural integrity from an independent 3rd-party engineer Where there's a will, there's a way. And here there are many ways available from full preservation to even a partial incorporation of the facade. The problem is there's no will to do anything. To even entertain the thought of saving just a portion of this historic building? No way! This quote from the Dispatch says it all, "I hope there's not a feeling already made up that we're going to have to save a portion of this building," he told commissioners. "As long as we're owners, that's not going to happen." https://www.dispatch.com/story/business/real-estate/2024/09/25/spaghetti-warehouse-building-demolish-plans-downtown-columbus-ohio/75374964007/ The developers don't care about this building. All they want is the land, and to put something up on it (eventually) that makes the maximum amount of money for the least amount of cost. Right now, that means a cheap, generic 5 over 2 - which is a complete waste of the potential of this site IMO. Highpoint 2: Electric Boogaloo

We're very fortunate to have many operators like Toro, Saraga, Lucky's, Plaza Tapatia, Michoacana, Dayou, CAM, etc etc that have added locations in areas that either Kroger or Giant Eagle had pulled out of, or would never touch in the first place

What a joke. According to the bizfirst article they haven't even repaired the roof yet... 2 1/2 years later... They're intentionally letting a historic building rot so they can get away with demolition by neglect. This is the same old playbook we've seen in Columbus over and over again And for what? A squat stick build over a concrete parking garage that I guarantee will be as bland and as cheap as they can make it. A complete disgrace

Woof, the renovated one is so much worse. Better than sitting abandoned sure, but yeesh what a tacky and regrettable flip I'm very surprised that signage was allowed... might be worth checking with 311 if it's even code compliant

It's such a bizarre and ugly project all around. IVC should have design review over both sides of 5th, not just the south

100% they should build out the corner. If we could lure any type of flagship retail use this would be a fantastic location for it and help put some street life back into the center of downtown

Yes apparently they already have and are still out of room https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/08/01/ohio-state-parents-raise-concerns-about-dorm-overcrowding/74590022007/

Thanks! That's great news, maybe it's only further north in the parking garage district where they're doing the concrete And I'll choose to believe it's because a big project is in the works there soon, and not because the city's just being cheap 😉

As of late 2015, projects are supposed to adhere to guidelines which mandate granite curbs for long-term durability and aesthetics on all downtown streets There hasn't yet been enough completed since then to really make them widespread, but the city's been fairly strict with enforcing this requirement on others (despite developer objections to the cost) If you look at most recent projects you'll see them, but there are exceptions including apparently the city's own streetscape work https://www.columbus.gov/files/sharedassets/city/v/1/building-and-zoning/document-library/downtown-streetscape-standards.pdf (curbs are on pg 34)

Happy to see these finally go two-way but it's disappointing the city can't even follow their own streetscape guidelines... Where are the granite curbs?

Disappointing but not surprising. Hopefully if interest rates drop a bit by the end of the year we can see the Chase Building conversion come back to life Is the parking lot next to 88 E Broad (Key Bank) controlled by the same ownership? The building is about 60 feet wide which would work for a double-loaded corridor residential building, provided you could add windows on the west side... There could still be a lower (8-12) story building added on the parking lot as well

Interesting that they're starting up now vs waiting a couple weeks until the fair is over to minimize disruption Great to see improvements underway regardless

McDonald's wants to demolish their existing 2-story restaurant to build a new single-story structure By shifting the building up against High St they would eliminate the outdoor patio seating area to add 10 new parking spaces in the rear Honestly I think this is a pretty bad proposal and also a downgrade in many ways from the current conditions... https://columbusohdev.app.box.com/s/opagh9tgnze8edo5y7uex62bf5yzdyol

Nice to see so many Ohio cities growing!

The zoning changes will help, but the primary reason that and many other projects have hit pause is due to interest rates

There's a significant project in the works for most of the area bounded by High, Main, Third, and Cherry but it's still very early in the development timeline

The rendering snipped below of the preferred concept clearly shows two travel lanes maintained in both directions, even with additional landscaping, wide multi-use paths, seating, and a median. Two of the four travel lanes could easily be striped as bus only without any need to expand the bridge - it really is that wide (er, Broad) as it exists currently

Looks great! Let's hope the city can maintain it properly this time. Fountains are a lot of constant work to keep in good condition

Interesting that Columbus agreed to transfer ownership of the RoW to UA for this vs redo the corridor themselves

The unit sizes are insanely small and the overall aesthetic looks like it was copy pasted here straight from Tokyo. It's completely crazy but kinda fun and just might work So if this isn't a joke I say let them build it (if they can manage to pull that off)

It's a shame the parking garage will be open facing to High St, especially at ground level. I appreciate what Edwards is doing, but just feel like it wouldn't have taken very much more to move this from being a pretty good project to a really great one

Thanks I couldn't remember the original timeline, if any I do think it's a shame that they closed the park just to let it sit for years behind a chain link fence, and also that we're losing it at all. Large, mature trees are in short supply downtown and that park has a lot of them. If they kept the park it would also force the new building to be taller to fit only on the Karnes building's footprint (which is about the same size as the existing municipal courthouse) Oh well 🙃

Key takeaway here seems to be "preliminary site construction could begin in late 2025" :/ Five years on, progress stalls on new Franklin County Municipal Courthouse as costs rise Next month will mark five years without any signs of construction activity — aside from a chain-link fence cordoning off the former Dorrian Commons park at the southeast corner of South High and Mound streets, the site of the Downtown project. Franklin County erected the fence and shuttered the park in 2018 in preparation. The project is still moving along behind the scenes, said Chris Long, a spokesperson for the city of Columbus Finance Department, which is managing the courthouse project. However, half a decade on, the city still isn't exactly sure what will be built in terms of the number of stories, square footage or number of courtrooms. Nor could it provide provide an architectural rendering of what it might look like. https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/04/26/new-franklin-county-municipal-courthouse-project-stalled-as-costs-jump-over-60-percent/73439213007/

Correct, I'd expect this to be similar to other mid-size market locations like Austin, Denver, etc that lack the full fashion range you would see somewhere like NYC From a google search, these stores typically offer "makeup, skin care, fragrance, eyewear and small leather goods"