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Alex Fischer named chair of Columbus Downtown Development Corp. board “Alex Fischer is the new chair of the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. board, replacing former mayor Michael Coleman. The leadership change takes place after the CDDC completed its year-long strategic plan, which Coleman helped lead. Coleman stepped down as board chair Dec. 31, said Greg Davies, CEO of the CDDC. "We want to make downtown as vibrant as it can possibly be," Fischer told me. "We can't have a vibrant region without a healthy downtown. Coming out of the pandemic, we need to do everything we can to not simply return to pre-pandemic levels of activity, but to go beyond that." Fischer said now that the strategic plan has been adopted by Columbus City Council, he'll lead the board through its implementation stages. Coleman likely will stay involved in some capacity, he said.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/02/09/alex-fischer-cddc.html

Still no news on the north end condos :/ Robert Weiler Co. and new development firm want to build 228 apartment units near Easton “Alex Marsh, vice president for Weiler Co., started Rocky Point Partners in 2017 with Tom O'Brien. Now Rocky Point and Weiler are co-developing this apartment complex. Plans for the complex call for eight, three-story buildings with a total of 228 units, plus a clubhouse and pool. The units will be a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments, with about 20% being held for workforce housing. Marsh said the developers will apply for a tax abatement through Columbus' CRA program. The project will go before Development Commission Feb. 9, if approved it would go before Columbus City Council. Marsh hopes to break ground at the end of 2023.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/02/09/weiler-stelzer-road-project.html

Thank god for the German engineers 🙏

I thought the SH owners said they had to close bc the building was being redeveloped? Maybe I’m remembering wrong…. Vic Village Tavern replacing Shrunken Head in Victorian Village “The new bar at 251 W. 5th Ave. is on track to open in March in the space that previously was The Shrunken Head until that live music venue closed in June. “It’s our goal to make it feel like it’s been here 50 years,” co-owner Quinn Allen said. “A laid-back, beer-and-a-shot bar, the kinda place where you know your bartender’s name.” Allen knows that concept well. He owns Zeno’s, which has been a neighborhood fixture since his father opened it in 1984. At the Vic Village Tavern, he’s joined by Matt Herron and Lonnie Kubankin. That trio own The Library Bar near Ohio State University as well.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/02/08/vic-village-tavern-replacing-shrunken-head.html & https://columbusunderground.com/the-vic-village-tavern-taking-over-former-shrunken-head-space-sp1/

JobsOhio gives Honda, LG $237 million in grants for $4.2 billion Ohio investment “JobsOhio has awarded grants totaling $237 million to Honda and LG Energy Solution for their plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwest Ohio and for Honda's plans to retool three of its Ohio plants to make the vehicles those batteries will power. The $237 million award is the biggest made by JobsOhio, the state's economic development group, easily topping the $150 million that it gave to Intel for its $20 billion semiconductor project in Licking County. The award reflects the state's lengthy historywith Honda, the first Japanese automaker to set up shop in the U.S. The $237 million is broken into three chunks: A $140 million grant for the Honda and LG battery plant, a $10 million workforce grant for that plant and then $87 million to Honda for retooling the existing factories to make electric vehicles. JobOhio says Honda and LG will invest $17.72 for every dollar in assistance from JobsOhio, which is funded by the state's liquor business.“ https://www.dispatch.com/story/business/automotive/2023/02/08/honda-lg-commit-4-2-billion-to-battery-plant-retooling-factories/69881722007/

^Are those remains that are roped off?

We could be seeing more movement and details on the fourth phase of Library Park in the near future. A PSCP submitted to the city today from Pizzuti.

Second verse, same as the first. It looks like the taller building is back up to 8 floors with the changes the developer made? REVISED PLAN FOR LITTLE BAR, UNIVERSITY BAPTIST CHURCH LOT PASSES ZONING COMMITTEE VOTE “The fate of The Little Bar and University Baptist Church lots is still undecided, following a vote by the University Area Commission Zoning Committee Monday night. The plan for the lots, proposed by a Texas-based student housing development company, American Campus Communities, passed a 5-2 vote by the committee and will now be put to vote by the entire commission. The vote comes after the previous plan, which raised concerns with parking and the building height on the corner of Norwich Avenue and North High Street, failed to pass a vote by the full commission Jan. 18. The updated proposal will now go before the full commission again at a date to be determined before potentially being recommended to the Columbus City Council. To accommodate these changes, the Lane Avenue height was proposed to be raised to 100 feet and would house the parking garage for the development.” https://www.thelantern.com/2023/02/revised-plan-for-little-bar-university-baptist-church-lot-passes-zoning-committee-vote/

Barring any vendors vacating soon, this new announcement and the forthcoming Masa should bring the East Market to 100% leased, plus additional phases of the development opening throughout the year.

