The 2010 Downtown Plan called for a Broad Street diet with fewer lanes and even landscaped multi-use trails on either side.  Not sure why that never went anywhere.  Most of those ideas were eventually implemented. 

 

I also find it just a tad ironic when developers talk about neighborhoods needing 24-hour amenities when half or more of the projects they build within the urban core have zero mixed-use elements such as ground floor retail space.  They're part of the problem. 

Edited February 21, 20196 yr by jonoh81

^The banks are less likely to lend if there is ground-floor retail. They know how bad city folk are about buying everything on Amazon. Seriously, you want real street life you're going to have to murder streaming and online shopping first. Make people go out and see a band on a Tuesday night instead of Netflix and Chill instance #2,375.

I am enraged by Broad Street every time I see it. You could run a ditched out river down each way and call it a yacht lane and it would still be plenty wide enough for all the cars. Hell, maybe even an airplane landing strip.

 

Edit: What can be done? Is it a good thing that developers are calling this out? I feel like Columbus is stagnating on its street diet plans and it's starting to drive me crazy. Front Street's two-way conversion only 50% complete? Why!?

Edited February 21, 20196 yr by Zyrokai

Back in 2010 this was proposed for E. Broad.

 

The design drew inspiration from what Broad looked like a 100 years ago. The historic photo below is pretty cool. Funding was probably an issue and it never got further than the conceptual phase. Before 2010 there was another median plan designed that was never implemented. The fire department had issues with the plan (which, IMO, was BS and an unwillingness to change. Michigan Ave in Chicago has a median and I watched an ambulance maneuver through traffic just last weekend). Some sort of road diet is sorely needed.

 

Here's East Broad in 1897. It looks very pleasant except for the manure. 

 

20 hours ago, Pablo said:

Back in 2010 this was proposed for E. Broad.

 

The design drew inspiration from what Broad looked like a 100 years ago. The historic photo below is pretty cool. Funding was probably an issue and it never got further than the conceptual phase. Before 2010 there was another median plan designed that was never implemented. The fire department had issues with the plan (which, IMO, was BS and an unwillingness to change. Michigan Ave in Chicago has a median and I watched an ambulance maneuver through traffic just last weekend). Some sort of road diet is sorely needed.

 

 

There have been Broad/High road diet plans going back to the early 1980s. 

 

State Auto plans new garage at Downtown headquarters

 

State Auto Financial wants to build a four-story parking garage at its Downtown headquarters as part of a plan to bring more of its workers together under one roof. ... The garage would be built behind the headquarters at 518 E. Broad Street.

 

State Auto plans include space between the garage and Washington Avenue to support future development such as retail.  As part of the project, State Auto wants to demolish a warehouse it owns at 555 Boone St. and replace it with a surface parking lot with about 150 spaces.  The insurer will present its plan to the Downtown Commission on Tuesday.

 

State Auto’s headquarters currently has about 1,000 workers.  The company has been renovating its offices and when that work is finished the company will be about to accommodate about 1,400 workers.  But it needs more parking before that can happen. ... The company wants to move workers from offices in Gahanna and from 175 S. Third St. Downtown to the corporate HQ offices.  There’s no timeline, but the garage and renovations must be finished before those moves can happen.

 

The company also expects that its parking spots will remain available for Columbus Museum of Art patrons and other Discovery District neighbors during non-business hours.

 

MORE: https://www.dispatch.com/business/20190222/state-auto-plans-new-garage-at-downtown-headquarters

State Auto Floats Plan for New Downtown Garage

 

State Auto Insurance is looking to build a 791-car parking garage behind its headquarters at 518 E. Broad St.

Plans for the new building were presented to the Downtown Commission on Tuesday.

 

An existing row of trees along Washington Avenue would be preserved under the proposal, but that strip is land could potentially be developed in the future. A pedestrian plaza and drop off area would sit between the garage and the rear entry to the headquarters building.

 

Representatives of State Auto, WSA Studio and Realm Collaborative presented the concept, explaining that the additional parking capacity will become necessary for the company as it renovates the Broad Street building and moves more employees into it from other offices in the area.

 

More below:

https://www.columbusunderground.com/state-auto-floats-plan-for-new-downtown-garage-bw1

 

& https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/02/28/new-parking-garage-proposed-downtown.html

 

Nothing says "Look at our beautiful art museum" like a giant parking garage. 

So fully 2/3rds of the site will be nothing but parking. 

Do they know about the CPASS? good lord

Took a drive around the Discovery District today. A lot of foundation work underway. Should be able to see buildings coming out of the ground this summer.

