50 minutes ago, amped91 said:

CBF says tower groundbreaking will be Q2 this year. So should be any time now. 
 

“The Merchant Building: Site work started on Rockbridge's and Edwards Cos.' redevelopment of the North Market parking lot. There will be a ground breaking in the second quarter of this year. The development will expand the North Market footprint with 18,000 square feet of new merchant, event and outdoor space. There will be 174 apartments and 162 hotel rooms in the $292 million building. There also will be a social club, with wellness and restaurant space.”

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/04/03/q1-crane-watch.html

Now that the Hilton is open and the new OSU tower is topped out, we are in desperate need of a tall building to watch grow!

1 hour ago, amped91 said:

CBF says tower groundbreaking will be Q2 this year. So should be any time now. 
 

“The Merchant Building: Site work started on Rockbridge's and Edwards Cos.' redevelopment of the North Market parking lot. There will be a ground breaking in the second quarter of this year. The development will expand the North Market footprint with 18,000 square feet of new merchant, event and outdoor space. There will be 174 apartments and 162 hotel rooms in the $292 million building. There also will be a social club, with wellness and restaurant space.”

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/04/03/q1-crane-watch.html

I wish some of those 174 units would have been for purchase. This seems like such a good location for someone to actually own a place. 

2 hours ago, VintageLife said:

I wish some of those 174 units would have been for purchase. This seems like such a good location for someone to actually own a place. 

Maybe they can be converted into that one day.

 

I love that this has a bunch of hotel rooms included but I wish we had another larger hotel project in the downtown area going right now or at least proposed, but there are any that I know of.

24 minutes ago, 614love said:

Maybe they can be converted into that one day.

 

I love that this has a bunch of hotel rooms included but I wish we had another larger hotel project in the downtown area going right now or at least proposed, but there are any that I know of.

The Junto has 198 rooms, so that’s pretty damn good. I know it’s a little out of the main core, but close enough to downtown. 
 

I wouldn’t get down much, I’m sure once the Hilton addition and market tower hotels show they can stay booked, we will get another one somewhere close to the convention center, hopefully on the north parking lot. 

27 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

The Junto has 198 rooms, so that’s pretty damn good. I know it’s a little out of the main core, but close enough to downtown. 
 

I wouldn’t get down much, I’m sure once the Hilton addition and market tower hotels show they can stay booked, we will get another one somewhere close to the convention center, hopefully on the north parking lot. 

Hopefully on the corner where the tower was once proposed. Save the north lot for something non-convention related like a commercial district.

1 hour ago, VintageLife said:

The Junto has 198 rooms, so that’s pretty damn good. I know it’s a little out of the main core, but close enough to downtown. 
 

I wouldn’t get down much, I’m sure once the Hilton addition and market tower hotels show they can stay booked, we will get another one somewhere close to the convention center, hopefully on the north parking lot. 

Definitely would like something in the central downtown area. Also I would love to see a more upscale or at least a name we don’t have currently build something here. Looking at you Ritz Carlton, 

InterContinental, SLS, Omni, Waldorf Astoria, etc.

20 hours ago, VintageLife said:

I wish some of those 174 units would have been for purchase. This seems like such a good location for someone to actually own a place. 

Seems anytime we hear about developments with for sale units, it's like 8 condos. Would be nice to have more non-single family home options for purchase around this city. I'm getting to that point where I'm seriously considering buying something and I really don't want to live in the suburbs because all the actual homes in the city are way too expensive and there aren't many for sale condo/apartment/townhouse units that aren't brand new super luxury units that cost $700K.

It’s pretty neat in the Market now with the signage and posters advertising the forthcoming MB. Definitely makes it feel like something “big” is on its way. 

6 hours ago, amped91 said:

It’s pretty neat in the Market now with the signage and posters advertising the forthcoming MB. Definitely makes it feel like something “big” is on its way. 

If someone can snag a pic of these I’d appreciate it

43 minutes ago, 614love said:

If someone can snag a pic of these I’d appreciate it

I’ll try to swing by tomorrow. 

15 hours ago, 614love said:

If someone can snag a pic of these I’d appreciate it

There are a few stands throughout where you can grab a copy of the fact sheet:

 

 

And there’s a blown up version of it covering where the east entrance used to be:

 

19 minutes ago, amped91 said:

There are a few stands throughout where you can grab a copy of the fact sheet:

 

 

And there’s a blown up version of it covering where the east entrance used to be:

 

I haven’t been to the market in a bit, does anyone know if it has remained pretty busy? 

