Looking up

Casto’s latest project: upgrading heart of Downtown

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Mike Pramik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Behind the vinyl-mesh banners that promise a new beginning for the northeastern corner of Broad and High streets, part of Downtown’s past lies in heaps of brick and rubbish.  It was at that intersection where the city’s business district began to develop in the mid-19 th century.  Citizens jammed the area in 1918 to welcome home heroes from World War I, and they swarmed it in 1945 at the end of World War II.

 

They shopped at Roy’s Jewelers for 65 years, saw the interior of the Ohio Statehouse restored and witnessed the rise of skyscrapers near two of the intersection’s corners.  But as the decades passed, Broad and High’s northeastern corner did not keep up.  The buildings that remained began to crumble. A passerby was nearly hit in the head by falling debris in 2000.  Broad and High became Columbus’ joke, but that’s about to change.

 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/04/23/20060423-G1-02.html

 

Glad to see things are still moving along at Broad and High.  The NBC4 turmoil and lack of activity behind the vinyl signage got me a little nervous, but it seems to be a non-issue.  It's too bad that the state office tower never happened.

^Agreed.

 

It's too bad Casto didn't re-evaluate his plans to include a signature building on the land where the Roy Jewelers building was before it collapsed. The original plans called for the building to have the video wall on top, but now that it's gone, Casto will have to build a new structure on the land. It would be nice to have a mid-rise, maybe 14-16 stories on the plot instead of the likely 4-5 story building which will be built in its place.

Maybe The State Office Tower mentioned here was built, just a little further down Broad St.  We know it as The Rhodes Office Tower or perhaps it was the Verne Riffe Center.  I am not sure I would want a signature Tower to be built there anyway.  It would be too crowded right there I think. 

Carlyles Watch taking shape

Monday, June 26, 2006

Mike Pramik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Downtown workers and frequent visitors to the city’s core have witnessed the speedy construction of the Carlyles Watch condominiums at 3rd and Gay streets.  One reason for the briskness is the building’s bones.  Ruscilli Construction is using a prefabricated steel product manufactured by Dietrich Metal Framing, a division of Worthington Industries, to build the eight-story, 54-unit condominium. The light-gauge steel is said to be easier to work with than structural steel.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/06/26/20060626-E6-00.html

 

City of Columbus' lack of space outlined in study

Business First of Columbus - 4:25 PM EDT Friday

by Matt Burns, Business First

 

Columbus city government needs more space, and a Dublin firm is recommending ways municipal officials can accomplish that.  The architectural firm, eS Architecture and Development Inc., through a city-commissioned space study, is leveling one municipal building and clearing room for enhanced public access.  The city's 2006 Space Needs Study/Master Plan examined how the city's office space is used and conducted surveys and interviews to plan for the decade of development, said Joel Taylor, the city's finance and management director.

 

The study looked at studied nine major buildings on four key government campuses whose net usable space totaled 551,000 square feet, he said.  Its primary recommendations include renovating the vacant old Central Police Station at Gay Street and Marconi Boulevard and demolishing the deteriorating 109 N. Front St. building, which houses employees of the city's development department, city attorney's real estate office and public service employees in the transportation division. 

 

Other recommendations in the $266,000 include:

- Maintaining City Hall as the cornerstone to the municipal complex.

- Retaining jobs in the downtown campus.

- Continuing to use the Beacon Building at Front and Gay streets as swing space, pending potential future redevelopment.

 

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/08/21/daily31.html 

This article from the 8/25/06 Dispatch has a few more details:

 

10-YEAR FORECAST

Study lays out plan for city’s buildings

Ideas blend razing, remodeling for new government campus

Friday, August 25, 2006

Jodi Andes

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A new report that was being passed around City Hall yesterday lays out the next set of changes that Downtown Columbus could see.  The 10-year forecast calls for demolishing the city’s aging office building at 109 N. Front St. and replacing it with a parking deck that would include stores along Front Street.  The report also suggests renovating the old police headquarters that now sits vacant and creating a city park at Front and Gay streets.

