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Weird, I thought this was already supposed to be moving forward. Guess it’s still in the planning phase. Brad DeHays reveals plans for redevelopment of Columbus Partnership-owned downtown building “The Columbus Partnership and developer Brad DeHays plan to turn the former Ohio Department of Job and Family Services building into a mixed-use project with penthouses, a pool and a downtown cafe. The 200,000-square-foot, seven-story office building at 145 S. Front St. has been vacant since 2007. The Columbus Partnership bought the building in March 2021 for $3 million. Now DeHays is ready to move forward on the project. He'll present plans to the Downtown Commission later this month for initial feedback on his conceptual design. DeHays told Columbus Business First his current plan features 94 apartments, including six three-bedroom townhome penthouse apartments; 47,000 square feet of office space; and a 4,000-square-foot cafe. Letters of intent have been signed with a cafe operator and two office tenants, he said. As currently planned, the cafe would terrace down to Civic Center Drive and help activate the street level there.” Also, this quote doesn’t make much sense, unless he’s saying he doesn’t want the skyline altered: “DeHays said tearing down the building and replacing it with a new high-rise would dramatically alter the Columbus skyline, which is why he has a vested interest in preserving it.“ https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/15/dehays-columbus-partnership-historic-front-street.html

I think there were a few minor things the engineering office needed them to change, and they brought those alterations to the Downtown Commission for approval a few months back. It sounds like it’s still very much active, just going through the final planning processes. @cbussoccer, have you seen any FAA applications for the tower and/or crane yet? I’m terrible at trying to navigate their website.

Have they announced the new date for the groundbreaking ceremony? Just came across this on Politico: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2022/08/15/inside-the-white-houses-plan-to-sell-itself-00051779 They say it will be pre-Labor Day, but didn’t give a specific date.

Same here. Glad they were able to expand the scope of it too. I think this and the two Livingston mixed-use projects are really going to be transformative for the area.

There doesn’t appear to be any exterior damage after The Edington suffered a fire a couple weeks back. Quite a bit more progress at GVX, including a couple more apartment buildings that have started framing in recent days, and foundation work on a couple more.

New Northwest Side park to include athletic fields, walking paths, new library branch “Athletic fields, birding meadows, wetlands and walking paths, and a new Columbus Metropolitan Library branch are all ideas Columbus Recreation and Parks Department officials are considering for the new city park at the former Ohio State University sheep farm on the Northwest Side. "One of the biggest things people wanted at the park was a library," said Roy Wentzel, a Northwest Side resident and the sheep farm committee chairman for the Northwest Civic Association who has pushed for a park for years. Parks officials presented concepts at a meeting earlier this month. The property at 2425 West Case Road is just south of Ohio State's airport, Don Scott Field, and for now is being called West Case Road Park. The conceptual plans can be found here. To share opinions on the concepts, you can go to www.westcaseroadpark.com. Westall said elements from both plans will be combined into a final master plan that is to be presented in October.” https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2022/08/14/new-west-case-road-park-to-include-athletic-fields-library-branch/10265616002/

Work is now progressing pretty quickly on Triumph in OTE.

It was kinda difficult to get pics, d/t the fence screening, but quite a bit of foundation work has been done for the RMH expansion. Back in June, SSAC approved plans for a…unique…4-unit development at 921 S Champion in Southern Orchards. It is planned to be built in two phases, and include garage parking. Currently, the lot is vacant. Also in SO, city workers have been busy the past couple summers installing new, wider sidewalks with longer bump outs. Lockbourne Green has gone vertical.

Two rental homes on Parsons have now been demolished to make room for The Eleanor, a mixed-use dev. The next door building housing the All Peoples Market will also need to be demolished (it will get a new, expanded space on the first floor of The Eleanor, along with another retail spot), but they may be waiting until closer to Spring 2023, the expected groundbreaking.

Renovation work on the former home of G. Michael’s in German Village has started, making sure way for a new concept from CMR.

OhioHealth’s work continues on the buildout of their new infusion and heme/onc clinics. And work on the TP Crossing apartment building is coming along.

