amped91

It is weird to me that this and the warehouse both get a “yes,” while Pizzuti was told “no” earlier this year, when Pizzuti is the only one who actually presented a solid plan to improve the site. It also concerns me having NRI being the developer for this whole area, when I could see them sitting on it another 10+ years.

Former South High Panera getting new life as neighborhood bar “Cobra is coming to the space at 684 S. High St. later this year in the Brewery District/German Village area. The owners of Cobra declined to speak with Columbus Business First about their plans, but Columbus Monthly published a thorough sitdown with the ownership group, which is made up of four friends and previous employees of Watershed Kitchen & Bar: Jack Dale Bennett Jr., Alex Chien, Josh Spiers and David Yee. They described the concept to Columbus Monthlyas a neighborhood bar with approachable but “exceptional” cocktails rather than a cocktail bar in that fancy sense. They said the food will be Taiwanese and Japanese-inspired noodle dishes, dumplings and yakitori-grilled steak. It’ll serve late into the night as well with an initial plan to keep the kitchen open until 1:45 a.m.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/10/25/former-south-high-panera-getting-new-life-as-neigh.html

The developer behind the ten new SFH builds under way on Kossuth in Southern Orchards—East Kossuth LLC—is now proposing to also build a four unit townhouse adjacent to the current dev site atop what is currently a parking lot.

Bleh, I guess it was approved anyway. I’m not a fan of the fate of all these gravel lots being in the hands of NRI. Former Dahlia Nightclub in Arena District to be torn down, turned into parking lot “The former Dahlia night club in the Arena District will be torn down at the beginning of next year. The Columbus Downtown Commission Tuesday approved the demolition of that building at 147 Vine St. to replace it with a gravel lot. The commission also approved the demolition of a building in the Warehouse District at 225 N. 6th St., which will become a paved parking lot. The commission debated at length over the demolition of the building to create a surface lot. The commission typically does not approve demolishing a building without a new one planned to replace it. "Being asked to tear down an existing building on a hope and a prayer that something will be built there... I just struggle with it," Commissioner Bob Loversidge said. Commissioners eventually came to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of the city to tear down the building, put in a gravel lot and require that the owner, Adam Lewin and his family, come back to the commission in five years with a plan for the site or be in a zoning violation. Lewin said he has communicated with NRI about the organization's long-term plans for the area and that he'd continue to communicate with NRI. "We want to position this (site) to be in a place to be redeveloped when NRI is ready to start developing the area comprehensively," he said.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/10/25/downtown-columbus-to-add-parking-lots.html

I wasn’t sure of a good place to put this; I don’t think there’s an arts thread. Either way, I like this news! Columbus to have its first-ever master plan for public art “The city of Columbus will create its first-ever "Public Art Master Plan" for the development, improvement and enhancement of public art and cultural arts programs in the community. Under a $250,000 contract approved Monday evening, the City Council has directed the plan be created by the nonprofit Greater Columbus Arts Council to "set a vision and develop a clear set of community-informed goals, policies and objectives to provide guidance" on public art and programs. The money will come out of the city's Neighborhood and Economic Development Fund. "Art is an invaluable part of the city's unique culture, our history, identity and our economy, so it is imperative that we have a comprehensive city developed plan," said Council Member Nick Bankston, chair of Economic Development Committee. The plan will guide art investment for up to a decade.” https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2022/10/25/plan-for-public-art-will-bring-columbus-in-line-with-other-cities/69587697007/

Ugh, CBF’s development round up now says the office building portion will start construction in December. It doesn’t list a start for the residential, but I would guess it will be around the same time too. “Astor Park is under construction now, but there is not a set timeline for the project to finish. Plans for the development near Lower.com Field include a five-story, 247,000-square-foot, 247-unit residential building with a mix of townhomes and one- and two-bedroom unit. A second apartment building is planned for a later phase. BBI Logistics will take all the office space in a five-story office building set to break ground in December; that building will also include retail space.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/10/25/developments-change-columbus-downtown-2023.html Im going to keep my fingers crossed that, with the delay, Pizzuti will importing plans for the second phase. Not a fan of the big parking lot in the middle.

A friend of mine is working on some designs for a mixed apt/condo/SFH development that he described as “huge.” I’m not sure where it’s exact location is though except that it’s “near Intel.”

Good! I voted “yes” last week ✅ And @atothekis right. What was built with the last bond issue was just a small portion of what we need. I don’t want this area to become like other growing metros where thousands are forced out of housing d/t rising costs.

In the Far South Area, a developer wants to expand the Spangler Farms development on vacant land by adding 109 units to the existing twelve.

A little more info from CU: Renderings Submitted for Latest Lane and High Proposal “Landmark Properties will be back before the University Impact District Review Board this week with another iteration of its proposal to redevelop the northeast corner of High Street and Lane Avenue. The new design calls for an 11-story building with 173 apartments (containing a total of 574 beds), and a 259-space parking garage. That’s down from the previous proposal for the corner, which called for a 15-story building with 215 apartments and a 287-space garage. The project has been before the review board multiple times since last fall, and board members have provided feedback on several different design iterations. After initially proposing to demolish five existing buildings on the site and replace them with a single, six-story building, the Georgia-based developer came back with two different proposals which would have preserved a portion of the Alhambra Court buildings (two brick row houses that face each other across a shared courtyard). The second of those two proposals called for a 17-story building, and was not well-received by the board. The latest proposal would require the demolition of four existing buildings – a one-story CVS pharmacy, the Alhambra Court buildings, and a row house on Norwich Avenue – because a single family house at the corner of Norwich and Pearl Street that had been a part of the project’s footprint is now not included. The two-story brick building at the corner of High and Norwich has never been a part of the project.” https://columbusunderground.com/renderings-submitted-for-latest-lane-and-high-proposal/

A new salon: And I believe someone on here posted the former Panera is going to be a noodle restaurant.