 

They’re all ideas that city officials plan to take to City Council for funding, but how much they’ll cost is unclear, city Finance Director Joel Taylor said.  The report arrived yesterday at City Hall from eS Architecture and Development, the Columbus company that was hired last year.  It was being passed around to staff and council members, so how much support the plan has is unclear.  However, the changes are supported by Mayor Michael B. Coleman, who believes they are strongly needed, said his spokesman, Mike Brown.  "As Downtown gets redeveloped, the city’s campus needs to be renovated as well," Brown said.  "It needs to be more efficient, and it needs to be more attractive."

 

More at http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/25/20060825-E1-04.html

 

BROAD AND HIGH REVITALIZATION PROJECT

Downtown draw

Huntington, Nationwide to sponsor ads on Casto video screens

Friday, November 10, 2006

Mike Pramik, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Two of the city’s biggest corporate names plan to make a splash at Columbus’ signature street corner.  Huntington Bancshares and Nationwide have signed advertising deals with Casto for the developer’s $30 million Broad and High revitalization project.  Huntington and Nationwide will join WCMH-TV (Channel 4) in running ads and other programming on several video screens designed to light up what for years had been a dingy address.

 

In addition to permanent logo displays at the site, the companies will work with Orange Barrel Media to create programming that will be shown 24 hours a day, seven days a week on 12 video screens.  The programming is expected to be operational by next fall, when the project is completed.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/11/10/20061110-G1-00.html

Casto bringing glitz to Broad and High project

Business First of Columbus -

November 10, 2006

by Kathy Showalter, Business First

 

Starting next fall, Huntington Bank, Nationwide Insurance and television station WCMH will advertise in Columbus, Times Square-style.  The three companies have signed on to air messages around the clock from the Casto development organization's Broad and High mixed-use project under construction.

 

The ads will be broadcast on light-emitting diode video screens to be erected on the $30 million project's facade.  Tickers broadcasting news and stock quotes will wrap around the building on the first floor, while television-like images bearing other sponsors' ads will wrap around the second, third and fourth stories, said Pete Scantland, president of Columbus' Orange Barrel Media. Scantland and Casto will co-own the LED screens.  "That corner historically has been the epicenter of Columbus, and it will be restored to its former glory," Scantland said.

 

Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/11/13/story10.html 

 

I personally love that project, my lil' Columbus is growing up  :cry:

hey thanks noozer -- that rendering looks a lot better than the initial one did. very "modern" times square design indeed. i don't love it, but i do like it a lot. aside from the glitz, it's a nice looking and most impressively functional design for that important corner. underground parking too? wow. i can't tell, where do you enter?

 

a debateable part?: do i even detect a bit of the controversial urbanohio architectural "whirlygig" quirk? the whirlygigish screen (or should i say reminiscent of a whirlygig) section will certainly cement the building as being squarely in the early oughts as time goes on. not sure if thats good. just a minor conversation point, it's great overall.

 

so can we get some new pics of whats going on, even if it's a pit? thx.

 

whirlygig wha????

"the Capital Savings & Trust Building, which was the tallest building in Ohio when it was built in 1906,"

 

Nice try - but at 222 feet, it was still shorter than Cleveland's Rockefeller Building built in 1903 at 230 feet. I also wonder if it was taller than the now-demolished Williamson Building (built in 1900) but I don't have a height for that.

 

^good question, i couldnt find a thing. how odd. i only found that it was the tallest building in the city when built in 1900 and that it was 16 stories. also, that the architect's next building was the nyse of all things.

 

the wb's height is obvious from this 1912 pano, but of course the pic doesnt really help as you cant see the 'ol rock building from this view:

 

it's a shame they tore it down for bp, but otoh it was pretty much left to rot as i recall it -- the newsstand on the corner was the only thing happnin in its very last days (the williamson was torn down in 1982).

