1 hour ago, Kriegs said:

Man...this building is just tough to look at. 

Still not as bad as 80 on the Commons.

I just drove by this thing a few hours ago and I have to be honest, it really isn’t noticeably bad in person, especially when looking at it from the front. 

38 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

I just drove by this thing a few hours ago and I have to be honest, it really isn’t noticeably bad in person, especially when looking at it from the front. 

 

I work next door to the beast and it ain't a beauty...

1 hour ago, cbussoccer said:

I just drove by this thing a few hours ago and I have to be honest, it really isn’t noticeably bad in person, especially when looking at it from the front. 

That’s what I have thought. It could be 1000 times better but it doesn’t look terrible. The older style portion on the front is helping. 

2 hours ago, VintageLife said:

That’s what I have thought. It could be 1000 times better but it doesn’t look terrible. The older style portion on the front is helping. 

The "older style portion on the front":

19 hours ago, aderwent said:

Still not as bad as 80 on the Commons.

I like that one actually - the massing is cool. This one looks like a bad 70s building.

YIKES! Imo this is looking worse everyday. Exterior almost complete. 

Greenery and trees starting to go up on the elevated park.  

I...uh...

It will never be hidden either because that mansion isn’t going anywhere hahah 

Apparently they're applying for TMUD credits here.

 

"A $573 million project in downtown Columbus is seeking a $33 million tax credit. The address of the project site is the Preston Centre, but the description shows that there are plans to 'redevelop struggling buildings and replace surface parking lots" over a nearly 10-acre site downtown. Nearly 1,000 apartments, nine new restaurants, and new office spaces would result from the development. Buildings to be redeveloped sit on Broad, 4th, and 3rd streets, the application states."

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/11/07/transformational-tax-credits-central-ohio.html

 

The "South Fourth Tower" was shown as 224 units. Preston Centre is 105 units. The Gilbert is 133 units. Even if the already constructed units are included with the South Fourth tower we're looking at an additional 500 units previously unannounced.

Insurance agency Thomas Fenner Woods returns to its roots with downtown Columbus move

 

"After more than 50 years away, a long-time Columbus firm is back downtown.

 

Thomas Fenner Woods Agency, an independent insurance company founded nearly a century ago, recently relocated its office from 1500 Lake Shore Dr. in the Marble Cliff area to a 5,500-square-foot space in the Preston Centre building, located at 155 E. Broad St. in the heart of downtown Columbus. Prior to that, it was located on Hayden Road near Hilliard.

 

The move marks a return to the city core, where the firm had an office on East State Street from its inception in the 1930s until the early 1970s."

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/11/07/thomas-fenner-woods-agency-downtown-columbus-move.html

7 minutes ago, aderwent said:

Apparently they're applying for TMUD credits here.

 

"A $573 million project in downtown Columbus is seeking a $33 million tax credit. The address of the project site is the Preston Centre, but the description shows that there are plans to 'redevelop struggling buildings and replace surface parking lots" over a nearly 10-acre site downtown. Nearly 1,000 apartments, nine new restaurants, and new office spaces would result from the development. Buildings to be redeveloped sit on Broad, 4th, and 3rd streets, the application states."

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/11/07/transformational-tax-credits-central-ohio.html

 

The "South Fourth Tower" was shown as 224 units. Preston Centre is 105 units. The Gilbert is 133 units. Even if the already constructed units are included with the South Fourth tower we're looking at an additional 500 units previously unannounced.

 

Wow, that sounds like a massive project. Time to do some sleuthing to get more details on the plans.

2 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

Wow, that sounds like a massive project. Time to do some sleuthing to get more details on the plans.

I wonder if it’s the ywca lot and then all the ones around the dispatch building and the old bank building. I wonder if Edwards was able to buy that property or is working with the owner 

4 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

I wonder if it’s the ywca lot and then all the ones around the dispatch building and the old bank building. I wonder if Edwards was able to buy that property or is working with the owner 

 

That's my guess. It might even include the surface lot on the east side of Fourth Street in front of the Capitol Plaza parking garage monstrosity. They state the project encompasses nearly 10 acres. The entire lot the statehouse sits on is almost 10 acres exactly, but the buildings/surface lots encompassed by Capital St., 4th St., State St., and 3rd St. is definitely smaller than statehouse lot. If you add in that surface lot in front of the parking garage though you probably get pretty close to 10 acres. 

