City Council supports economic plan for $250M mixed-use project in northeast Columbus

 

 

Columbus City Council this week passed the framework for an economic development plan to spur $250 million worth of projects at the North Hamilton Road and Route 161 interchange.

 

I wrote last week about the 330-acre project– a joint venture among Casto Communities, Daimler Group and New Albany Company Ltd. real estate development firms. Hamilton Crossing will consist of multifamily housing, retail and, eventually, office projects.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2015/07/15/city-council-supports-economic-plan-for-250m-mixed.html

Here is an excerpt of the behind-the-paywall article that the above post was based on:

 

$250M development eyed for Hamilton-161

By Brian R. Ball, Staff Reporter

Columbus Business First - July 10, 2015, 6:00am EDT

 

The New Albany Co., Casto and the Daimler Group want to build a 330-acre, $250 million mixed-used development on the northeast edge of Columbus.

 

City Council next week will be asked to consider the framework of an economic development agreement that would clear the way for the developers to build 700,000 square feet of offices, 1 million square feet of retail and nearly 800 housing units at Hamilton Road near the Route 161 expressway.  The proposed Hamilton Crossing also would encompass a 125-apartment Wesley Woods senior housing project that Methodist ElderCare Services unveiled this spring.

( . . . )

Hamilton Crossing would revive Casto’s 17-year-old plan for what was then the 500-acre mixed-use Albany Park.  But only a few Albany Park elements were built, including an 83,000-square-foot office building on East Dublin-Granville Road and some single-family housing.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2015/07/10/250m-development-eyed-for-hamilton-161.html

:|

 

Bridge Park-style development detailed for Hamilton Road and 161

 

 

Developers have outlined plans for a 330-acre mixed-use district at Route 161 and Hamilton Road, with a rerouting of Hamilton Road to make way for residences, offices, retail and restaurants.

 

Casto Communities, Daimler Group Inc. and New Albany Co. on Tuesday offered more details for their Hamilton Quarter project, including a timeline that calls for October completion of a first phase of roadway realignment.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/03/01/bridge-park-style-development-detailed-for.html

Bridge Park-style

 

Seriously? Not even close. This is standard suburban sprawl.

Typical New Albany lie-to-yourself antics.

Okay.  How's this for a headline?

 

Massive Suburban Development Announced Just Outside New Albany

By Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

March 2, 2016 - 12:03 pm

 

Hamilton Quarter is the name of a new large scale development proposed for the intersection of State Route 161 and Hamilton Road, just outside of New Albany in Northeast Columbus.  The development will replace farmland and woodland with 320 acres of surface parking lots, 700,000 square feet of office space, one million square feet of retail, 800 multi-family residences and 130 senior living residences.  The project is a collaboration between CASTO, The Daimler Group and The New Albany Company.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/hamilton-quarter

Experts weigh in on Hamilton Quarter development:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/hamilton-quarter-columbus

:-o

 

Big Lots moving HQ, 800 jobs to northeast Columbus

 

 

Big Lots Inc. is moving its headquarters – and 800 jobs – across town.

 

The Columbus-based discount retailer is staying in the city, but plans to move its corporate offices from 300 Phillipi Road on the west side to the proposed Hamilton Quarter development in northeast Columbus bordering New Albany.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/04/07/big-lots-moving-hq-800-jobs-to-northeast-columbus.html

From this morning's Dispatch about the Big Lots HQ plans:  http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2016/04/07/big-lots-reveals-plans-for-new-headquarters.html

 

- Plans call for a four-story, 300,000 square-foot office building with an attached three-level parking garage at the Hamilton Quarter location.

 

- The Hamilton Quarter location would also include a fitness center, walking path and a 35,000-square-foot "presentation studio," in which the company can create and test store displays in advance of rolling them out in stores.  This studio store is roughly the same size as Big Lots' typical 30,000-square-foot store.