Sorta like a dressed up SRO. It could be a good way to create more affordable housing, so I hope the Gravity shared living does well.

I hadn’t realized some archeological work was done last year. It sounds like quite a complex process! I think it would be nice for some sort of plaque or marker near the tower telling the history of the site.

Here's when Upper Arlington's Golden Bear Shopping Center will be demolished, redeveloped “Arcadia Development Managing Partner Scott Patton said demolition will begin within the next 30 to 45 days. Following demolition and environmental remediation, the site will transform into a mixed-use building featuring 76 luxury condominiums, office space and ground-floor retail. Patton said the $78 million project — dubbed The Residence at Golden Bear — has a 24-month construction cycle, so the entire building will be complete by summer 2025. With a timeline in place, Arcadia is starting to market the residential portion of the development, which Patton said is the main driver of the project due to the shortage of housing in Upper Arlington and the region at large. The company has teamed up with Keller Williams to begin marketing the property to future residents, the first of whom can start moving in around spring 2025. As for the existing tenants at Golden Bear, Patton said they are in the process of notifying them about the demolition process and are working toward solutions. He said there are five tenants left at the shopping center, and three have agreed to a lease buyout. The other two are on month-to-month leases that will be winding down.“ https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/02/07/upper-arlington-golden-bear-shopping-center.html

Residents concerned over OSU Wexner's planned demolition of historic house for rehab center “During a community meeting Monday night at Trinity Baptist Church on the Near East Side, some residents asked medical center officials to do an engineering assessment of the house. Amanda Lucas, the medical center's executive director of clinical operations for the Ohio State Neurological Institute and of Ohio State Harding Hospital, said that assessment is being done. The state bought the property for $1 in January from Blueprint Community Development LLC, affiliated with Partners Achieving Community Transformation (PACT), a consortium of OSU, the city of Columbus and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority to revitalize the area around Ohio State Hospital East. Dr. Chyke Doubeni, the Wexner Medical Center's chief health equity officer, said OSU officials want to learn more about the house's history and continue to listen. "We're not in the business of demolishing a historic property," Doubeni said.” https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2023/02/07/residents-want-to-preserve-near-east-side-house-osu-wants-to-tear-down/69878610007/

Nothing huge, but it looks like things are still going on “behind the scenes” for Lykens’s plan to build 15 units (11 SFHs and 4 carriage units) in GV, which was proposed almost two years ago. This was filed last Thursday.

This seems to be progressing rather quickly now. Hope they find good tenants for the buildings!

Money on ODOT being a PITA over this. Columbus City Council votes for 25 mph speed limit on all Downtown streets “The Columbus City Council voted 7-0 on Monday to lower the speed limits on all Downtown streets to 25 mph, which would knock 10 mph off many major routes. But the issue now heads to the Ohio Department of Transportation, which has said it must review and approve a city traffic study before the city can lower any speed limits because those major streets are also state routes. "If people use the rules of the road, if they use the tools that are on the roadways, we know that we can prevent crashes from happening," Council member Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said in support of lowering the speed limit. Citing statistics that the survival rate of pedestrians struck by a vehicle increases 10% to 90% by dropping vehicular speed from 40 mph to 20 mph, Barroso de Padilla said lowering speeds gives pedestrians better odds of avoiding serious injuries in a crash with a vehicle. She also cited local statistics showing that the number of people killed in traffic crashes on Columbus streets (not including freeways) almost doubled between 2015 and 2022, from 37 to 72. Speed limits are currently 35 mph on numerous Downtown streets: Broad, 3rd, 4th, Town, Rich, Main, Mound and Fulton streets and Grant and Cleveland avenues. The Ohio Revised Code says it is prima facie lawful to go 35 mph on state routes "within municipal corporations outside business districts," but Columbus officials say Downtown meets the state's definition of a business district and all streets should therefore be reduced to 25 mph.“ https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2023/02/07/odot-approval-sought-to-cut-downtown-speed-limits-to-25-mph-limit/69871374007/