 

 

This is such a cool project!!!  I always love these little projects that burst out to make a BIG splash.  Very cool, and will be a GREAT addition to the downtown Cbus scene!!

Condo 'neighborhood' sketched for E. Gay St.

Edwards making $70M bet on city living

Business First of Columbus - November 17, 2006

by Brian R. Ball Business First

 

A Columbus developer is ready to take the wraps off plans for a $70 million housing project downtown, Business First has learned.  Edwards Cos. will propose to build 250 condominiums at East Long and East Gay streets in a layout designed to evoke Chicago's Lincoln Park or New York's Murray Hill venerable enclaves.  The company expects to deliver its conceptual plans Nov. 21 to the city's Downtown Commission.

 

"It's a much different product than what's been built in the downtown by anybody else," said company President Jeff Edwards.  Indeed, the proposal calls for garden- and townhouse-style condos to be densely developed along several city blocks.  "Everyone kind of jumps up and down and thinks it's wonderful that (projects are) going up," Edwards said.  "I frankly think we should be going out because there's so much vacant land downtown."

 

Gay Street Condominiums LLC, an affiliate of the developer. has spent nearly $7.8 million since March acquiring about 60 percent of the project site. It paid an additional $350,000 in September for a property along the northern edge of Long Street that will serve as a construction staging area.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/11/20/story1.html?page=1&b=1163998800^1378122

Ahem...

 

ABOUT TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As much as I look forward to the possibility of surface lots being developed, I'm somewhat disappointed about the location in relation to the core of the downtown. I'd like to see development of a taller scale in that area, given its proximity to High St. But given that continued lackluster office vacancy rate downtown, that's a pretty far-fetched desire. So, I'll take what I can get.

So, I'll take what I can get.

 

That's a dangerous attitude.  We're talking about residential developments that will be around for generations here.  These things don't just go away like surface lots.

 

I can't believe someone would propose three story rowhouses to be placed 1 block from the city's core.  Talk about looking rediculous.  We can certainly do better from a density perspective, especially this close to offices, retail (city center), and CCAC/Columbus State.  I'll be writing an email to the downtown development comittee in opposition, but I'd hope that thier common sense would shoot this down without my help.

Here are some images to put this in perspective...

 

 

I think this would be a good development for DT Columbus.  Expecting all midrise residential downtown is unrealistic.  Gay St is a nice corridor as is, and I think complementing it with this type of residential is a good move. 

I like that rendering.

 

But for a real neat site, or set of sites, for infill housing, look at the neighborhood between Broad and State, directly east of the Statehouse..that grid of little streets and small blocks....

 

 

Now that area would be really neat to redevelop as housing or even mixed use.  Particulary since one street s right on axis with the statehouse. 

 

I'm in agreement with those who aren't so crazy about this, so I guess gold42 is the only one that likes it. I don't see why we can't have all midrise residential downtown, since it's really the only place we have for that. I don't know how familiar you are with Columbus, but even our urban neighborhoods are low-density with plenty of single family homes w/ small yards (hence the high amount of attention the Urban Oasis development has recieved). The city and developers could throw their weight around at poorer neighborhoods like Franklinton or King-Lincoln and build midrise places whether they want them or not, but buildings/homes will have to be demolished to make way for these developments, while downtown has plenty of surface lots begging to be put to good, higher-density, uses. I'll be doing what Brewmaster is doing, but first, which downtown organization is it?

What is design-build like in Columbus?

Columbusite, it is two blocks we are talking about here, and two blocks that don't have a whole lot going on right now.  This development would help feed customers into the restaurants on Gay St after people go home on weekdays, and on weekends.  This development would provide greenspace and a pedestrian friendly environment.  I don't see why ALL DT development has to be mid-rises.

The downtown commision, they have their meeting this morning!

 

The public is welcome and hopefully we can come and say our 2cents regarding this project. 