8 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

That's my guess. It might even include the surface lot on the east side of Fourth Street in front of the Capitol Plaza parking garage monstrosity. They state the project encompasses nearly 10 acres. The entire lot the statehouse sits on is almost 10 acres exactly, but the buildings/surface lots encompassed by Capital St., 4th St., State St., and 3rd St. is definitely smaller than statehouse lot. If you add in that surface lot in front of the parking garage though you probably get pretty close to 10 acres. 

God I hope so, I tried to find it in the TMUD applications but didn’t have any luck. 

38 minutes ago, aderwent said:

Insurance agency Thomas Fenner Woods returns to its roots with downtown Columbus move

 

"After more than 50 years away, a long-time Columbus firm is back downtown.

 

Thomas Fenner Woods Agency, an independent insurance company founded nearly a century ago, recently relocated its office from 1500 Lake Shore Dr. in the Marble Cliff area to a 5,500-square-foot space in the Preston Centre building, located at 155 E. Broad St. in the heart of downtown Columbus. Prior to that, it was located on Hayden Road near Hilliard.

 

The move marks a return to the city core, where the firm had an office on East State Street from its inception in the 1930s until the early 1970s."

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/11/07/thomas-fenner-woods-agency-downtown-columbus-move.html

Hopefully this brings some new residents to the build as well. When I checked last week it seems they have only rented out about 18 of the apartments, if I remember correctly. 

Edited November 7, 2024Nov 7 by VintageLife

8 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

Hopefully this brings some new residents to the build as well. When I checked last week it seems they have only rented out about 18 of the apartments, if I remember correctly. 

 

According to their website, there are currently 88 available units. So you aren't too far off. 

 

https://www.prestoncentrecolumbus.com/interactivepropertymap

 

I'm not really up-to-date on the going rate for downtown apartments, but $2k/month for a 689 sq/ft apartment seems just a tad high for this part of downtown at this point in time. 

Lots of facade work underway this afternoon as The Corrugated Cube continues to wrap up the exterior.

New guardrails are going in along the elevated park above N Fourth St. Some masonry restoration underway at the Columbus Club in the background.

Hopefully someone doesn't ruin this by throwing something off the side onto a passing car or pedestrian.

https://www.augmentarch.com/work/south-4th-street-study?itemId=585i6g9jsb9sp6xf02rkycbbnfqwdj

10 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

https://www.augmentarch.com/work/south-4th-street-study?itemId=585i6g9jsb9sp6xf02rkycbbnfqwdj

Looks decent, but the build along 3rd needs to be taller and shouldn’t tear down the bank build. I know these are just speculative layouts, but I’m sure what they put there will be pretty close. The ground floor of 4th looks awesome though, but I really hope the two buildings don’t mirror each other 

Edited November 7, 2024Nov 7 by VintageLife

What a weird, hideous building. What are those little circles all along the façade? Is that going to be lighting? Love the progress on the elevated park, though.

15 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

Looks decent, but the build along 3rd needs to be taller and shouldn’t tear down the bank build. I know these are just speculative layouts, but I’m sure what they put there will be pretty close. The ground floor of 4th looks awesome though, but I really hope the two buildings don’t mirror each other 

BUILD THE 4TH ST BUILDINGS NOW. I'm impressed beyond belief if that's the final design, and please please please do not include any above ground parking. There's already a massive garage connected to the walk path, if any garage space is built my dream is to build it underground (need billions over here with my fantasy). 

 

I can't wait to see this area build up along with the Capital Line. 

 

I'd prefer if the 3rd street buildings were not one monolith building but separate buildings sparing the old bank building. The height doesn't bother me as long as it's at least 12 stories minimum preferably 16-18 stories. 