1 minute ago, VintageLife said:

I haven’t been to the market in a bit, does anyone know if it has remained pretty busy? 

I was there on Wednesday at 6pm, an hour before closing, when it was absolutely pouring rain out. Wasn't packed but the place was certainly busy, most of the table upstairs in the section they had open had people at them.

39 minutes ago, TIm said:

I was there on Wednesday at 6pm, an hour before closing, when it was absolutely pouring rain out. Wasn't packed but the place was certainly busy, most of the table upstairs in the section they had open had people at them.

That’s good to hear

I still go regularly. I dojt think there's been any discernable impact since the lot closed 

13 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

I still go regularly. I dojt think there's been any discernable impact since the lot closed 

I haven’t really noticed any difference either. Except maybe more customers in construction gear now

35 minutes ago, amped91 said:

I haven’t really noticed any difference either. Except maybe more customers in construction gear now

I was told by everyone that it was going to single handedly ruin the north market though, so you are wrong /s

I'm so out of the loop. I didn't know this project didn't die and in fact has a new name! The Merchant Building. 

Speaking of. North Market must have had a s*** show in the comments on their IG post about the lot today because comments are disabled and deleted. 

19 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

Speaking of. North Market must have had a s*** show in the comments on their IG post about the lot today because comments are disabled and deleted. 

I’m not shocked, people are complete idiots. Sadly instagram seems to be more like Facebook everyday. 
 

The people complaining the most are probably people that went to the north market once a year if that. 

3 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

Sadly instagram seems to be more like Facebook everyday. 

 

Well, to be fair, that's like saying Minute Maid is becoming more like Coca-Cola everyday.

4 hours ago, VintageLife said:

 

The people complaining the most are probably people that went to the north market once a year if that. 

 

Bingo

 

Also. I know I've said that people in Columbus just can't comprehend how good they have it with parking garage rates either. Usually I'm referring to big cities, but I just got back from Indy where the going rate appears to be $6 per hour. 

Edited April 8, 20232 yr by DTCL11

23 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

 

Bingo

 

Also. I know I've said that people in Columbus just can't comprehend how good they have it with parking garage rates either. Usually I'm referring to big cities, but I just got back from Indy where the going rate appears to be $6 per hour. 

Yeah, even the garages in the short north are pretty damn cheap. You get 2 hours for $5 in the Hubbard garage. After that it’s a $1 increase every half hour, which isn’t bad. 

People insist that surface lots are money machines but garage rates are that low. Garages cost actual money to construct while off of Park Street we were parking on gravel.

Granted it has been a few years but Cincinnati had $1 park signs all over the CBD when I lived there. You got 2 hours in a garage for a buck. One effing dollar right in the middle of a city. How do you run a business off of a buck?

 

These were recently on r/Columbus of the excavation going on at the North Market parking lot

 

 

 

 

 

A few from Stories On High...this view is really going to be different considering there will be an even larger/taller building here soon!!!

3 minutes ago, Gnoraa said:

A few from Stories On High...this view is really going to be different considering there will be an even larger/taller building here soon!!!

Thanks for these pics. The new building will be right there in your face from this viewpoint. And look at how the hospital sticks out.

 

Also I should mention just how nice the hotel looks with the setback and facades saved and how good it is that they took this route.

9 minutes ago, Toddguy said:

And look at how the hospital sticks out.

The hospital is super noticeable while driving south on 71, hopefully more towers pop up on campus sometime.    

I didn’t notice any of the white tents up today. Wonder if the exhumation phase is complete 🤔 

I was at the North Market a few times this past week. Peeped into the fenced off area both times and did not see a single white tent, or anybody working for that matter, during either visit. Not sure what that means, but that's what I saw.

3 hours ago, TIm said:

I was at the North Market a few times this past week. Peeped into the fenced off area both times and did not see a single white tent, or anybody working for that matter, during either visit. Not sure what that means, but that's what I saw.

 

I was at Novak's on Thursday and took a quick picture of the worksite from Novak's Patio. 

I would imagine it was pretty difficult to predict how long it was going to take to exhume the old gravesites. Assuming that's the case, they probably couldn't schedule other contractors ahead of time but instead gave them a rough estimate on when they would need them. Or, they may have just scheduled conservatively and ended up wrapping up the first stage early. 