Heads up motorists: A third of Franklin County's road projects for 2023 involve roundabouts ‘"This will be a big year for our office when it comes to roundabouts," W. Fritz Crosier, chief deputy of engineering for the Franklin County Engineer's Office, told The Dispatch. Of the 12 total construction projects set for 2023 on county-owned roadways — costing a collective $18 million — four will include roundabouts: one single-lane roundabout, two multilane "2x1" roundabouts and one smaller mini-roundabout, Crosier said. Aside from the roundabouts, the most notable county-owned road improvement projects this year include the rehabilitation and widening of Hayden Run Road bridge over the Scioto River, which also will include a shared-use path that will connect to the Central Ohio Greenways trail. Meanwhile, a new 2x1 roundabout will be constructed at the intersection of Reynoldsburg-New Albany Road and Havens Road and the Havens Road bridge over Blacklick Creek near that intersection will be rehabilitated. That planned roundabout, located less than 5 minutes south of another roundabout at Reynoldsburg-New Albany and Morse roads, was originally planned to be built last year but was moved back to this year due to increases costs and material supply issues.“ https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/county/2023/02/07/franklin-county-road-construction-2023-expect-more-roundabouts/69859194007/

Jersey Township Trustees considering rezoning that would pave way for 5 warehouses “A rezoning petition is before the Jersey Township Trustees that would pave the way for five warehouses at the intersection of Worthington Road and Putnam Road SW on 10 parcels that are currently farmland and zoned neighborhood business and rural residential. According to the proposal from the developer, the plans call for five warehouse structures on about 71 acres just south of Ohio 161. All five buildings combined will total more than 1 million square feet, according to the plans. The project is a speculative development, with no known tenants at this time, Platte said. The intention is to build the second building first, leaving open the land closest to Worthington Road in case the developer decides commercial retail, such as a restaurant or shops, would be a better use, Platte said, adding that would require amending the PUD.“ https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2023/02/05/jersey-township-considering-rezoning-that-would-pave-way-for-warehouses/69853077007/

So I’ll admit this is based on some rushed math while I’m at work, but it looks like if you assume the same/similar undercounting for Franklin county throughout the provided projection figures, we’d get a number just slightly below the MORPC projections, on a per year basis. And, as you said, these projections were released before all of last year’s economic dev announcements. It looks like Delaware county was also underestimated by a few thousand for 2020. Again, not a huge number, but Delaware is supposed to be one of our fastest growers, on a percentage basis. So if I were to guess, I would say we end up somewhere in between the state and MORPC projections by 2050.

The foundation permit is still pending too, according to the access portal.

The 342,000 number is right in line with Franklin’s growth this century. I don’t think it’s that wild to project the county’s growth is going to continue on the same trajectory, given all of the economic dev announced for the region last year.

You beat me to it! As far as I can tell, a building permit still hasn’t been issued. So I wonder, after demolition, if there might be a pause in activity until they can get that permit.

The Standard Building is looking handsome with its facelift, including new windows. A touch of color on Vera. And the turret has been installed.

Hmmm… Capital University looks to sell apartments near Bexley Gateway for redevelopment “The site, at 2160 to 2184 E. Main St., currently is home to the Trinity Lutheran Seminary Apartments, which sit between Bexley City Hall and Bexley Gateway. NAI Ohio Equities and the Robert Weiler Co. are brokering the sale. The firms will put a request for proposals out this week; proposals are due April 10. Mike Simpson, president of NAI Ohio Equities, said they hope to find a buyer in the next 90 days. The site currently is zone mixed-use commercial. Simpson said they envision a dense, mixed-use development to replace the aging apartments on the site with housing, retail, office and structured parking. Simpson said that redevelopment likely would start in about a year, adding that the city of Bexley likely wants to see some affordable housing worked into the project. About $10 million would be needed to renovate the apartments, built in the 1970s, to today's standards, Mae said. Only 12 students live in the apartments right now and they'll move out at the end of the school year.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/02/06/bexley-property.html

We know Licking will now get a larger share of the region’s population growth, but I feel like MORPC has an incredibly high growth projection for Delaware: ”Franklin County is expected to absorb half of the regional growth and will welcome more than twice as many newcomers as the next-highest county (Delaware). That said, the six surrounding counties will experience greater growth relative to their current populations ranging from a 30% increase (Madison and Licking) to 80% (Delaware), compared to 26% for Franklin County.” On a related note, is it next month county level 2022 estimates are released?