4 minutes ago, KyleofColumbus said:

BUILD THE 4TH ST BUILDINGS NOW. I'm impressed beyond belief if that's the final design, and please please please do not include any above ground parking. There's already a massive garage connected to the walk path, if any garage space is built my dream is to build it underground (need billions over here with my fantasy). 

 

I can't wait to see this area build up along with the Capital Line. 

 

I'd prefer if the 3rd street buildings were not one monolith building but separate buildings sparing the old bank building. The height doesn't bother me as long as it's at least 12 stories minimum preferably 16-18 stories. 

Some of that height is parking, and those buildings aren’t final design. Furthermore, the windows are hideous past the main facade - it needs more work. That being said it appears they’ll be using a similar stone as the PNC center to clad it.

14 minutes ago, CMHOhio said:

What a weird, hideous building. What are those little circles all along the façade? Is that going to be lighting? Love the progress on the elevated park, though.

I hope Edwards sees these types of post and learns from them hahah. This building is really bad, but I’m happy to get more housing, I guess. 

2 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

I hope Edwards sees these types of post and learns from them hahah. This building is really bad, but I’m happy to get more housing, I guess. 

This and the brown part of the Nicholas are horrid. Everything else is pretty good. The real crime is the city approving this garbage. Too bad public sector doesn’t pay - someone needs to steal Melecca from MN and get him to run the architectural office at the city. This modern, value-engineered garbage doesn’t add any character or identity to our city.

8 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

Some of that height is parking, and those buildings aren’t final design. Furthermore, the windows are hideous past the main facade - it needs more work. That being said it appears they’ll be using a similar stone as the PNC center to clad it.

When they require new buildings to be 12 stories along main corridors, I wish it meant 12 floors of office / commercial / residential instead of 6 floors of garage and 6 floors of office / commercial / residential. 

43 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

https://www.augmentarch.com/work/south-4th-street-study?itemId=585i6g9jsb9sp6xf02rkycbbnfqwdj

47 minutes ago, CMHOhio said:

What a weird, hideous building. What are those little circles all along the façade? Is that going to be lighting? Love the progress on the elevated park, though.

I'll bet those are vents - dryers, bathrooms and kitchen exhaust.

4 hours ago, columbus17 said:

This and the brown part of the Nicholas are horrid. Everything else is pretty good. The real crime is the city approving this garbage. Too bad public sector doesn’t pay - someone needs to steal Melecca from MN and get him to run the architectural office at the city. This modern, value-engineered garbage doesn’t add any character or identity to our city.

It's pretty bad when the renderings look better than the actual finished product.  These are from the architects website. KEPHART out of Denver. 

7 minutes ago, sono4315 said:

It's pretty bad when the renderings look better than the actual finished product.  These are from the architects website. KEPHART out of Denver. 

They should be ashamed at that haha, I would never put that on my site. 

19 hours ago, CMHOhio said:

What a weird, hideous building. What are those little circles all along the façade? Is that going to be lighting? Love the progress on the elevated park, though.

Vents for kitchen / dryer exhaust.  

20 hours ago, columbus17 said:

Some of that height is parking, and those buildings aren’t final design. Furthermore, the windows are hideous past the main facade - it needs more work. That being said it appears they’ll be using a similar stone as the PNC center to clad it.

 

I wouldn't put much stock in the architectural design in those renderings. This is the descriptor on the webpage: "This brief massing and visualization exercise was to enable Edwards Companies to share their speculative vision for a key area of downtown Columbus." 

5 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

I wouldn't put much stock in the architectural design in those renderings. This is the descriptor on the webpage: "This brief massing and visualization exercise was to enable Edwards Companies to share their speculative vision for a key area of downtown Columbus." 

Yeah, I do think the building on the lot behind Preston will be similar though, because that is also the design they went for when they presented it to the commission 

23 hours ago, VintageLife said:

I hope Edwards sees these types of post and learns from them hahah. This building is really bad, but I’m happy to get more housing, I guess. 