 

- Plans call for ground to be broken in about six months and for the 800 employees at the current headquarters to move in by the end of 2018.

 

- The new 300,000 square-foot HQ building would expand the current 175,000 square-foot HQ on the West Side.  Big Lots' 3 million-square-foot distribution center (which is next to the current HQ) would remain on the West Side.

I guess this is better than a Big Lots move to New Albany, but otherwise it is a snoozer.

 

Maybe they'll be joined by White Castle.

I think White Castle is "smarter" than Big Lots and would likely stay at its current location with a better building and mixed-use development.  It's starting to "get" it (proof with that Short North building).

Columbus seeking $1M grant for roadwork by Hamilton Quarter, Big Lots' new HQ

 

 

The city of Columbus will literally help pave the way for Big Lots Inc.’s new headquarters.

 

The city is on the Ohio Controlling Board’s May 16 agenda requesting a $1 million roadwork development grant to realign 2,500 feet of Dublin-Granville Road and create a new intersection at Hamilton Road between the existing Dublin-Granville Road and the state Route 161 and Hamilton Road interchange.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/05/10/columbus-seeking-1m-grant-for-roadwork-by-hamilton.html

Hamilton Quarter plans call for massive retail space, senior living, offices, housing

 

 

In one of Central Ohio’s largest projects, three developers are teaming up to build a mixed-use community on what’s been called “one of the greatest undeveloped areas in the city.”

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/08/05/hamilton-quarter-plans-call-for-massive-retail.html

What I assume is the Big Lots HQ building:

 

That's going up fast!

Here are some images via the architect: http://www.ma-architects.com/portfolio/big-lots-corporate-campus

There is no plan, but I am glad they are constructing a parking garage instead of contributing to the astounding sea of parking shown in the master plan. I will say it again and forever more, that plan is atrocious. The fact that they are showing so much parking with office complexes, in 2017, is against everything that planning and architecture professions are advocating for around the country and the world. It's pathetic that is what they are showing as their plan. I can only hope, like this Big Lots HQ, that they continue to apply the principles of New Urbanism to each individual parcel as they go and maybe we'll come out on the other end with something better than an 80's strip mall and office park.

Casto building 336-unit apartment complex at Hamilton Quarter near New Albany

 

 

The first residential component of the mixed-use Hamilton Quarter development is under way in northeast Columbus.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/05/02/first-lookcasto-building-336-unit-apartment.html

^ A couple more renderings showing a typical building elevation and the phase one site plan, plus some additional project info from that article:

 

 

 

Columbus developer Casto has begun building HQ Flats, a 336-unit apartment complex near the city’s border with New Albany.  Site plans and renderings show 21 three-story buildings in phase one of the project, northeast of the Route 161-Hamilton Road intersection.  A second phase will include 13 additional buildings, according to the site plans.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2017/05/02/first-lookcasto-building-336-unit-apartment.html

God forbid they do 5-story buildings... Could get twice the density on that site. They annihilated all of that forested land for another terrible, typical suburban apt village. Shame on Casto

Last Friday's print edition of Business First had this construction pic and update on the Big Lots Corporate HQ going up in Hamilton Quarter:

 

Last Friday's print edition of Business First had this construction pic and update on the Big Lots Corporate HQ going up in Hamilton Quarter:

 

 

I was at this site and area for the first time in a while last week.  Wow what a change, going to be interesting to see how this whole project pans out.

New google aerial of the Big Lots HQ project from the below link posted in another thread:

 

It appears portions of the 3D versions of Google maps have been recently updated in Columbus.

 

The new Big Lots HQ - https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0826015,-82.8579063,90a,35y,203.47h,72.7t/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

 

Big Lots is currently in the process of relocating the new building. That should create a significant increase in traffic in the area and hopefully get the rest of the developments in the area moving.

An updated Hamilton Quarter master plan to reflect Medical Campus along 161

Full master plan

The "Retail View Corridor" makes me nauseous.

