JohnOSU99

I was downtown last week for a Blue Jackets game and didn't see any cranes......where are they? Anyone with a recent skyline shot that shows them?

Construction Pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62979126@N00/sets/929036/

HUGE improvement coming to the Short North's former Sofa Express building.... For before and after pictures: http://columbusretrometro.typepad.com/ For Project info: http://www.dakotaonhigh.com/

WOW, that's nice!!! (need a roommate eh?) :wink:

$75 million project that only creates 40 jobs? :?

I've been to London a few times and everyone seemed to know about Ohio or at least Cincinnati or Cleveland.

Bexley project begins Construction has started on Plaza Properties’ Bexley Gateway mixed-use project, a $17.7 million development. The project architect is Mike Fitzpatrick of Architectural Alliance. Continental Building Systems will handle construction. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com

Isn't it racist to assume that only blacks are poor and only rich white people are moving into these rehabbed buildings? Socio-economic discrimination might be taking place here, but I wouldn't call it racism.

New hope for Weinland OSU, Columbus collaborate on project for kids By Jeff Bell, Business First Ohio State University and Columbus Public Schools are nearing construction of a $15.8 million project to help the impoverished Weinland Park neighborhood near the university. The goal of the venture, administrators from the two educational institutions said, is to integrate OSU's new early childhood development center with a rebuilt Weinland Park Elementary School in a town-gown collaboration. "It will be a unique model to address the needs of Weinland Park families more holistically," said David Andrews, dean of Ohio State's College of Human Ecology. About 70 percent of the children at the OSU center would come from Weinland Park, he said. The mostly low-income area, where the average household income was $15,252 in 2002, is plagued by crime and high turnover rates in its housing and schools. The project, which is also supported by the city of Columbus, is scheduled to be completed in fall 2006, Andrews said. Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/06/09/story2.html

The Short North has also started building "pocket parks" along High St. Is this an old concept that has regained popularity or is this a new concept for urban neighborhoods?

Yeah, I wouldn't be able to afford the Riverfront Club either, but I was given the tickets by a subcontractor we use for pre-cast concrete culverts. The guy we went with paid for everything.....alll I could eat and drink for free!!!!! Our tickets were two rows up from the Reds dugout....best tickets I've ever had to a sports game (except for secound row seats at a Blue Jackets game)

The NoBo area (near east side/King-Lincoln/Franklin Park) has a new website touting the new infill and renovated homes of the area. :clap: http://www.northofbroad.com/

I went to the Reds game last night and finally got to see this beauty first hand. It might not be the tallest building around, but it sure does look nice. When I was sitting up in the Riverfront Club I could see the mini-rotunda of QCS peeking through a break in the stands. Speaking of the Riverfront club.....how about the view you get of the Ohio River, Covington, and the Roebling Bridge!!! This was my first game at Great American and I really liked it....just wish I'd had time to explore the area after the game!

According to the revamped website the first units will be ready for occupancy Winter 2005! :clap: http://jeffreyplace.com/index.cfm

Here's some more info on RiverSouth: http://www.downtowncolumbus.com/publications/RiverSouthDesignSession.pdf

A website forum has been set up for people to talk about the Jeffrey Place project. Give your likes and dislikes and who knows, maybe it will influence what the final product will look like. http://jeffreyplace.com/digitalcharrette/forum/index.cfm?forumid=1

^ That's cool. I've been thinking about going back to OSU to get my Masters in City and Regional Planning too.

Jeffrey Place project under way 11 town houses to mark start of new community on Italian Village site Thursday, March 31, 2005 Mark Ferenchik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH It’s spring for one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the center of Columbus. After five years of promises, dirt is moving and in the next few weeks, town houses are to begin rising at the $400 million Jeffrey Place project north of Downtown. A builder will begin putting up 11 town houses along N. 4 th Street in April, said Joe Recchie, president of National Community Builders, which is developing the 41.5-acre site in Italian Village. Another 13 town houses are to be built soon after, just south of the first 11, and then a total of 1,120 condominiums, apartments and houses, plus offices, shops and a fitness center. Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/03/31/20050331-C1-03.html

Work to begin on Downtown Kroger Thursday, March 31, 2005 Mike Pramik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Kroger said it will break ground in May on a Brewery District supermarket, its first new Downtown store since the 1950s. Kroger plans to build the 66,000-square-foot supermarket near the northwest corner of Front and Sycamore streets and open it in early 2006, said Ed Hudson, the company’s manager of real estate and capital. The company expects the location to serve Downtown workers and residents, particularly those in the Brewery District and German Village. "I think it dovetails nicely with the residential development that’s coming along there," said Jim Tinker, executive director of the Brewery District Association. "We’ve not really had any strong retail to speak of. "It’s nice to have 66,000 square feet of it to start." Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/03/31/20050331-B1-00.html&rfr=nwsl&chck=t

The planners behind RiverSouth are looking for public imput... check out the front page of http://www.downtowncolumbus.com/ for more information!

The areas that are shown in the proposal as designated for parking are currently just big gravel parking lots (it's where I always park for Blue Jackets games), so there wouldn't be an increase in the amount of land that parking takes up. I don't know if the proposals are calling for surface lots or parking garages, but either way it looks like most of them would be hidden from sight so that will help give the area a more genuine urban feel.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

Casto pitching project with Whole Foods store Brian R. Ball Business First The Casto development group is shopping plans for a retail and residential development north of Nationwide Arena, anchored by a 51,000-square-foot Whole Foods market, Business First has learned. Casto has been quietly showing its development proposal around City Hall and to some North Market officials in a bid to gain support for a 6-acre to 8-acre project that would straddle Vine Street from Neil Avenue to North Front Street, ending at the North Market. The prospects of a Whole Foods specialty grocery store downtown has spooked supporters of the North Market, which is operated by a nonprofit corporation with some financial backing from the city of Columbus. Casto partner Bill Riat confirmed the developer's plans call for a Whole Foods store at Vine Street and Neil Avenue, on a site held primarily by the owners of Hamilton-Parker Co. The site, which housed a brick-and-tile sales business until five years ago, now includes parking lots and a few buildings leased to bars and restaurants. Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/03/21/story2.html?page=1

So there will only be 22 acres left over for the rest of Downtown Springfield's urban renewal project?

I think Columbus can help Ohio in this area. We have two large research institutes here (OSU and Battelle), now all we need to do is work on the development side of things to spin off that research into new industries and jobs. For examble, MSN's homepage had an article that said new flexible screens (TVs, Monitors, etc) being the next big thing, and I remember seing something on the local news about a Columbus company which is a big player in flexible screen technology.