They probably love it. It's getting a lot of attention!

 

Couple quick looks at the elevated park progress 

 

From 4th St

 

 

A little more info on the half billion dollar project plans from Edwards 

 

Edwards Cos.' downtown project seeks to revitalize Capitol Square

 

Dubbed the "Capitol Square Renaissance Project," the proposal spans five buildings on Broad, 3rd and 4th streets. If fully built out, it would create more than 1,000 new apartments, nine new restaurants and nearly 200,000 square feet of Class A office space.
 

According to the application, the five sites proposed for redevelopment in the expansive project are:

 

"Building I," the Preston Centre at 155 E. Broad St., which finished construction this year. 

 

"Building II," at 195 E. Broad St., a 15-story, 267,986-square-foot building under construction at Broad and Young streets, a block east of the Preston Centre. The first floor will have a 2,606-square-foot retail space set up for a casual café.

 

"Building III," located at 31, 33, 43, 45 and 53 S. 4th St., would be an 11-story, 282,226-square-foot building with apartments, parking, retail and green space. The retail space would present opportunities for small businesses or art galleries. It would be directly south of the Preston Centre on what is today a parking lot.

 

"Building IV," located 30-34 S. 4th St., south of the Columbus Club and directly across 4th Street from Building III. The building will have apartments, parking and ground-floor retail. This site today also is parking lots. 

 

"Building V," at 40-78 S. 3rd St. and 116 E. State St., is a planned 10-story, 528,686-square-foot mixed-use building. It would face 3rd Street and is directly across from Statehouse. "The building completes the square around the Capitol, replacing parking lots with a vibrant and active development that will include square feet of retail and restaurant uses at grade." The facade of the bank building on the site would be reused, the application said. The rest of the site is parking lots. There would be a public park created between this fifth building and the former Columbus Dispatchbuilding directly north of the site.

Edited November 15, 2024Nov 15 by VintageLife

18 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

A little more info on the half billion dollar project plans from Edwards 

 

Edwards Cos.' downtown project seeks to revitalize Capitol Square

 

Dubbed the "Capitol Square Renaissance Project," the proposal spans five buildings on Broad, 3rd and 4th streets. If fully built out, it would create more than 1,000 new apartments, nine new restaurants and nearly 200,000 square feet of Class A office space.
 

According to the application, the five sites proposed for redevelopment in the expansive project are:

 

"Building I," the Preston Centre at 155 E. Broad St., which finished construction this year. 

 

"Building II," at 195 E. Broad St., a 15-story, 267,986-square-foot building under construction at Broad and Young streets, a block east of the Preston Centre. The first floor will have a 2,606-square-foot retail space set up for a casual café.

 

"Building III," located at 31, 33, 43, 45 and 53 S. 4th St., would be an 11-story, 282,226-square-foot building with apartments, parking, retail and green space. The retail space would present opportunities for small businesses or art galleries. It would be directly south of the Preston Centre on what is today a parking lot.

 

"Building IV," located 30-34 S. 4th St., south of the Columbus Club and directly across 4th Street from Building III. The building will have apartments, parking and ground-floor retail. This site today also is parking lots. 

 

"Building V," at 40-78 S. 3rd St. and 116 E. State St., is a planned 10-story, 528,686-square-foot mixed-use building. It would face 3rd Street and is directly across from Statehouse. "The building completes the square around the Capitol, replacing parking lots with a vibrant and active development that will include square feet of retail and restaurant uses at grade." The facade of the bank building on the site would be reused, the application said. The rest of the site is parking lots. There would be a public park created between this fifth building and the former Columbus Dispatchbuilding directly north of the site.

Hope the capital building one gets push back - 10 stories is way too short.

1 hour ago, columbus17 said:

Hope the capital building one gets push back - 10 stories is way too short.

Yea, I feel 15 stories should be the minimum there, but I’ll withhold judgement until I see some finalized plans. 

I’m glad to hear they at least plan on preserving the bank facade though. But I agree, I’d like something iconic with the height to it on Cap Square. Either way, adding 1000+ housing units and thousands of square feet of new office and retail is huge. 