^It's either that or have the thing be empty in 15 years

^ It still makes me nauseous. I'm happy it's being filled in, just not thrilled with how it's being done.

Really wish Crawford Hoying were doing this project. The Big Lots HQ is built well for the most part, but I can't help but think this could have been Bridge Park New Albany. There are tens of thousands of young people who live in thousands of apartments (and ever more being built), because it's convenient to their good jobs in the area. I can't help but think a good portion of them would flock to a more urban development. The developers could have gotten way more for their money here. And the City of Columbus should have really pushed for something more, too. This looks no different than the mess over around Cemetery/270 in Hilliard. Preaching to the choir here, I know. Just very disappointing.

Even though this area is in the City of Columbus it is dominated by New Albany culture. That means it's got to look like it's in horse country. New Albany culture is NOT Dublin culture. It lacks the intellectualism.

Even though this area is in the City of Columbus it is dominated by New Albany culture. That means it's got to look like it's in horse country. New Albany culture is NOT Dublin culture. It lacks the intellectualism.

 

Just two miles down old 161 into New Albany's new "town center" is a series of "light urbanism" developments. I'd take that over this generic 90s development.

The Dispatch reported today that the new Big Lots corporate headquarters is now open.  According to the article, 800 employees moved into the new four-story, 300,000 square foot building over the past three weeks.

 

Big Lots announced in April 2016 that it would open the new 300,000 sq. ft. headquarters at 4900 E. Dublin Granville Road to replace its old 175,000 sq. ft. headquarters at 300 Phillipi Road in west Columbus.  The old HQ office was attached to a 3 million square foot Big Lots distribution center, which will remain on the West Side.

 

I was hoping the article might contain a photo-tour of the new HQ, but the only photos were the two below showing some of the exterior signage with just a portion of the building visible in the background:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/business/20180531/big-lots-new-headquarters-offers-more-worker-amenities---plus-room-to-grow

 

Developer planning mixed-use, residential projects near Hamilton Quarter

 

A developer is targeting the growing Hamilton Road corridor with two new projects.

 

West Albany Crossing will be a new mixed-use center northwest of the intersection of Warner and Hamilton roads, including three buildings totaling 31,500 square feet, including some space for a prospective salon and a restaurant with a patio. It'll target a mix of medical, office and retail tenants.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/07/31/developer-planning-mixed-use-residential-projects.html

http://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20180815/target-aims-to-open-on-new-albanys-doorstep-in-2019

 

Target plans to open a new store in 2019 as part of the Hamilton Quarter mixed-use development near Hamilton Road and State Route 161 in Columbus, according to an Aug. 15 press release on behalf of the company.

 

Site work for Target and adjacent retail businesses in the Hamilton Quarter will begin this fall, said Eric Leibowitz, director of development for Casto.  Target is slated to open during the second half of 2019, he said.

I was in the Hamilton Quarter today. They are starting to pick up steam with the target development. Walls have started going up this week, though they have been doing some utility work for quite a while. 

 

They are also moving right along on the Fairfield Inn at the corner of Dublin-Granville and Hamilton. 

 

I also noticed they were doing some sort of drilling the "future development" zone between Hamilton and the Big Lots office. Hopefully we will start to find out what will be going in that area. 

On 5/9/2018 at 6:43 PM, aderwent said:

Really wish Crawford Hoying were doing this project. The Big Lots HQ is built well for the most part, but I can't help but think this could have been Bridge Park New Albany. There are tens of thousands of young people who live in thousands of apartments (and ever more being built), because it's convenient to their good jobs in the area. I can't help but think a good portion of them would flock to a more urban development. The developers could have gotten way more for their money here. And the City of Columbus should have really pushed for something more, too. This looks no different than the mess over around Cemetery/270 in Hilliard. Preaching to the choir here, I know. Just very disappointing.