Fencing is up around the entire perimeter of the former Starling Middle School grounds. Hopefully we’ll see this started soon. Also looks like a bodega-style store will be taking up ~1200 sqft of retail space at Casto’s River & Rich dev. New neighborhood-centric market coming to Franklinton “When friends Tamieka Cobb and Rasheedah Crawley first drew up plans to create a community market in Franklinton, they knew even then it was going to be unique. “We decided we don’t want a typical convenience store,” Cobb said. “We have a vision and are following through with it.” Their store, known as Franklinton Market, will be located inside the River & Rich development at 40 W. Rich St. It’s planning to open in September, although an exact date hasn’t been announced. According to Cobb, Franklinton Market will utilize regualar feedback to create store inventory that’s best-suited for the greatest number of customers.“ https://614now.com/2022/food-drink/new-neighborhood-centric-market-coming-to-franklinton

It’s been pretty quiet in here today! (I’m saying that bc, last time I did, we got a good amount of dev news after. Seeing if my incantation works again.) CVS investing $19M in affordable housing development in Columbus “The pharmacy chain CVS Health Corp. will invest $18.9 million in the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority's effort to build and preserve 150 affordable housing units in Columbus. Mike Avotins, East Mid-America market president for CVS' Aetna subsidiary, told Columbus Business First that CVS has an interest in addressing the social determinants of health, which include access to housing, access to food and access to health care. CVS is a tax credit investor in the low-income housing tax credit deal that CMHA is using to revitalize Post Oak Station at 1383 Vida Way in west Columbus. The rehab will include new furnaces, air conditioning units, appliances and water heaters and updates of the bathrooms, kitchens and electrical systems. The affordable housing developer will demolish six units and build a new 10,000-square-foot daycare center, which will serve residents and other people living nearby. CMHA will lease the daycare to a professional operator. CMHA will also build eight new affordable rental units, bringing the total of units to 150. Each apartment is a two-story townhome, most of them with two- or three-bedroom units. https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/12/cvs-investing-19m-in-columbus-affordable-housing.html

Marysville's 33 Innovation Park lands new industrial building “A Pennsylvania developer is planning to construct a new industrial building in Marysville. Innovation² will be built by Hardy World at 33 Innovation Park, which is located at the epicenter of the Beta District in Marysville. The nearly 123,000-square-foot, Class A industrial facility will rise on 9.8 acres along U.S. 33 and Industrial Parkway. It is expected to open in spring 2023, according to marketing materials supplied by the project's leasing agent, Lee & Associates. Innovation² will feature 16 dock-high doors, two drive-in doors, 104 auto parking spaces and 38 trailer spaces. It also offers build-to-suit office and building signage opportunities. The leasing agents for the project are Mike Spencer, Todd Spencer and Alex Kuniega of Lee & Associates, which is one of the largest commercial real estate brokerages in central Ohio. When complete, Innovation² will join a pair of other new industrial buildings at the site. These include an 84,000-square-foot, multi-tenant office and warehouse facility that opened this year and a 112,000-square-foot Class A industrial building that has yet to be completed. Innovation² also will be located near Moriroku Technology North America and Sumitomo Electric Industries.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/10/marysville-innovation-park-new-industrial-building.html

Nothing official yet, but the Innovation District is likely getting another new building soon. Ohio State lands up to $52M in new research funding to boost advanced manufacturing “Ohio State University will create a new research center for advanced manufacturing with a multimillion-dollar investment from the National Science Foundation. The funding could amount to $52 million over 10 years, which OSU says would be one of the largest research investments in the last decade for the university. The university said Wednesday it has received $26 million for five years to create the center and has the ability to renew for another $26 million. Officially dubbed the Hybrid Autonomous Manufacturing, Moving from Evolution to Revolution Engineering Research Center, the center will be known as the Hammer Engineering Research Center for short. The center will likely be housed in a building in the west campus Innovation District, according to OSU spokesman Ben Johnson, although there is no dedicated construction project to build a new physical space for the center.“ https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/10/osu-advanced-manufacturing-center.html