Here's the Borror State St. project:

On 10/9/2018 at 10:28 AM, ColDayMan said:

 

 

 

Excavation is underway for the Topiary Park brownstones:

 

Edited March 11, 20196 yr by Pablo

Moved to the Grant Hospital thread.

Edited March 11, 20196 yr by Pablo

The Cols. State culinary school is taking shape.

 

 

10 minutes ago, Pablo said:

Took a drive around the Discovery District today. A lot of foundation work underway. Should be able to see buildings coming out of the ground this summer.

Here's the Borror State St. project:

Did you see what the nine story building on Oak is looking like?-the one with the red color? How is it looking?

^I didn't take a photo. There aren't any red panels installed except for the mock-up shown in the 330 Oak St. thread. I imagine they've been focused on interior work over winter.

I was watching the architecture episode of Columbus Neighborhoods and they showed a model of an expansion of the Christopher Inn featuring a space needle with rotating restaurant. Looked around this site and the rest of the internet and it doesn’t seem to be posted anywhere except in the video. I figured it was worth sharing for those who have not seen it.

Funny thing is that it appears that the land where this would have been built is only a parking lot so an updated version could still be built there if anyone with nostalgia and very deep pockets wanted to.

21 minutes ago, DrFrankenmac said:

I was watching the architecture episode of Columbus Neighborhoods and they showed a model of an expansion of the Christopher Inn featuring a space needle with rotating restaurant. Looked around this site and the rest of the internet and it doesn’t seem to be posted anywhere except in the video. I figured it was worth sharing for those who have not seen it.

Funny thing is that it appears that the land where this would have been built is only a parking lot so an updated version could still be built there if anyone with nostalgia and very deep pockets wanted to.

 

Holy crap, this would have been amazing lol

You know what...why not re-build it? LOL!

The Columbus College of Art & Design has been around for a lot longer than most people think.

 

CCAD Begins Celebration of its 140th Year:  https://www.columbusunderground.com/ccad-begins-celebration-of-its-140th-year-tm1

This isn't part of the official celebration of CCAD's 140th year, but part of the CCAD downtown campus got featured in the latest issue of Action Comics:   https://www.dispatch.com/entertainmentlife/20190304/ccad-appears-in-latest-superman-comic

 

Issue 1008 of the long running DC Comics series that introduced Superman in 1938 features CCAD's Canzani Center as a meeting place.

 

Unfortunately, the meeting goes bad and the Canzani Center was destroyed in the issue.?  However, CCAD's iconic ART sculpture next to it survives. ?

 

According to the above linked Dispatch article, the author of this Action Comics issue included the CCAD building in the issue as a nod to his appearance there during last September's Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival(!)

On 2/28/2019 at 8:51 AM, DarkandStormy said:

 

I believe this is actually used as a case study in sociology classes.  As noted, Bexley is a separate municipality.  It's often referred to as an "island" out on the east side.

 

I moved out of Columbus to Dallas, and live now in University Park. They call it "The Bubble". It's very, very similar to Bexley, totally different from it's surroundings (except North Dallas/Preston Hollow to the north/northwest).

On 2/28/2019 at 10:30 AM, Zyrokai said:

 

Thanks for posting this. Sometimes I feel discouraged that not enough is happening, or that everything is "half-assed" .....and I forget to step back and view the positive stuff. Your post is sobering for me. Living here, all I do is focus on what could be done-- or could have been done better--that I forget a lot of the good stuff is going on.

 

Also, I've seen a lot of your posts here and I was surprised to hear it had been 7 years since you were last in Columbus! Not sure where you live now but I'm glad you were able to visit!

I lived in Columbus for one summer in the early 2000s, and the city has improved considerably since then. Not all of the infill can or even should be a star; building a quality, urban, walkable environment means some things are built quickly and cheaply. Columbus seems very far ahead of most other large Midwestern cities (ex Chicago) for the size of the urban/walkable/quality spaces. 

One more update, another double.

 

The Xander on State (Borror project next to Grant) is going up

 

 

 

Oak and Eighth is moving at snail pace but is showing a preview of it's future red color 

 

^ I wonder how much work they've done on the inside....hopefully a lot considering the outside has looked like this for about a year. 

Columbus State Community College wants to establish its own real estate offshoot

 

 

Columbus State Community College wants to establish its own real estate entity known as Columbus State Community Partners, which could ultimately establish deeper commercial investment within the Discovery District of downtown.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/05/20/columbus-state-community-college-wants-to.html

New Five-Story Apartment Building Proposed on Grant Avenue

https://www.columbusunderground.com/new-five-story-apartment-building-proposed-on-grant-avenue-we1

 

 

https://www.columbusunderground.com/state-auto-updates-parking-garage-plans-we1

 

Updated plans for the parking garage State Auto Insurance wants to build behind their Downtown HQ:

 

 

 

Project would turn vacant Dowtown property into 4-story apartment building

 

"A developer wants to turn a small, vacant property Downtown into a four-story building with 19 one- and two-bedroom affordable apartments.

