TIm

Just popped down to the North Market for lunch for the first time in a few months. They have Spruce St. shut down entirely, appearing to be for some underground utility type work on the street adjacent to the North Market Parking lot. Were some pieces of smaller scale construction equipment for road work on Park St. as well. Honestly was not as much action on the site as I thought there would be, hope to see more going on soon.

More like "fear of going under" haha. Seen multiple clients lose multi million dollar accounts this year because they couldn't meet orders on time due to not being able to obtain the materials. And then I've seen other clients pick up huge multi million dollar accounts because they could meet their demands.

All my clients are in the manufacturing industry and a lot of them have a huge need for more space. The reason being is because they are buying up materials whenever they are available for fear that they might not be there later if they opt to wait. Been to so many facilities just jam packed with things haphazardly because they bought 3x what their normal warehousing area can fit. A lot of them have been leasing third party warehouse space or even building/purchasing warehouse space to just maintain that level of stock at all times now. I do imagine it'll top out at some point, but people lost a lot of business because they didn't have the materials to fulfill customer orders and they are now prepared to ensure that never happens again.

Yeah the internet was horrible out there. It was technically Franklin Township. I could put Heath or Newark on my mail and it would show up to the same place. I think it was something like two miles of cable connecting us to the nearest internet connection. No water and sewer out that way, all wells and septics. I literally would not be able to do my job from home if I still lived in that house, I need reliable internet and phone coverage.

Both Licking and Fairfield county have some serious terrain, it's just not in the obvious spots. I use to live out on Blue Jay Road a little Southeast of the Newark/Heath area and that seems to be where the super hilly terrain of SE Ohio really starts. It's like driving on a rollercoaster out there. First time my mom came to visit she got sick haha. If you're ever looking for some scenic country driving not too far from Columbus, I'd highly recommend driving around that area and probably also stopping at Blackhand Gorge. If you connect to Blue Jay Road near 79 and take it all the way out to Brownsville Road, it'll take you on a nice 20 minute scenic rolling hills drive (you'll get to see buffalo to!) and then pop you out right near Blackhand Gorge. The rolling hills and the beautiful views are probably the only thing I miss about living out in that area though. I don't miss 45 minute round trips to the grocery store, taking 12 hours to download a video game and having to stand in very specific spots to get good audio on phone calls.

Few more announcements and you're going to need a second alphabet to identify where all the new developments are going to go!

Yeah I'd much rather people stay near the nature and then head out to enjoy it as opposed to destroying more nature so people can sit in a resort pool and ignore it. Humans aren't the only ones who deserve to enjoy this land, let's not scare away all the critters by bulldozing their habitat for hotels and pools.

Leave nature alone! We don't need monstrous buildings out there, this is plenty. Imagine having that beautiful view spoiled by more of these things?

I personally like the size they chose. Makes it a bit more exclusive so when you go visit you aren't in a sea of people on every trail and at every park. Nothing better than being alone out in nature and I hope they don't try to spoil that by building too much resort style tourism in the area. We have enough big construction occurring around the state, lets not spoil the most beautiful spot we got!

So what you're saying is they put car washes where people drive cars. That's literally everywhere in Columbus hence the new car wash in this area. This parcel is also right next to where 70/62 connect and it's on Mound which I'd say is a major thoroughfare for the area, just happens to be at the end of it. Also close enough to Sullivant which is another major thoroughfare.

Side note, but one of the most enjoyable patios to eat on in the city right there at Milestone 229.

The trees! We have so many young trees in this city, I can't wait to see them all grown up. Super jealous when I visit other cities and they have a bunch of old growth trees in more urban areas. We kinda only have that in a few neighborhoods and in the parks.

People have cars, even in walkable areas. Those cars need to be washed. it's just smart business to put those close to where people with cars are, and that's literally everywhere in Columbus at this time. If it was super walkable and nobody anywhere had cars, I'd expect to see more shoe shines, cobblers and shoe stores in the area since people who walk everywhere would need/want those services.

I'm guessing it was likely grandfathered in under the old owner. Once ownership changes those grandfathered items now have to be updated.

Improving and connecting our parks only makes Columbus a better city. There are literally no downsides that I can see other than the freedom of movement for these alleged bicycle criminals.

They're building one in front of the Lowes behind Historic Crew Stadium and I couldn't be happier. Now I don't need to go to the one on Henderson in UA. Maybe I'll actually wash my car more than 4 times a year now!

Yes, I think that would be start of it! There were rumors of a massive development essentially taking over all the vacant land around the soccer fields between Walmart and King Road basically, and possible even taking over the entire soccer complex. Similar thing for the area right behind the Heath Walmart as well.

Heath is absolutely ripe for high density residential development, or just development in general. The town is literally a strip mall with a few single family home neighborhoods and some "rural" areas outside the 79 area. So much empty land right on or around 79 that would be great for mixed use developments.

This is excellent but actually isn't what I was referring to! There are parcels of land basically visible from both Walmart parking lots that there were a ton of rumors about being developed into if not mixed use, at least high density residential. Haven't heard anything about them in years, but I don't work for the county anymore which is where I heard all these secrets haha.

I just can't subscribe to this pessimistic view. You can see it literally happening in Clintonville right now so it does happen.

I'm really hoping this sets the stage for more developments like this in Newark. Has been a good amount of renovations and conversions of old buildings into units in the area, but we haven't really seen a new modern multi-family development like this in at least my years of keeping track of what's going on in Newark. This could be the first domino to really trigger more of these. There are still those huge pieces of land where there have been rumors of huge developments for years behind/near both the Heath and Newark Walmarts. Would love to see some action on both of those sites.

All it will take is one dense multi-family project to be successful and they'll change their minds. Once they see the dollar signs they'll happily change their tune.

I'd make some hard arguments here! Scioto Grove and Area 51 are both excellent courses for what they are! Area 51 is one of my favorite late Fall to late Spring courses in the area! Easy to navigate even with snow on the ground because it's so flat and you can get a ton of birdies. Scioto Grove is such an awesome variety and basically the only course in the Columbus area that has consistent elevation changes. It's the only spot I get to work on my uphill shots! I am excited about whatever those new courses in Lockbourne are going to be. I hope they do it well, but with any new disc golf course, it's generally multiple years from opening til the course is actually in solid playing condition. Excited to see what they become. Keep in mind Dayton is literally one of the best disc golf cities in the entire world so you're comparing Columbus to the best of the best! We have it pretty darn good here to, so many places around this country who have way worse access to courses/good courses. Hell, my home state of Massachusetts literally has the best disc golf course in the world but is also one of the worst places to live for courses per capita. You're lucky to have two within a 90 minute drive of you, and that doesn't even factor in course quality. Ohio is an excellent disc golf state and I think every city but Toledo are in the top 50 disc golf cities in the US (2021).

I think you hit it spot on here. I live north of 70 and the only reason I ever go south of 70, specifically outside 270 is to play a few disc golf courses (German Village area is probably excluded form this as everyone knows what is over there). I know the names of the towns in the area but a few of them I would certainly point to the wrong location if you asked me where it is. Other than the disc golf courses, there is nothing I've ever felt the need to go visit out that way. This certainly leads to warped impressions of what areas are actually like since people form opinions via what they hear from others and read online (e.g., the whole Grovetucky thing).

First snowflake of the year someone is going to slam on the gas to hit 70+ MPH and sail through that window.