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Aquatics center and commercial development approved for construction in Delaware County "A new development anchored by an aquatics center is moving forward after Berlin Township officials approved a revised plan. Buckeye Swim Club's competitive training facility received unanimous support from township trustees, who voted in favor of revisions to the original development plan at a recent meeting. The approval sets the stage for the project to begin construction this year and open in fall 2025. The 10-acre property, located at 1895 Peachblow Road, will include a 22,600-square-foot aquatics center as well as a commercial development with two buildings measuring 17,000 square feet and 10,000 square feet. Specific plans for the commercial portion of the project have not been identified, but the site is zoned for office, healthcare, childcare, recreational and educational uses. The aquatics facility will house a 25-yard-by-25-meter competitive pool and a dedicated pool for Buckeye Swim School and will include expanded deck space that will accommodate area high school teams and provide more training and spectator space. The Delaware County complex is located about 2 miles from another sports-related project, Jennings Sports Park, as well as the 1,200-acre Evans Farm mixed-use development. A pair of new schools are also nearby." https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/07/31/buckeye-swim-club-aquatics-center-delaware-county.html

Columbus' $100M Rumpke recycling facility largest in North America "Rumpke's new $100 million recycling center in Columbus is now open and the company wants the public to come inside. The new facility, at 1190 Joyce Ave., has been operational for about eight weeks, but will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Aug. 6. This facility was built with education in mind, including an elevated tour platform so that the public can see the procession floor. There also is a third-floor education center developed in collaboration with COSI, where students fifth grade and older can learn about the recycling process, the facility and how to make good recycling choices. A research center was created in partnership with Ohio State's sustainability institute. Rumpke broke ground on what was then a $90 million facility in February 2023. The building is about 226,000 square feet and processes about 250,000 tons annually from 50 Ohio counties." https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/07/31/rumpke.html

Last of four extra-large super loads to move to central Ohio "The fifteenth of nearly two dozen “super loads,” and last of four extra large loads that exceed 900,000 pounds, will depart the dock site in Adams County on Wednesday, August 7. The convoy will head to New Albany to deliver the load to the site of the new Intel plant in Licking County. Like the last three loads, this is an air processor known as a cold box used in the silicon chip manufacturing process, measures approximately 23’ tall, 20’ wide, 280’ long, and weighs 916,000 pounds. The move is scheduled to take more than a week. It will make stops in West Portsmouth, Lucasville, Chillicothe, Rickenbacker, Pickerington, and Pataskala, before being delivered on Tuesday, August 13." https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/OHDOT/bulletins/3abcc3b

Marlow’s Cheesesteaks to open in Ohio Stadium "The Gahanna-based cheesesteak eatery, Marlow’s Cheesesteaks is opening soon inside of Ohio Stadium. Marlow’s plans to open on Aug. 3, when Chelsea FC and Manchester City play each other in a special, across-the-pond showdown (which means the concept will be ready to go when the Buckeyes kick off their season against the University of Akron on Aug. 31). The cheesesteak spot will be located near Section C 19 and Gate 23 of the stadium." https://614now.com/2024/food-drink/ultra-popular-cheesesteak-spot-opening-new-columbus-location

Columbus approves sweeping zoning changes, increasing height limits in parts of city "Columbus City Council voted Monday to overhaul the city's zoning code, paving the way for new higher-density development in parts of the city. Each of the six resolutions amending the city zoning code passed unanimously. More than a dozen residents spoke during the meeting, with most saying they supported the initiative and believed the new code would improve access to affordable housing for residents. Members of the audience broke out into applause when the legislation passed. At the Monday meeting, council members said the change will help modernize the code into a more lenient process, eliminate delays, keep up with Columbus' growing population, and ease the housing shortage in the future. Buildings as high as 16 stories and with no required parking could be constructed along some major routes with no parking requirements. Many of the zoning changes radiate from Downtown, following main drags like High, Broad, East Long and East Main streets as well as Parsons, Mount Vernon, Cleveland, and Sullivant avenues, and other major crosstown corridors like Morse Road. Areas largely left off the rezoning map include areas around Route 161 between I-71 east to I-270." https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/07/29/columbus-city-council-approves-major-zoning-changes-to-applause/74592843007/

"The Baker Brothers Wholesale Grocery warehouse and building, 8-12 E. Main St., will be turned into a mixed-used complex with $2 million in tax credit from the Ohio Department of Development as part of the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit Program to preserve and transform historical buildings into reusable community spaces." https://www.dispatch.com/

"Construction of a roundabout will close Section Line Road, from Pittsburgh Drive to U.S. 42, through Sept. 13. This is the final part of the project to extend Sawmill Parkway to Section Line Road. The detour route includes Pittsburgh Drive, London Road and U.S. 42. The project expanded the amount of industrial space available in the city by 300 acres including the new Sawmill Pointe Business Park." https://www.dispatch.com/