This should be a Bridge Park, the Easton area should have several Bridge Parks, That site off of Goodale near Grandview should be a Bridge Park...etc. etc.*sigh*

 

We should be building a ton of them, and right along a planned light rail line to connect them all like a line from downtown up to the airport and up through Easton for instance. Columbus just can't think really big when it comes to certain things...too afraid of failing to try.

Edited January 21, 20196 yr by Toddguy

Mixed-use my @$$...

More tenants, including new anchor, announced for Hamilton Quarter

 

 

The first retail phase of the major Hamilton Quarter development will include plenty of new shops and eateries.

 

Hamilton Quarter's retail component southeast of Hamilton and 161 will include 400,000 to 500,000 square feet of space.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/05/16/more-tenants-including-new-anchor-announced-for.html

 

Why does the medical parking take up more space than the retail parking? Oh right, medical bills are one of the main things murdering retail right now.

I think the OSU medical building is 3 or 4 stories hence the large parking lot. There’s no such thing as shared parking in the burbs. 

^get off my land!

4 hours ago, Pablo said:

I think the OSU medical building is 3 or 4 stories hence the large parking lot. There’s no such thing as shared parking in the burbs. 

The zoning in this area permits shared parking. It is normally not permitted. 

On 5/17/2019 at 9:07 PM, cityscapes said:

The zoning in this area permits shared parking. It is normally not permitted. 

I don't see how that small office building would require that much parking. Seemingly they're building out all of the parking for the ultimate build-out capacity of that medical offices parcel. 

Ohio State Wexner Medical outpatient campus in northeast Columbus to cost $138M

 

 

Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center has released the cost to design and build a huge outpatient campus in Hamilton Quarter in far northeast Columbus near New Albany.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/05/28/ohio-state-wexner-medical-outpatient-campus-in.html

 

On 5/20/2019 at 10:10 AM, jebleprls22 said:

I don't see how that small office building would require that much parking. Seemingly they're building out all of the parking for the ultimate build-out capacity of that medical offices parcel. 

This is why the parking lot is so big. It's a large medical facility.

 

 

In October 2019, Target opened a 125,000 square-foot location at 6030 N. Hamilton Road, which will be the anchor space for the retail portion of the Hamilton Quarter development at the intersection of Hamilton Road and Route 161.  Photos of the Target opening are in the article link below from Business First:

 

Slideshow: Target opens next generation store at Hamilton Quarter, near New Albany

^^^The interior looks largely the same as all the newly renovated ones plus the new "urban" Target bear OSU. Lennox has already been redesigned inside to look like this as well.

 

I personally love it. They've done a lot to draw me back into their stores. I simply hate going into the old-style ones. They're so grody to me!

 

.... looking at you, Polaris Target!

Edited January 3, 20205 yr by Zyrokai

All of the Target stores in LA look like this new Target in Hamilton Quarter.  I didn't know there was another look.

Edited January 4, 20205 yr by jeremyck01

5 hours ago, jeremyck01 said:

All of the Target stores in LA look like this new Target in Hamilton Quarter.  I didn't know there was another look.

 

The "other" look is just the older style. Nationally, Target is currently converting all their stores to this format, but they aren't all there yet. They started with their higher-trafficked stores first.

22 hours ago, Zyrokai said:

 

The "other" look is just the older style. Nationally, Target is currently converting all their stores to this format, but they aren't all there yet. They started with their higher-trafficked stores first.

 

That may be the case, but I'm saying I've lived in LA for 15 years and have never seen a Target that didn't look like the Hamilton Quarter one as far as layout and style.  I guess there are a bunch of older styles in other cities.  Come to think of it, the one in Akron on Market Street was a pretty lousy Target.  Hopefully that one gets a makeover. 

Hamilton Quarter adding $19.2 million office building

 

A new $19.2 million office building is joining the array of offerings at the Hamilton Quarter mixed-use development.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/01/15/hamilton-quarter-to-get-new-office-development.html