 

Today (11/21/06) tuesday the commission will be reviewing this project and giving it the green or hopefully red light.

 

Here is the address where tomorrows downtown commission meeting will be held...

 

8:30am

109 N front St. Dept. of Dev. 1st floor hearing room

Kind of late notice huh, but if your up and see this head to the meeting tomorrow before the 1st hearing.

 

 

Also you may

contact Steve Cochrun in the Downtown Development Office at 614-645-6305

Give the dept. a call that's better than no action.

 

 

I don't see why we can't have all midrise residential downtown, since it's really the only place we have for that.

 

Riversouth has been designated the residential midrise area of downtown by the all-mighty Nationwide Realty Investors. Also, there's just too much empty space downtown to be picky about what's built on these lots. Yes, I would like to see multi-story structures built there, but with mid-rise residential already planned for Riversouth, and the still overbearing amount of surface space in the downtown area, I don't think we can afford to scrutinize this too much, and possibly scare off any other potential development downtown.

^That is my line of thinking as well...not being able to picture the site in my head.

I think this is nice and I agree that not all housing should be mid-rise condo buildings, simply because I think DT is just too big geographically to fill with that style of development. Also, Gay St closer to high is a nice group of buildings that are all about 5-6 stories tall at the most, aside from the Renaissance Hotel. It looks nice to have low rise there, why wouldn't look good to have it further down?

 

Also, I just think it's unrealistic to assume that all of the Inner Belt is going to fill with mid-rise condo/apt buildings. There could/should/(and I think) will be a lot of those kinds of buildings, but not every square block is going to fill with that style of development. I've read many times that DT Columbus is geographically larger than the area of the Loop in Chicago...unless Columbus is going to explode in the near future, i think we can spare a few blocks of what appears to be attractive development on a human scale, which is what is already there on Gay St.

 

In response to the "slippery-slope" of taking what you can get downtown, I have mixed feelings. True, I think that just taking what anyone will throw at you is bad, because that's exactly why DT is what it is now. That being said, a little dose of reality is healthy too. We're not going to wake up anytime soon and see Columbus look like Vancouver (the lack of a port, navigable water, and economic ties to China guaranteeing that). So what is the solution? Things like this proposed Gay St. development. It's not ranch-style homes and parking-in-front stores on High and Broad; no one's gonna tear down Rhodes Tower and replace it with a Pizza Hut/Taco Bell-combo drive-in. Gay St. between 4th and 6th is an appropriate location for this sort of development, and shouldn't be dismissed because of people's pipedreams about having Columbus be a city of green glass high-rise condos. The city can definitely spare a few blocks for attractive urban housing that fits with the nature of the street it's on. That's my opinion.

I think this is nice and I agree that not all housing should be mid-rise condo buildings, simply because I think DT is just too big geographically to fill with that style of development.

 

Bingo.  Downtown has PLENTY of space (let me say that again...PLENTY of space) to build your midrise condos and highrises.  I do not see a problem building urban within a downtown with townhouses, as long as it's done correctly.  There are many downtowns that have older and newer townhouses in the heart of the core (Baltimore, Cincinnati [Garfield Park/Lytle Park], and even Los Angeles).

I agree that Columbus has plenty of space for building mid-rise residential buildings but I also agree with Brewmaster in that this is far too close to the Urban Core.  While reading this, I was imagining a new Dominion, Homewood, M/I, Centex Homes development being plopped right in the middle of Downtown.  I don't like that idea.  I think we would all agree on that being a bad thing. 

I don't see whats wrong with that; Cincinnati has a lot of rows of 2-3 story buildings remaining in the central business district and it looks great.

Well of course it looks great, those buildings date back to the 17-1800s and have character oozing out of every column and cornice. It's nearly impossible for any new-build, no matter how truly it can recreate past styles, to live up to that. However that is my greatest concern regarding this project. The developer says they want to evoke the architectural style of some of the country's greatest urban neighborhoods. If they can truly make good on that promise and create a dense, urban neighborhood with lasting aesthetic characteristics, then I see no problem with its construction.