National, trendy pancake chain opens first-ever Ohio location in Columbus "Panda Pancakes, a national chain, is cashing in on the miniature pancake trend, but with their own twist – they load their offerings up with strawberry shortcake toppings, Nutella, Oreos, and even M&M’s. The chain just opened their first-ever Ohio location inside Polaris Mall’s food court. You can snag these viral mini pancakes, as well as their popular pancake and waffle mix. There are a ton of toppings to choose from, and creating your own concoctions is all part of the fun." https://614now.com/2024/food-drink/national-trendy-pancake-chain-opens-first-ever-ohio-location-in-columbus

Overdose Hot Chicken, serving ‘Chicken Blunts,’ ‘Joint Fries,’ coming soon to Hilltop "According to signage on the building and a new social media account, Overdose Hot Chicken will be replacing Lenny’s Chicken Fingers at 3260 W. Broad St. in the Hilltop. The hot chicken spot, which will be halal, plans to serve menu items like their Chicken Blunt, Joint Fries and more." https://614now.com/2024/uncategorized/overdose-hot-chicken-serving-chicken-blunts-joint-fries-coming-soon-to-hilltop

Early renderings from the article for those who don't have a subscription:

Another view of Fab one at Intel

Columbus Metropolitan Library set to break ground tomorrow on new, larger Marion-Franklin branch "The Columbus Metropolitan Library has announced plans to break ground on the new Marion-Franklin Branch at 2800 Lockbourne Road. The ceremony, set for 10:30 a.m. July 29, will feature library leaders, city officials, and community members. The event is open to the public. The new branch is expected to more than double in size, expanding from 4,000 square feet to about 10,000 square feet. The library anticipates the opening of the new, standalone Marion-Franklin Branch in 2025. This development is part of the library's broader expansion plan, which already opened new branches in Gahanna and Reynoldsburg. Renovations are also underway at the Linden and Barnett branches, and plans are in place to begin work on a new Canal Winchester Branch later this year." https://www.columbuslibrary.org/press-releases/library-to-break-ground-on-new-marion-franklin-branch/

'Zone In’ plan clears final public hearing "After a rehashing of some familiar arguments by some familiar faces, the city of Columbus moved another step forward Wednesday on a planned massive zoning code change involving over 12,000 city parcels along major transportation corridors poking out from Downtown. About 60 people attended the fourth and final public hearing Wednesday on “Zone In,” which will bring taller mixed-use buildings into certain neighborhoods without any parking requirement. ...Some people weren’t satisfied with the last amendments. Some German Village residents, for example, are still wary of the fix that Council came up with to ensure that current regulations that allow historic neighborhoods to have design review and height limitations over projects trump the new zoning code, which conflicts with those rules. They asked Council to just make the zoning on the parcels in question, which are along Livingston Avenue, conform to rather than conflict with their historic guidelines. In other words, they want the city to just take them out of Zone In altogether. But Kevin Wheeler, the city’s assistant director for growth policy, said that Livingston Avenue passes by Nationwide Children’s Hospital and is just across the freeway from Downtown. It was therefore deliberately included in the Zone In plans under the theory that ultimately the entire city will get a zoning update. This iteration is just the first phase of that work. Building and Zoning Department officials also clarified that using permit parking as a mitigation device when a newly required parking-impact study determines a neighborhood’s parking could be negatively impacted by a major new development means the permits are for the existing residents impacted by new development — not the residents of the new development. Those residents sometimes get permits, but not routinely, officials said." https://www.dispatch.com/

Columbus entrepreneur has big vision for former Neighborhood House site on Near East Side "The building that housed the Neighborhood House, once a social services hub on Columbus' Near East Side, was purchased by a local realty firm from the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority. Moses Realty, owned by Freweini Alemayoh, acquired the more than three-acre property for $1.5 million with funding from Adelphi Bank, Freedom Equity Inc. and the state of Ohio and plans to make it a business and community hub. The more than 52,000-square-foot building at 1000 Atcheson Street will be used to support various "community-centric operations," according to Moses Realty. Those operations will include child care, workforce development, youth athletics and small local food-based businesses. Alemayoh is a local entrepreneur, originally from Tigray, Ethiopia, who also owns Flavor 91 Bistro in Whitehall." https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/07/26/columbus-housing-authority-neighborhood-house-entrepreneur-east-side-renovation/74533273007/