Apparently the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new E Broad community center—now known as the Fran Ryan Center—was held last week. I went by today, however, and official work/demolition has yet to start. So far, just the pile of dirt for the photo op 😆

Hmmm I wonder what this could be? ”The night before, Steinour and the bank were honored as "staunch proponent for housing stability and economic opportunity" in the top Voice and Vision Award from nonprofit housing developer Homeport. Huntington is the biggest lender to both Columbus-based Homeport and the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, where it recently surpassed $1 billion in cumulative loans. The bank also has created grant programs such as for extending internet service to affordable housing. For the past two years it's led a group funding a $105 million revolving loan fund at the Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County. Nonprofit housing developers access the fund to act quickly to buy properties before for-profit developers snap them up, then raise tax credits and other slower forms of fundraising. "They get their traditional financing, then that (Housing Trust) money recycles," Steinour said. "We're looking at something large in Linden right now." He could not divulge details of the Linden project.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/10/24/huntington-ceo-steve-steinour-affordable-housing.html

A month or so ago I remember reading someone posting on Reddit about this site being redeveloped and complaining about it, but I couldn’t find any more information on the project. Sounds like some good ideas, and I’m glad to see a group working toward revitalizing that stretch of Main. So much of it’s vacant, there’s plenty of opportunity to do some good neighborhood building.

Columbus tiny home neighborhood eyes 2023 groundbreaking “A tiny home neighborhood that seeks to ease Columbus' homelessness problem is gearing up to start construction. Columbus lawyer John Perez, founding partner of the Perez Morris law firm and one of the people leading the charge, said the group expects to break ground on Vista Village in the spring of 2023. The site already was zoned for single-family homes, but the project is waiting on variances to be approved by Columbus City Council before starting site work. Each 420-square-foot house in Columbus would contain a bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and have a front porch. Each resident would have an individualized plan to transition out of the community in 18 to 24 months as receive services, learn new life skills, such as cleaning or home maintenance, and undergo job training. Residents would pay $350 a month.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/10/24/tiny-homes-panel.html

That’s pretty much what leadership said in a recent interview: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/09/29/north-high-brewing-nearing-10-locations-as-it-expa.html

It is, but I was thinking it was supposed to be part of one of the other ongoing phases. I guess I imagined it, or maybe the plans were just scrapped. I’m glad they’re at least including offices in Nine, and it sounds like they are already in talks to fill that building up. But I agree it really is a missed opportunity to have not included much retail, or the hotel. And a boutique hotel connected to Fox in the Snow would do well, I think.

The East Market’s pop up stall will be replacing Round II with a sandwich concept: “The Buck City Sammies food truck first opened for business in June of this year, but in only three months, it’s already gained a loyal fanbase and quite a bit of positive momentum. And now, the eatery is set to enjoy its first-ever brick and mortar space. Buck City is preparing to open inside the East Market, which is located at 212 Kelton Ave. The eatery will officially open on Nov 14.” https://614now.com/2022/food-drink/hot-new-sandwich-concept-opening-first-brick-and-mortar-space-at-east-market

I thought I remembered plans for a hotel in one of the later phases. Did that get scrapped, or am I imagining this?

A few new renderings of Phase 10 from next month’s IV meeting:

That’s great! Fifth Ave is doing a great job of densifying on both sides of 315. And there’s still plenty more properties that would be great for this type of conversion too.

For me, I think it’s just the amount of time to get projects from proposal to ground breaking. And I feel like this is going to last at least another year or two. Last I counted—about a month ago—we had almost 1200 residential units under construction Downtown and double that number either planned or proposed. So while I’d certainly welcome more downtown proposals, I’m getting antsy just waiting for projects like Merchant, Peninsula 2, and 100 N High to get off the ground.

I would love for some deer to pop up in the Peninsula! Or some other woodland creatures. There’s not enough statues downtown!

Not necessarily a bad thing, but I am hoping the SP can eventually pull in more employers from outside of downtown and even outside the state (I think B&N is the only one so far who was previously located outside downtown), rather than just merely relocations within downtown. Or at least a splashy headline maker, like BBI taking up an entire office building and creating hundreds of new jobs in Astor Park lol

CBF back with a sneak peek at the Peninsula apartments. Flaherty & Collins' apartments at The Peninsula are nearing completion. Here's a look at construction progress. “Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins is nearing completion of its first Columbus project: two apartment buildings at the mixed-use project rising on the Scioto Peninsula just across the river from downtown. The buildings, which are seven and 12 stories tall, will have a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units. The 12-story building will include 16 penthouse units on its top two floors. Deron Kinter, principal at Flaherty & Collins, said the buildings will wrap up some time in the first quarter of 2023, pending the arrival of some construction materials. Apartments are pre-leasing now. Daimler Group and Flaherty & Collins also are working on a $211 million second phase of the mixed-use development. Taylor said there could potentially be announcements on the Peninsula's second phase in the coming months.“ https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/10/20/peninsula-apartments-photo-tour-construction-updat.html Oh, you tease ☺️