^Bingo.  It's basically HOW it's done.

Not directed at anyone in particular, just a thought that was provoked while reading: So because Columbus doesn't have older urban housing, should the city just not bother to build anything because it would be "fake"? At one point those townhomes in Cincinnati were characterless new housing. Yeah, they have always had architectural value, but that doesn't give them character. Character is something they gained over time. Everything has to start somewhere.

Columbus has older urban housing...it's just called German Village.

 

Hell, the building I live in was built in the 1870's.

 

I simply think that any development that close to the city's core needs to have more than 125 residences per city block.  I wonder if that even supports one restaurant.

While I agree with Brewmaster that it is kind of close to the heart of the CBD for the density that they are proposing, I think it is much more important that there will be something with some density located there instead of surface parking lots. There is so much open space in Downtown, it will probably be 100 years before it fills in. And when it does, they can just tear down the low density stuff and build taller. But in the meantime, I would rather see a pedestrian friendly downtown that is all connected together with well designed, well planned, urban infill. Right now downtown is not a bunch of buildings with a few parking lots, it is a giant surface parking lot with a few buildings floating around.

 

Anyway, I think the more important arguement is not if this proposal is dense enough, but is this a well designed project that will be built in a responsible and sustainable manner. I don't think that can be determined with one, glossed up artistic rendering of an idyllic street scene. I want to see plans, elevations, construction details before I make my decision. I hope the city commision feels the same way. I really hope they break the blocks down further and have units facing the main streets as well as the alleys, creating smaller scaled quite back streets to stroll through like Beacon Hill in Boston. Parking can be contained underground. The buildings need to be built with real stone, brick, and concrete; not the fake looking plaster coated foam they use in Easton and elsewhere. There needs to be street trees lining all of the sidewalks and even the alleyways where there is room. I could keep going, but you get the idea.

 

 

 

 

What I'm really concerned about is whether several future developments will look like this one. If they make up a small minority of residences, then it won't be a problem. I just get a negative reaction because when I was in Spain, cities I lived in were closer to the size of Dayton and even they didn't have lower-density housing like this in their cores. Just about everything was 4/5 stories tall. For example:

 

Granada, pop. 230,000

 

Santander pop. 180,000

 

(Images from Wikipedia)

Granada looks beautiful. I think 4+ stories would be appropriate. I think it would be great if they did a little bit of research on the type of buildings that use to exist in downtown Columbus and model the architectural styles somewhat after that.

I like that idea too, like you said, they wouldn't look exactly the same. One place I'd like to see come around is the Market Exchange District. A handful of businesses with very modern looking buildings have popped up sharing a similar style and it would actually be an interesting neighborhood if the area were filled with this type of development. But as of now there are too few of those structures, too many parking lots, too few people living there, and without the Green line (streetcars) which would have been on the periphery, I'll probably be an old man before it becomes a place of interest.

COLUMBUS DOWNTOWN HOUSING INVESTMENT FUND GRANTS $2 MILLION LOAN TO EDWARDS HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

 

press release

(Columbus) – A dynamic, emerging Downtown neighborhood received a big boost today with a $2 million, low-interest, three-year loan from the Columbus Downtown Housing Investment Fund, which is a private housing­financing fund managed by Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC) and Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation. The loan will finance the Edwards Companies’ development of 250 condominium homes planned for a 6.5 acre site situated generally north of Gay, east of Fourth, south of Long and west of Grant.

 

“Downtown's progress continues as more and more developers and buyers see the advantages of urban living, bringing another unique project closer to reality,” said Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “Edwards Companies’ vision for these condos is beautiful.  The new homes will erase acres of parking lots and bring a great mix of affordable, market rate units to the area.”