High Street, Hilltop among next possible Sheetz sites “High Street could be getting its first Sheetz, while the rapidly expanding brand is trying again on a Hilltop site. The Altoona, Pennsylvania-based gas station and convenience chain has a pair of projects going before the Columbus Development Commission Thursday evening. The first would be a shop at 3891 S. High St. The 2.55-acre site is at the intersection of South High Street and Obetz Road on the city’s south side. It would be in front of the Lowe’s store at 3899 S. High St. The land currently is owned by the hardware retailer. Though that Sheetz site is getting a thumbs up from the planning department, a proposal at 782 and 744 N. Wilson Road in the Hilltop is not. The planning department previously opposed a Sheetz at that site. The commission also voted against it at its March meeting in a 3-3 vote.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/10/high-street-hilltop-among-next-possible-sheetz-si.html

Freakin’ Cowtown 🤦‍♂️

Virtual reality company Sandbox VR to open first Central Ohio location at Dublin's Bridge Park “Sandbox VR, a San Francisco-based company with a handful of celebrity investors, will open its first Central Ohio location later this year. The company, which offers free-roam virtual reality experience, plans to open at 6737 Longshore St., across from North Market Bridge Park in Crawford Hoying's sprawling mixed-use development. Construction is set to begin in late summer, with a fall 2022 opening expected.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/10/sandbox-vr-bridge-park-dublin.html

Habitat for Humanity buys strip mall in Newark in effort to serve more Licking County families “A Central Ohio nonprofit has purchased a strip center in Newark to help ramp up its work in Licking County. Habitat for Humanity MidOhio has launched a new Licking County Habitat Initiative, which aims to serve more families in the area, with the purchase of a shopping center at 1600-1680 N. 21st St. in Newark. Habitat bought the building for $3 million at the end of July, according to the Licking County Auditor. The nonprofit had spent five years looking for a location in Licking County, said E.J Thomas, the organization's CEO. The new 100,000-square-foot building will house a ReStore and Family and Program Center, which will create 12 new jobs and help support an increase in the number of families served in Licking County by Habitat. Thomas said money made from the store will go back into helping Licking County families with a new home or renovate their home.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/10/habitat-for-humanity-buys-newark-strip-mall.html

Originally, this Dispatch article said the bill was signed in Michigan last week. Which I thought was odd. It was actually signed into law today.

Grove City's Beulah Park Living: Lennar, Epcon home plans headed to council for approval “Grove City Council is next in line to consider approval of plans for two single-family developments planned for Beulah Park Living. The planning commission Aug. 2 voted to recommend that council approve the final plans for Lennar Homes' proposed 19-lot development along Kassidy Avenue and Rose Lane and Epcon Communities' proposal for a development on 11 lots on Rose Lane between Columbus Street and Beulah Park Drive. Both developments are within the same subarea portion of the Beulah Living development area. The Lennar development is expected to offer buyers about 15 types of elevations to choose from, said attorney Rebecca Mott, who represented the developer.” https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/communities/grove-city/2022/08/05/beulah-park-living-lennar-epcon-home-plans-headed-grove-city-council/

Something like that definitely needs to happen. There’s no reason, when the region has an affordable housing crisis, for landowners to refuse to develop empty parking lots for decades. I think part of the new Downtown Strategic Plan is to incentivize development of those lots, but I don’t believe they’ve provided any specific incentives yet.

This move will more than double their office footprint. Joseph Group moving from Arena District office to Brewery District “The Joseph Group, which currently operates out of an Arena District office at 300 Marconi Blvd., will move into a new office space at 605 S. Front St. Demolition and renovations will begin in the new space in August, with an anticipated move-in date in early 2023, according to a media release. The firm's current space is about 6,000 square feet. The new office space on Front Street is 13,000 square feet. “With rapid growth in clients, our team also has grown significantly. We simply need more space,” Joseph Group CEO Travis Upton said in the release. “We started our search last year and this new location is perfect – it provides room for years of future growth and is still centrally located for our clients and team.”‘ https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2022/08/08/joseph-group-brewery-district-office-arena-distric.html

Rendering of the Broad Street Arts and Senior Center. Public information meeting this month, and anticipated ground breaking next spring/summer. https://columbusrecparks.com/connect/about/capital-improvement-projects/basc/?fs=e&s=cl

Fencing’s now been extended to close off the sidewalks on Whittier and Kossuth, and Jaeger has been blocked. I can’t imagine we won’t see a ground breaking this coming week.