City of Columbus picks possible site for new public indoor swimming pool "Columbus City Schools and the city Parks and Recreation Department signed a letter of intent to construct a new indoor pool and recreation complex along Agler Road on the Northeast Side of Columbus after the school district transfers property to the city. The new facility will be located on the current sites of Mifflin Middle School, Cassady Alternative Elementary School, and Howard Community Center and Northeast Park (which would become the site of the pool facility). The letter of intent also calls for a recreation and community center with a new Mifflin Middle School building attached to the facility, as well as new athletic fields across Cassady Avenue on the current site of Cassady Elementary. The process of creating the indoor swimming facility and moving Mifflin Middle and Cassady Elementary schools would happen over three phases of property transfers. The first phase would involve the aquatics center along Agler Road, and an existing park parcel on Cassady Avenue being transferred to Columbus City Schools. After the construction of the aquatics and community center, phase 2 calls for the existing Howard community center to be transferred to the school district. Phase three of the plan calls for the existing site of Cassady Elementary to be transferred to the city recreation department and turned into an athletics complex, including a track and several fields. Cassady Elementary would be moved to the current site of Mifflin Middle School, and Mifflin Middle would be moved to a new facility that connects to the recreation center and indoor swimming pool. The park on the northeast corner of the parcel would also be expanded." https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/2024/07/26/the-northeast-side-could-be-getting-a-new-indoor-swimming-pool/74453966007/

Intel's newsletter released today has a couple small updates... More Cranes are Coming "The skyline will soon change with the addition of two new cranes on Intel’s Ohio One campus. These crawler cranes will be tall and yellow. We’ve affectionally nicknamed them, “Big Birds” because they are tall and bright! Later in the construction process, we will add another tall crane. While it will be about the same height as the other two tall cranes, this powerful crane will have the capacity to lift more weight. This crane will be named by the kids in the community through Intel’s “name-the-crane” program." Celebrating our Superload Deliveries "We celebrated the deliveries of two of the four ASU cold boxes. Each cold box, topping the scales at over 900,000 pounds and measuring about the size of a football field, made their way by barge on the Ohio River and were loaded onto trucks from a port in Adams County and then traveled to Intel’s Ohio One campus. The third cold box is expected to arrive to the Intel campus during the last week of July and the fourth and final delivery should arrive mid-August."

New facility set for ‘state-of-the-art’ care "Outpatient surgeries and rehabilitation care at Nationwide Children’s now have a new home in the $179 million Livingston Orthopedic and Surgery Center. The 272,000 square-foot facility is the latest undertaking in the downtown hospital’s $3.3 billion project announced back in 2021 and just one of the dozens of developments across central Ohio’s health systems. The six-story building officially relocates the the hospital’s surgery center from the main hospital, and and is slowly phasing in a wide berth of clinical services that go beyond surgical needs. Once all clinical groups are moved into the center, a hospital spokesperson said it expects to serve around 70,000 patients annually. The space includes physical and occupational therapy care, a cerebral palsy clinic, sports medicine clinics to address musculoskeletal injuries and other sports-related injuries, as well as a concussion clinic and rheumatology department, among others. Patients will also have access to the 11,000 square-foot rehabilitation gym, 2,700 square feet of turf space, rehab areas with specialized equipment, a basketball court, gymnastics tumbling space and a performing arts studio." https://www.dispatch.com/

Heath, developer reach agreement on 320-acre mixed-use development to establish a new 'downtown Heath' "It took eight months, but the city reached an agreement with the developer for the proposed $218 million, 320-acre Central Park mixed-use development, including more than 1,800 housing units, west of Walmart. The zoning allows for the creation of a community with areas for single-family homes, apartments, retail, restaurant, parks, assisted living, clubhouse, outdoor recreation with a pool and pickleball, volleyball and basketball courts, government buildings and potential commercial/industrial space near the airport. The plan also includes walkable trails connecting to Geller Park and possibly a new city building and relocated police department. The housing offerings include 218 single-family homes on 77 acres, 234 units of multifamily ranch housing, 156 units of townhomes and 1,228 apartments — for a total of 1,836 housing units. It will be built in six phases, finishing in 2031. The next steps include approval of an infrastructure improvement plan and a final development plan for the first part of the development. Then comes installation of sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water, underground utilities and the roads in Phase I, which includes 36 single-family homes, 28 townhomes, 120 multifamily ranch units, 424 multifamily and assisted living units, 40,000 square feet of commercial space and 3 acres set aside for commercial space, with plans to start to cut roads in the beginning of 2025. Wallick Communities will develop the easternmost part of the community, including four, four-story mixed-use buildings along an extended Central Parkway near the entrance. The road will have diagonal parking in the middle, with roundabouts at the entrance and at the opposite end of the four-story structures. Central Parkway, which ends alongside Walmart, will extend to Keller Drive, a distance of about a mile. A new Central Parkway West connected Keller and Thornwood drives in 2021." https://www.aol.com/heath-developer-reach-agreement-320-100324619.html