 

The Edwards Companies development is one of the largest ever announced as part of the Downtown Business Plan launched in 2002, boosting the total number of units built to over the 4,000 mark. Edwards plans a phased construction of approximately 50 units per year for five years with prices starting at $150,000. Edwards plans to build one-story, garden flats on the ground level with townhomes on the upper floors, in a style popular in Chicago’s Lincoln Park and New York’s Murray Hill neighborhoods.

 

A land swap between Capitol South and the Edwards Companies will give Edwards the ability to develop a marketing center on the corner of Fourth and Gay Streets.

 

“This project will add a completely new element to the Downtown residential market.  In place of deteriorating surface parking lots will be an attractive new neighborhood that will complement the emerging Gay Street residential cluster, CCAD, Columbus State, and other area neighbors,” said Lawrence L. Fisher, President, CDDC.

 

The $15 million Columbus Downtown Housing Investment Fund works in tandem with a similar fund created by Capitol South. Together the funds provide low­cost, short- and long-term capital for residential development, particularly for those projects that need additional dollars beyond traditional bank financing. To date the funds have played a key role in several Downtown housing projects including ConneXtions Lofts, The Renaissance, The Commons at Grant, The Terraces, One West Rich, and others.

 

Columbus Downtown Development Corporation is a private, non-profit development corporation created to realize a visionary, community plan to make Downtown Columbus among the most attractive center cities in the United States. The Board consists of senior business and institutional leaders who have a strong commitment to Downtown revitalization.

 

Posted by Paul Bonneville on December 1, 2006

 

http://columbusretrometro.typepad.com/columbus_retrometro/2006/12/columbus_downto.html

Werth agency taking spot at Casto project on Capitol Square

Business First of Columbus - May 25, 2007

by Brian R. Ball

Business First

 

A well-known public affairs firm will raise its profile on Capitol Square this year, leaving an East Broad Street tower for the center of downtown at Broad and High.  Paul Werth Associates Inc. has signed a 10-year lease to take 10,600 square feet at developer Casto's commercial and residential complex at 2-8 E. Broad St., overlooking the Ohio Statehouse and Capitol Square.  The move from 88 E. Broad St., a block away, will give the agency room to accommodate an expansion of its public affairs and advertising businesses.

 

Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/05/28/story2.html?page=3&b=1180324800^1467739

 

So how is the construction progressing on this project.  When I moved away from Columbus in September it was just getting underway.

Most of the skeleton is up and it's coming along rather well.  I should take a photo sometime to update you all. 

 

Nah. :)

Ask and ye shall recieve...was just out with the camera last night.

 

 

More here... http://capcitysavvy.com/2007/05/29/times-square-light/

Looking good...and I have to repeat what a cool project I think this is!

Wow, thanks Brewmaster!  I see they took down the cover which was hiding the street level construction early on in the project.  Coming along nicely!

Sweetness for C-Bus!!!

FIRST PHASE OF GAY STREET PROJECT

A different approach

Three-story picture sign will hide construction of new type of Downtown condo, developer says

Saturday,  June 16, 2007 3:30 AM

By Mike Pramik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Jeff Edwards thought big when he set out to build a neighborhood Downtown, buying nine blocks worth of surface parking lots on which Edwards Cos. intends to build 260 condominiums. Now that construction has begun, Edwards is thinking big again. This weekend, his company is putting up a three-story advertising sign that will show how one of the condo buildings will look. The area in front of the sign, at the northeast corner of 4th and Gay streets, will be landscaped. When the sign comes down late this year, the landscaping will accent the actual building.

 

"We thought it made a lot more sense than putting up two sheets of plywood with the names of the bank, the engineer, the architects and the project on them," Edwards said.  There could be more risk in the project behind the sign. Edwards Cos. is planning to spend nearly $100 million to build the development, which will include about a dozen styles of condos and townhouses as well as green space in what had been a sea of concrete.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/06/16/20070616-E1-01.html

http://www.neighborhoodlaunch.com