23 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

Yea, I feel 15 stories should be the minimum there, but I’ll withhold judgement until I see some finalized plans. 

The concept design looked horribly underwhelming and modern, so not a fan thus far.

37 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

The concept design looked horribly underwhelming and modern, so not a fan thus far.

Is this the same developer that is working on the Gilbert? 

19 hours ago, columbus17 said:

Hope the capital building one gets push back - 10 stories is way too short.

 

You're right, but I'd be surprised if it got any pushback at all. 

9 minutes ago, jonoh81 said:

 

You're right, but I'd be surprised if it got any pushback at all. 

Yeah, any developer willing to put half a billion dollars into downtown probably won’t get much push back. Even if there should be some 

On 11/15/2024 at 8:15 PM, sono4315 said:

Is this the same developer that is working on the Gilbert? 

Yes it is, but it’s the same developer that did neighborhood launch and restored the Madison White Hanes building and the old bank across the street. The new tower he did on high st, isn’t awful, so there are positives he has done. 

On 11/7/2024 at 3:58 PM, aderwent said:

 

 

 

So my biggest issue with this general site plan is the fact that the building on Third is a massive (in terms of footprint) singular building. We have seen way too many of these around town due to our awkwardly large lot sizes, and they just tend to look unnatural.

 

I would prefer to see it split into two independent buildings with somewhat unique designs and varied height.  The building at the corner of State and Third should be the taller building, at least in the range of 15-20 stories. The building between that and The Dispatch building could step down to the 8-10 story range. This would allow for a more natural height transition down to The Dispatch building while also allowing the top floors of the building on Fourth between the YWCA and the PNC tower to have a view of the Capitol building. 

 

In terms of the buildings along Fourth, I like the general design but I would like to see them each have their own unique touches. I don't want to see two buildings with the exact same design. I would also push for the building on the east side of Fourth to be 15-20 stories which would allow the top floors to have a view of the Capitol building and would provide more of a screen for the Capitol plaza garage. 

 

I'm really not all that disappointed that we aren't getting something super tall here, I just want to see some height and design variations to create a more natural look which can be difficult when one developer is developing such a large area. Hopefully the downtown commission takes these things into consideration if these renderings are actually what will be presented.

26 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

So my biggest issue with this general site plan is the fact that the building on Third is a massive (in terms of footprint) singular building. We have seen way too many of these around town due to our awkwardly large lot sizes, and they just tend to look unnatural.

 

I would prefer to see it split into two independent buildings with somewhat unique designs and varied height.  The building at the corner of State and Third should be the taller building, at least in the range of 15-20 stories. The building between that and The Dispatch building could step down to the 8-10 story range. This would allow for a more natural height transition down to The Dispatch building while also allowing the top floors of the building on Fourth between the YWCA and the PNC tower to have a view of the Capitol building. 

 

In terms of the buildings along Fourth, I like the general design but I would like to see them each have their own unique touches. I don't want to see two buildings with the exact same design. I would also push for the building on the east side of Fourth to be 15-20 stories which would allow the top floors to have a view of the Capitol building and would provide more of a screen for the Capitol plaza garage. 

 

I'm really not all that disappointed that we aren't getting something super tall here, I just want to see some height and design variations to create a more natural look which can be difficult when one developer is developing such a large area. Hopefully the downtown commission takes these things into consideration if these renderings are actually what will be presented.

100% this!! I have a feeling it will be similar to The Nicholas, which I think is one of the worst looking builds that has happened. When this goes to the commission please send an email with this or show up to the meeting. The downtown commission isn’t going to give much push back, but if people write in, they could at least mention it. 

13 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

100% this!! I have a feeling it will be similar to The Nicholas, which I think is one of the worst looking builds that has happened. When this goes to the commission please send an email with this or show up to the meeting. The downtown commission isn’t going to give much push back, but if people write in, they could at least mention it. 

Well part of it looks good - the brown tumor on the end not so much