Columbus City Council is making some last-minute tweaks to its new zoning code before a scheduled vote on the code next week "Changes include more parking guidelines and clearer protections for historic buildings. The revisions, described in The Dispatch on Friday and outlined at a news conference Monday, are expected to be the final changes in a two-year process, called “Zone In,” to overhaul the city’s more than 70-year-old zoning code. City officials said the changes are in response to nearly 1,600 comments submitted on the code, along with multiple hearings and meetings at a special Zone In meeting space Downtown. The proposed changes: • Require parking impact studies of every development proposal that has fewer than one parking spot for each residence. The city will still not require on-site parking, but depending on the findings, the studies may require developers to make parking arrangements such as permit parking on adjacent streets or lots, or additional bike or scooter parking. An exception will remain for affordable housing, which will have no parking requirements in an effort to keep down costs. • Clarify that protections will remain for buildings in historic districts and buildings individually protected. The original zoning proposal did not remove such protections, but some local preservationists feared the new rules could weaken protections for historic properties. • Increase setbacks by 5 feet between mixed-use buildings and adjacent homes, and require street trees for larger developments, part of increased “aesthetic and design standards to ensure a proper fit within established neighborhoods” with buildings in mixed-use zoning districts. • Add landscape buffering requirements. No parcels or designations were changed in the proposed new zoning map with one exception that was a clerical error, said Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans." https://www.dispatch.com/

See inside the Ohio National Bank building in downtown Columbus "The Ohio National Bank building in downtown Columbus is a time capsule, seemingly untouched since the 1990s. Harsax Management CEO Randall Sacks Tuesday gave media a tour of the historic building. The developer plans to redevelop the bank building into a restaurant space, but keep as much of the building the same as possible, down to preserving bank ledgers found in the building. In addition to a restaurant or food hall on the ground floor, Sacks said there are plans to renovate the basement to be a speakeasy or bar and add six apartments or short-term rental units to the upper floors, which were originally used for offices. The developer also has proposed a 15-story, mixed-use tower for the buildings next door to the bank, which Harsax also owns. That part of the project is on hold due to high interest rates and construction costs, but the restoration of the bank building could start as soon as next year. Harsax has also been approached by two out of town developers about developing the buildings next door, but they agreed the current development environment makes the project too difficult to pencil now." https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/07/24/ohio-national-bank-building.html

Boardman Arts Park to use $1M from state for new venue A $1 million award from the state of Ohio has moved Boardman Arts Park one step closer to putting a dream into action. The 2-acre performance area on its festival field facing William Street will be completed in two phases. Ground will break in the fall of 2024 and expected to complete Phase 1 before the 2025 season opens in late May 2025. Phase 1 of the project includes: • Building a 50-feet-by-30-feet stage that will look like a towering structure growing out of the ground and featuring a canopy made of colorful steel and iridescent resin. The size of the stage is intended to accommodate large bands, symphonies, dance troupes, theater productions, comedy shows, movie screens and other presentations • Enhanced grounds including an ornate, wrought-iron fence (replacing the current chain-link) with walk-in and drive-in gates; a community-designed/created mosaic entrance from William Street, landscaping and paths connecting the features of the space and additional parking. https://www.dispatch.com/

"The reconstruction of Waggoner Road in the city is underway, with phase one of the project expected to extend until mid-2025. This phase will transform the uncurbed road to a three-lane, curbed road, complete with pedestrian facilities, including sidewalks and leisure trails, from Main Street to Priestley Avenue." https://www.dispatch.com/

Savion, in conjunction with Ohio State University, to test a variety of crops at newly opened Madison Fields Solar Farm "A new solar farm in Madison County is tackling the longstanding complaint that the growing number of utility-sized solar projects in Ohio are taking critical farmland out of production. Renewable energy company Savion has opened Madison Fields Solar Farm, a 180-megawatt project capable of generating enough power to run 38,000 homes. The farm will also test on whether it is possible to grow crops between and around the rows of 400,000 solar panels on about 1,000 acres of land in Pike Township. Construction of Madison Fields began in December 2022 and finished last December. The introduction of agrivoltaics at Madison Fields comes during a building boom for solar farms in Ohio. There are about 60 farms in some stage of development in the state, according to state regulators. Projects approved several years ago, like Madison Fields, are coming online." https://www.dispatch.com/story/business/energy-resource/2024/07/21/madison-fields-solar-farm-to-test-agrivoltaic-farming-on-solar-farms/74282422007/

Recent drone video showing progress at Intel is up to the interior walls for the 'clean subfab level' Drone video from July 12, 2024

Some pictures of Little Grand Market at Grandview Crossing Grand opening scheduled for Aug. 16 https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/07/17/little-grand-market.html