19 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

I would imagine it was pretty difficult to predict how long it was going to take to exhume the old gravesites. Assuming that's the case, they probably couldn't schedule other contractors ahead of time but instead gave them a rough estimate on when they would need them. Or, they may have just scheduled conservatively and ended up wrapping up the first stage early. 

 

I think you're correct.  I was talking to someone there a few weeks ago and they said they originally thought it would probably take around 6 months to sift the lot, but now realized it wouldn't take that long.

 

4 hours ago, TIm said:

I was at the North Market a few times this past week. Peeped into the fenced off area both times and did not see a single white tent, or anybody working for that matter, during either visit. Not sure what that means, but that's what I saw.

The city still hasn’t issued a building permit either. 

26 minutes ago, KyleofColumbus said:

 

I was at Novak's on Thursday and took a quick picture of the worksite from Novak's Patio. 

Morally questionable, but I absolutely zoomed in on this photo to see if I could find any skeleton arms sticking out of the dirt.

8 minutes ago, TIm said:

Morally questionable, but I absolutely zoomed in on this photo to see if I could find any skeleton arms sticking out of the dirt.

 

I gave a "poison" reaction so you could find your skeleton. 

Couple pieces of equipment on site today, and drywall is going up in the field office. Hopefully It won’t be too much longer before we see work start. 

On 5/1/2023 at 11:14 AM, amped91 said:

I didn’t notice any of the white tents up today. Wonder if the exhumation phase is complete 🤔 

 

According to a recent article in CU, they finished the primary excavations in mid-May:

 

"By mid-May, archeologists for Lawhon & Associates had finished the primary excavations of graves under the North Market parking lot ahead of the Merchant Building’s imminent construction...

 

“...The next sequence in the work plan is the remainder of the sitework and deep excavation. In order to maintain the consistency and integrity of the grave remediations to date, Lawhon will continue to monitor and observe all utility and excavation work as we proceed with the balance of this work for the project.” 

 

https://columbusunderground.com/come-get-your-dead-the-shifting-plans-to-rebury-1000-columbusites-jb1/

 

I keep just happening to drive by, so I couldn’t get any pics, but significantly more activity on site today. Whether we did or didn’t consider it before I would definitely consider “ground broken” now. 

13 hours ago, amped91 said:

I keep just happening to drive by, so I couldn’t get any pics, but significantly more activity on site today. Whether we did or didn’t consider it before I would definitely consider “ground broken” now. 

Is it living humans digging down or zombie skeleton humans digging up? Very important distinction.

7 hours ago, TIm said:

Is it living humans digging down or zombie skeleton humans digging up? Very important distinction.

It's time to rename the building to Cuesta Verde Tower. "Oh, don't worry about it. After all, it's not ancient tribal burial ground. It's just people. Besides, we've done it before."

 

Edited June 8, 20232 yr by Airsup

^Driving piles to start shoring the excavation!

I am so excited to see this and 100 N High (and hopefully Peninsula 2!) all rise at the same time. 

During the Pride Parade I stopped by a couple of construction sites. The arrangement of piles here looks like the outline of an access road to a deeper pit. I’ll bet excavation starts soon. 
 

 

A Lazarus Pit, perhaps? 

7 hours ago, DTCL11 said:

A Lazarus Pit, perhaps? 

Don’t put that on us! 

 

Snatched a couple from a very busy and very loud Merchant Building site

 

 

 

Columbus and Franklin County contributing more than $70M to North Market expansion, Merchant Building
 

“The city of Columbus is contributing millions more dollars to the public-facing portions of the Merchant Building project rising next to the city-owned North Market. In return the developers have committed to build a separate affordable housing project elsewhere in the county. 

 

Franklin County will also make its first financial contribution to the project, $39 million in support. The additional $31 million from the city brings its total contributed amount to $54 million.

 

On Monday Columbus City Council will hear a first reading of several pieces of legislation regarding the funds, including a resolution establishing the "NM Mixed-Use Project New Community Authority," an ordinance approving a public parking garage agreement and an ordinance to provide up to $950,000 in grant funds for the market and merchants whose operations are affected by construction.
 

Also next week, Franklin County Commissioners will vote on a resolution to approve Covid-19 grants for the project. The county's contribution will include $17.5 million from the general fund and $22.4 million from American Rescue Plan Act dollars. The total $39.9 million contribution will go to the Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority.”

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/07/13/north-market-tower.html