Posted March 5, 201015 yr The neighborhood of Franklin Park is anchored (and overshadowed) by the park of same name which is home to the city's conservatory. While the commercial streets of Main and Oak both leave much to be desired, the neighborhood boasts some impressive residential streets that have made quite a comeback while everyone's attention was on Olde Towne East. I didn't even get Franklin Park's stretch of Bryden St, which basically looks like the ones already included: Franklin Park W, Franklin Park S, Franklin Ave, and Rhoads Ave. MAP Train! A reminder that this is Columbus. There's some sort of wood theme going on here. Cute and tiny. The Columbus Castle rowhouse. These are a bit more drab, but add more variety. AT&T? The side entrance. Nice! The main entrance. Enough ice thawed so that the ducks have a place to hang out.
March 5, 201015 yr Love Franklin Park. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
March 5, 201015 yr From what I've heard, Franklin Park has a very stable population of older homeowners. It has a rough edge here and there, but overall, FP is as solid as any non-overtly gentrified Columbus neighborhood. Very commutable for downtown employees, and great bike trail access, too.
March 6, 201015 yr How much does a decent (not too much fixing up) house go for in this area? http://www.trulia.com/for_sale/Columbus,OH/franklin_park_keyword/
March 6, 201015 yr Great stuff. Franklin Park has some great housing, but it seems to quite often get lumped in with Olde Towne East.
March 6, 201015 yr It's kind of funny how some of the near east side is making a comback and a most of the far east side keeps going downhill. Sign of the times I guess.
March 6, 201015 yr ^ Yep, things aren't looking good for the Far East Side. Too suburban for city slickers, and too many "big city problems" for suburbanites. Franklin Park is another classy old Columbus neigborhood. The only problem I see in the future is that it is large and almost exclusively residential. It needs at least some businesses.
March 6, 201015 yr I don't think I could ever become a West Sider (in any city I live in) so these Near East neighborhoods look great since we probably can't afford to buy in Westerville where my wife works.
March 7, 201015 yr Franklin Park is another classy old Columbus neigborhood. The only problem I see in the future is that it is large and almost exclusively residential. It needs at least some businesses. Franklin Park is similar to neighboring Woodland Park to the north which is also lacking in the commercial department despite a healthy residential base. That's probably due to little publicity about these neighborhoods, although Woodland Park was featured in the Dispatch. Where Franklin Park differs is that is has business districts, but they're either empty or have have a business that isn't going to attract residents outside of of the neighborhood. Yellow Brick Oven is an exception on Oak in OTE to the west, so maybe someone on this side can open something similar. Main has more crime and a negative image and the only place within Franklin Park that might be worth checking out is Caribbean Corner (is it open?).
March 7, 201015 yr I imagine that Bexley and to a lesser extent DT/German Village/Short North crowds out retail development in these neighborhoods.
March 8, 201015 yr Seems like the commercial buildings by and large are zoned commercial, but many are not utilized. On Oak there's A&A Community Store which boasts African chicken sausage and shea butter lotions and Show Me A Sign Media, which I'm guessing is a sign store. Further west buildings are empty and I'm sure Franklin Park residents can support a neighborhood destination like a restaurant/bar, etc, on that street.
March 9, 201015 yr I'm willing to bet that the biggest factor prohibiting new businesses from moving into commercial spaces in these neighborhoods is the large costs for rehab and code update. Most of the empty commercial spaces in older neighborhoods such as these have sat empty for years, and the businesses that vacated them the most recently had been around for decades. Which means that the buildings have been grandfathered into pretty much all code updates over the past 50 years. A new retailer who wants to move in must: 1. Bring everything up to 2010 codes, which could mean all new electrical, all new plumbing, rebuilding entrances and bathrooms for ADA requirements, asbestos removal, new fire suppression systems, etc. 2. Hire contractors, developers, architects, and a construction crew to assist you with #1, and pay the entire team for several months worth of work before your doors even open. 3. A restaurant most likely needs new kitchen equipment including extremely expensive hood systems (ie: $50k-100k) and grease trap installations. Old systems are rarely grandfathered in. 4. Permits, inspections, licenses, etc. Usually less of a hassle for non-food businesses, but extremely problematic for restaurants, bars, etc. Every restaurant owner that I've spoken to in Columbus has multiple horror stories to share about being delayed in opening for <i>months</i> when dealing with various city departments that do a poor job with inspections and issuing permits. 5. Work all of this out with the building owner / landlord. That last one is extremely important. You must keep in mind that anyone opening a business in a building that they don't outright own is making all of these upgrades out of their own pocket, without the ability to recoup their losses if the business were to tank. If you've ever lived in an apartment, you're probably aware of the fact that any fixture upgrades you make (wall-mount shelving, ceiling fans, etc) become the property of the building owner. You don't get to take that stuff with you when you leave. Same goes for a restaurant owner installing a $100,000 hood system in a building they don't own. Opening a business is a much more difficult, expensive, and risky venture than it appears on the surface. So generally, the problem isn't that businesses are afraid of not having enough customers to pay the rent... the problem is that most small entrepreneurs don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to get up and running in the first place.
March 9, 201015 yr ^ Very good points. I'm a business owner, and I spent a lot of time finding a space that allowed me to avoid major renovations simply because I don't have the money.
March 9, 201015 yr It seems like in this case the city government could step up to rehab some of these and maybe even get assistance from the state and/or federal government. It's not going to get any cheaper, unless they plan on just razing more of these buildings and prevent more rehabbed buildings from existing in overlooked neighborhoods like these.
March 9, 201015 yr It seems like in this case the city government could step up to rehab some of these and maybe even get assistance from the state and/or federal government. Sure, and there are a few grants and programs out there to assist with this type of thing. Unfortunately though, the stockpile of "free money" is not an infinite resource.
March 10, 201015 yr And some people don't want to jump through the hoops or want the government involved. Kind of silly, but very real.
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