 

JDS Companies, owner of the 0.175-acre lot at 554 E. Main St., figures to break ground on the project later this year with completion in 2020, said Jonathan Barnes, principal of JBAD, the project architect who has developed several Columbus apartment buildings.

 

More important, the project, which goes before the Downtown Commission on Tuesday, could be an example of how to use a tiny piece of land in the city center to develop badly needed affordable apartments for the city’s growing population, said Jonathan Barnes, principal of JBAD.

 

Though 15,000 apartments have been added to the city in the past five years, developers say far more are needed to meet demand."

 

https://www.dispatch.com/business/20190524/project-would-turn-vacant-dowtown-property-into-4-story-apartment-building

 

 

This is the property. Not sure how you squeeze an apartment building here.

 

 

Apartments Proposed for Main Street Downtown

 

 

A small grass lot at 554 E. Main St. could soon be home to 19 new apartments, if a project presented to the Downtown Commission yesterday comes to fruition.

 

The four-story building would sit at the corner of the Main Street-Rich Street Connector and would include 11 parking spaces on its ground floor.

 

The parcel is owned by JDS Companies, which has developed multiple projects Downtown, including several on East Main Street.

 

More below:

https://www.columbusunderground.com/apartments-proposed-for-main-street-downtown-bw1

 

^ Not bad for a tiny lot that I would never expect to be developed. 

First look: Developer shares details on apartments, retail space planned near downtown library 

 

Pizzuti Cos. has proposed a mixed-used development at the corner of Grant Avenue and Oak Street, on land now owned by Capital University. It's a joint venture between the two that has been in the works for a year and a half.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/05/29/first-look-developer-shares-details-on-apartments.html

17 hours ago, aderwent said:

Project would turn vacant Dowtown property into 4-story apartment building

 

"A developer wants to turn a small, vacant property Downtown into a four-story building with 19 one- and two-bedroom affordable apartments.

 

JDS Companies, owner of the 0.175-acre lot at 554 E. Main St., figures to break ground on the project later this year with completion in 2020, said Jonathan Barnes, principal of JBAD, the project architect who has developed several Columbus apartment buildings.

 

More important, the project, which goes before the Downtown Commission on Tuesday, could be an example of how to use a tiny piece of land in the city center to develop badly needed affordable apartments for the city’s growing population, said Jonathan Barnes, principal of JBAD.

 

Though 15,000 apartments have been added to the city in the past five years, developers say far more are needed to meet demand."

 

https://www.dispatch.com/business/20190524/project-would-turn-vacant-dowtown-property-into-4-story-apartment-building

 

 

This is the property. Not sure how you squeeze an apartment building here.

 

 

 

Interesting project. That corner would be so much better if the high speed right turn lane from Main to the Rich St. connector was eliminated. That was constructed ahead of the opening of City Center Mall.

Interesting note form the Biz First article: 

 

The developer is also considering another mixed-use development nearby at 510 E. Main St, but didn't give further details at the meeting.

Developer proposes apartments along Town Street, on the edge of downtown

 

 

A developer wants to build a new apartment building along Town Street on the cusp of downtown.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/06/13/developer-proposes-apartments-along-town-street-on.html

2 hours ago, ColDayMan said:

Developer proposes apartments along Town Street, on the edge of downtown

 

 

A developer wants to build a new apartment building along Town Street on the cusp of downtown.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/06/13/developer-proposes-apartments-along-town-street-on.html

 

I'm normally all in favor of denser residential developments downtown - but this proposal is a head-scratcher.  Below is the aerial for 602 E. Town Street.  If I'm reading this proposal right, this 4-story, 54-unit building would go on the back of the lot and would front the mid-block alley between Town Street and Franklin Avenue.  It would also involve the demolition of a carriage house built in the 1850's - which is important because this site is located within the City's East Town Street Historic District, and the City's Historic Resources Commission has the approval rights here.

 

Although, even if this proposal only needed to go before the City's Downtown Commission, they've still got some design issues.  One, the architecture is awful.  Two, they're trying to stuff a four-story building in an inappropriate spot.  As the HRC members said in the article, "they were worried a four-story building wouldn't work well in this area, where most of the buildings are smaller two- and three-story homes or apartment buildings".  I'm thinking that this project either gets downsized by at least one story and the 1850's carriage house gets retained, or they can forget about any approvals here.

 

1 hour ago, Columbo said:

 

I'm normally all in favor of denser residential developments downtown - but this proposal is a head-scratcher.  Below is the aerial for 602 E. Town Street.  If I'm reading this proposal right, this 4-story, 54-unit building would go on the back of the lot and would front the mid-block alley between Town Street and Franklin Avenue.  It would also involve the demolition of a carriage house built in the 1850's - which is important because this site is located within the City's East Town Street Historic District, and the City's Historic Resources Commission has the approval rights here.

 

Although, even if this proposal only needed to go before the City's Downtown Commission, they've still got some design issues.  One, the architecture is awful.  Two, they're trying to stuff a four-story building in an inappropriate spot.  As the HRC members said in the article, "they were worried a four-story building wouldn't work well in this area, where most of the buildings are smaller two- and three-story homes or apartment buildings".  I'm thinking that this project either gets downsized by at least one story and the 1850's carriage house gets retained, or they can forget about any approvals here.

 

 

The article states that the current state of the carriage house is very poor and might require extensive work and very significant expenses to bring it up to code. If it’s really that far gone I don’t mind them demolishing it, but if it can reasonably be saved I would much rather see that route taken. 

^Even many of the most dedicated preservationists I know think the carriage house would be quite difficult to save. 

 

I'm not opposed to the density or design of this, as long as you cannot see it easily from Town Street. 

I'm not even overly worried about the design. Obviously, I always want the best possible design, but this isn't really a highly trafficked area of downtown and the trees that line the street hide most of the buildings from the street during the summer months. 

 

As an aside, have there ever been any proposals for the Southwest or Southeast corners of the Town/Washington intersection? The Southwest corner specifically would be a great spot for a mid-rise residential as it would offer great views of downtown and Topiary Park. 

Cameron Mitchell: New culinary hall 'putting Columbus State on the map' in hospitality world

 

 

Columbus State Community College's downtown campus is getting a new crown jewel that will bring the school heightened attention, according to the building's namesake, Cameron Mitchell.

 

The $34.5 million Mitchell Hall, supported by a $10 million private fundraising campaign, will double the school's hospitality and culinary program's capacity when it opens later this summer.

 

Cameron Mitchell, one of Columbus' best-known restaurateurs and the building's namesake, said he hopes it will be a catalyst for the school.

 

"Everybody together has really been leaning in hard to make this a reality," Mitchell said during a tour of the soon-to-open building. "This is really putting Columbus State on the map."

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/06/27/cameron-mitchell-new-culinary-hall-putting.html

Downtown's Grant Oak apartment complex sells amid redevelopment plan

 

The apartments were built in the 1940s.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/06/27/downtowns-grant-oak-apartment-complex-sells-amid.html

 

 

1 hour ago, ColDayMan said:

Downtown's Grant Oak apartment complex sells amid redevelopment plan

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/06/27/downtowns-grant-oak-apartment-complex-sells-amid.html

 

 

From that headline I was wondered what this meant for the previously approved demo/redevelopment plan for those 1940's apartments.  But this is just the library selling to the developer to make the project happen.  From the article:

 

Quote

Columbus Metropolitan Library has sold the Grant Oak Apartments, setting the stage for their planned rehabilitation and redevelopment.  Pizzuti Cos. closed on the seven-building, 130-unit apartment complex next to the library's main downtown branch Thursday, paying $1.46 million, slightly above the initially proposed price of $1.26 million.

 

Another photo-tour of the $34.5 million Mitchell Hall under construction on the Columbus State campus:

 

https://www.columbusnavigator.com/mitchell-hall-columbus-state/

 

Only one exterior photo in the tour:

 

But a ton of interior photos like this one -- plus a bunch of project renderings at the C-Bus Nav site:

Hard Hat Tour: Columbus State’s Mitchell Hall

 

The dedication ceremony for Columbus State Community College’s newest building is scheduled for August 12, two weeks before the start of fall semester.

 

The three-story, 80,000-square-foot Mitchell Hall – located at 250 Cleveland Ave. – was a hub of activity during a recent hard hat tour, as workers loaded in equipment and put the finishing touches on the building’s interior.

 

The team behind the fundraising, design and construction of the building have high hopes that it will take the college’s Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts program to the next level. They also envision it serving as a new, central gathering place for both Columbus State students and the larger Columbus community.

 

More below:

https://www.columbusunderground.com/hard-hat-tour-columbus-states-mitchell-hall-bw1

 

The Motorists Insurance apartments are finally at street level. This one seems like it's taking forever to make progress. 

Borror project on Town. 

^I’m sure you meant State St. 

4 hours ago, Pablo said:

^I’m sure you meant State St. 

Whatever they all look the same. 

Xander on State via Instagram: