https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/12/17/columbus-schools-board-votes-tuesday-on-closing-up-to-nine-schools/76924882007/

 

Columbus Public Schools voted tonight to close the downtown administration office at 270 E.  State Street. I wonder if they plan on selling the property for redevelopment? 

Edited December 18, 2024Dec 18 by sono4315

8 hours ago, sono4315 said:

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/12/17/columbus-schools-board-votes-tuesday-on-closing-up-to-nine-schools/76924882007/

 

Columbus Public Schools voted tonight to close the downtown administration office at 270 E.  State Street. I wonder if they plan on selling the property for redevelopment? 

 

Town and State have so much untapped potential. Let's hope they well to allow for redevelopment. 

21 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

Town and State have so much untapped potential. Let's hope they well to allow for redevelopment. 

I feel like the entire east side and southeast side of downtown has incredible potential, that could become a super dense area of housing, but I fear it won’t be anything great. 

10 hours ago, sono4315 said:

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2024/12/17/columbus-schools-board-votes-tuesday-on-closing-up-to-nine-schools/76924882007/

 

Columbus Public Schools voted tonight to close the downtown administration office at 270 E.  State Street. I wonder if they plan on selling the property for redevelopment? 

Don't sell. Do a ground lease and have it developed from there. 

11 hours ago, VintageLife said:

I feel like the entire east side and southeast side of downtown has incredible potential, that could become a super dense area of housing, but I fear it won’t be anything great. 

 

I agree. It's a shame the city is allowing Ohio Health to close off 6th between State and Town instead of requiring them to bridge over. We should be doing what we can to reconnect the street grid in this area not further exacerbate its disconnection IMO

58 minutes ago, NW24HX said:

 

I agree. It's a shame the city is allowing Ohio Health to close off 6th between State and Town instead of requiring them to bridge over. We should be doing what we can to reconnect the street grid in this area not further exacerbate its disconnection IMO

Ohio Health needed to move off the Grant site and go somewhere like Franklinton Mt Caramel or South Linden. It looks like crap, cuts the streets up, HORRIBLE pedestrian experience, and ambulance noise all the time.

I disagree - Grant is just fine where it is. More people live in Franklinton and S. Linden - why would ambulance and helicopter noise be OK there?

Here’s the southeast part of downtown before “urban renewal”. Probably mid 1950s. You can follow State St east from the statehouse to the library. Grant Hospital is the large brick building to the right of the library. South from there is basically what German Village looks like today. About 1/3 of the area was lost to “urban renewal” and I-70 construction. I think the area is ripe for redevelopment today. There are so many parking lots…and interestingly, the parking lot at 3rd and State has been around forever. 
 

15 minutes ago, Pablo said:

Here’s the southeast part of downtown before “urban renewal”. Probably mid 1950s. You can follow State St east from the statehouse to the library. Grant Hospital is the large brick building to the right of the library. South from there is basically what German Village looks like today. About 1/3 of the area was lost to “urban renewal” and I-70 construction. I think the area is ripe for redevelopment today. There are so many parking lots…and interestingly, the parking lot at 3rd and State has been around forever. 
 

That is sad, why did you have to share this?? Haha what a joke urban renewal was. 

Edited December 19, 2024Dec 19 by VintageLife

3 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

That is sad, why did you have to share this?? Haha what a joke urban renewal was. 

If we don't know our history, we're bound to repeat it.....

53 minutes ago, Pablo said:

If we don't know our history, we're bound to repeat it.....

As the city is tearing down the majority of what was left haha

I know this doesn’t mean much, but at least we won’t have to see this crap built anytime soon. Hopefully the preservation office never gives them the okay 

 

CMHA redevelopment of United Way site downtown temporarily paused

 

The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority's redevelopment of the former United Way headquarters in downtown Columbus is temporarily delayed.

CMHA planned to present its plans Thursday to the Downtown Commission, but the housing authority is still waiting on a memorandum of agreement from the State Historic Preservation Office and withdrew its application.

 

The United Way selected CMHA and The Community Builders to transform the site in 2022 after putting out a request for proposals for its downtown property. Battelle Memorial Institute Foundation donated the 1-acre site to United Way in 1978 for use as its headquarters.

 

The Community Builders is no longer involved in the project.

14 hours ago, Pablo said:

If we don't know our history, we're bound to repeat it.....

Nah we need to repeat. Let's start with any ugly modern building. The classical styles depicted here were human scaled, unique, and stand the test of time. We need to return to brick streets, brick buildings, and thoughtfully planned windows, trees, and porches. 

A little more about the sad history of Market Mohawk.

 

 

Gee, I wonder how we wound up with a housing shortage

 

Elevator cores rising at 340 Fulton 

 

 

 

 

Downtown Columbus Inc. buys 2 of 3 Huntington buildings for $10.6M

 

Two of three Huntington buildings in downtown Columbus have traded hands for about $10.6 million.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2025/01/06/dci-sale.html

 

10 minutes ago, ColDayMan said:

Downtown Columbus Inc. buys 2 of 3 Huntington buildings for $10.6M

 

Two of three Huntington buildings in downtown Columbus have traded hands for about $10.6 million.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2025/01/06/dci-sale.html

 

Wonder if they passed on the third, or it’s just not finalized 

3 hours ago, VintageLife said:

Wonder if they passed on the third, or it’s just not finalized 

 

Sounds like it just hasn't been recorded yet according to the article. Huntington plans to keep their branch open in the historic lobby via a long term lease with DCI

Looks like the downtown YMCA renovation might start soon. 
 

 

Omg just saw this shared by the DRAC account on IG:

 

”40 East Long Street will be a fourteen story, $70M 207-unit, mixed-use, mixed-income, luxury, Class A apartment community located in downtown Columbus, OH. It is being developed in partnership with TAG Construction and Development and has over 6,000 SF of retail. Construction is projected to commence in the 4th quarter of 2025 and be completed  in the 1st quarter of 2028.”

 

https://woodborn.com/residential/40-east-long-xbcy2-rn4cx-9e2sz-ylln2-ym8ct

9 minutes ago, amped91 said:

Omg just saw this shared by the DRAC account on IG:

 

”40 East Long Street will be a fourteen story, $70M 207-unit, mixed-use, mixed-income, luxury, Class A apartment community located in downtown Columbus, OH. It is being developed in partnership with TAG Construction and Development and has over 6,000 SF of retail. Construction is projected to commence in the 4th quarter of 2025 and be completed  in the 1st quarter of 2028.”

 

https://woodborn.com/residential/40-east-long-xbcy2-rn4cx-9e2sz-ylln2-ym8ct

Shame to lose more old buildings but at least it’s only a 2 story. Just annoying with how many empty lots are all over. Would love if the commission asked for them to keep the facade. 
 

wonder when this will come to the commission, I haven’t seen it pop up yet. With them being so sure of a timeline, hopefully it actually happens. 

Here is the photo 

 

This would be their largest project based off their portfolio. Seems like a benefit to having outside developers finally might pay off. 

 

 

Edited January 13Jan 13 by VintageLife

17 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

Here is the photo 

 

This would be their largest project based off their portfolio. Seems like a benefit to having outside developers finally might pay off. 

 

 

It needs to be symmetrical. The windows on the left side look terrible. Otherwise, great design for an early rendering.

2 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

It needs to be symmetrical. The windows on the left side look terrible. Otherwise, great design for an early rendering.

I’m wondering if that side of the building won’t have windows. It doesn’t look like they are building on that parking lot right at the corner of long and pearl. Seems crazy to not expect something to be built there in the future. 

The building they would tear down has a lot of history of multiple different night clubs, It's interesting they wouldn't build it all the way to the corner. They must not own the strip of property that's currently a parking lot. 

Edited January 13Jan 13 by CbusG

5 hours ago, CbusG said:

The building they would tear down has a lot of history of multiple different night clubs, It's interesting they wouldn't build it all the way to the corner. They must not own the strip of property that's currently a parking lot. 

I believe connect owns that lot - not sure though. I know they owned the garage years ago at least.

11 hours ago, VintageLife said:

Shame to lose more old buildings but at least it’s only a 2 story. Just annoying with how many empty lots are all over. Would love if the commission asked for them to keep the facade. 
 

wonder when this will come to the commission, I haven’t seen it pop up yet. With them being so sure of a timeline, hopefully it actually happens. 

Agreed - given the massing of the proposed building, it wouldn't be hard to work the existing facade into the design. 

2 hours ago, columbus17 said:

I believe connect owns that lot - not sure though. I know they owned the garage years ago at least.

If they own it, sadly I doubt it will ever be developed. 

5 minutes ago, PizzaScissors said:

Agreed - given the massing of the proposed building, it wouldn't be hard to work the existing facade into the design. 

Structurally, a nightmare. Also, the facade doesn't have much character or identity to it - its one of the blander historic buildings in town. I'm not a fan of tearing down old stuff most of the time, but if the city forces a classical architecture style akin to what they've sketched out I think its a massive upgrade.

If this gets built and the parking lot is eventually developed, hopefully it’s something like this. 
 

 

4 hours ago, columbus17 said:

Structurally, a nightmare. Also, the facade doesn't have much character or identity to it - its one of the blander historic buildings in town. I'm not a fan of tearing down old stuff most of the time, but if the city forces a classical architecture style akin to what they've sketched out I think its a massive upgrade.

Hell tear down the parking garage next to this building. The entire block is parking except for this building. 

40 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

If this gets built and the parking lot is eventually developed, hopefully it’s something like this. 
 

 

Love myself some delicious, tasy classical architecture. Down with the modern, ugly boxes! Hello character and human experience!

The city needs to hold the owners of these surface parking lots more accountable! I get it that they are in it for the money but something has to give! 

Just tax the surface lots and call it a day.

4 minutes ago, sono4315 said:

The city needs to hold the owners of these surface parking lots more accountable! I get it that they are in it for the money but something has to give! 

I actually hope the lot owner holds out. I hate buildings that take up a whole block. This will lead to more unique facades and a better street experience in the long term. I wish the city would start being more active on such things, but sadly not, and you end up with stuff like the Nicholas.

4 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

I actually hope the lot owner holds out. I hate buildings that take up a whole block. This will lead to more unique facades and a better street experience in the long term. I wish the city would start being more active on such things, but sadly not, and you end up with stuff like the Nicholas.

I agree with this, I hate the giant big block buildings, especially downtown. 
 

with the lots on either end and the giant parking garage, that can hopefully be torn down in the future or used differently, maybe this entire block can have 4-5 different facades instead of one massive look like the Nicholas. 

18 hours ago, columbus17 said:

I actually hope the lot owner holds out. I hate buildings that take up a whole block. This will lead to more unique facades and a better street experience in the long term. I wish the city would start being more active on such things, but sadly not, and you end up with stuff like the Nicholas.

 Return it to the original parcel split and you can have 7 different structures facing Long St and Spring St varying different heights. I think it would look beautiful. 

 

11 minutes ago, KyleofColumbus said:

 Return it to the original parcel split and you can have 7 different structures facing Long St and Spring St varying different heights. I think it would look beautiful. 

 

I agree - I think the city needs to do more to go back to the original grid and plot layouts.

I know by actual definition, Long is in the middle of Downtown, but it feels like you're traveling along the edge. (Along with some other builds on the North side of the street) I would look forward to this tower making a difference 🙂

This might be for another thread but does anyone know the actual population of downtown coming into 2025? 

2 minutes ago, sono4315 said:

This might be for another thread but does anyone know the actual population of downtown coming into 2025? 

We probably won’t have those numbers until late February or early March or so. I know last year that is when we got info for the population at the end of 2023, which was around 12,000. 

6 hours ago, KyleofColumbus said:

 Return it to the original parcel split and you can have 7 different structures facing Long St and Spring St varying different heights. I think it would look beautiful. 

 

Totally agree!! Here's a post of mine from 2022 in the Columbus Historic Photos thread showing the south side of Long St. in this location. I imagine the north side was similar.

 

  

On 5/18/2022 at 2:04 PM, Pablo said:

I'm copying this from a Facebook Group, Do You Remember: Classic Old Columbus

https://www.facebook.com/groups/456482067786555/permalink/4577988492302538 

The photos are from the Columbus Metropolitan Library and OSU Archives and where assembled by the owner of the FB group. Let me know if this is OK to post since it's from someone's FB page. The photos are from around 1954.

 

It's astounding to see what we lost to accommodate the car. These are photos along the south side of E. Long St. downtown between Pearl and Third. What a loss.

 

1) The Koller Bros. Co., 41 E. Long St., Best Paint Store, 33 E. Long St., and Scherzer's Bakery, 31 E. Long Street.

 

2) May Trade-In Store, 73-75 E. Long St., Glick Furniture Co., 65 E. Long St., B&A Paint Co., 51-53 E. Long St., M.M. Freedman Loans, 47 E. Long St., and The Koller Bros., 41 E. Long St.

 

3) May Trade-In Store, 73-75 E. Long St., Columbus Cycle & Sporting Goods, 69 E. Long St., Glick's Furniture, 65 E. Long St., and Joe Gregory Gunsmith, 57 E. Long St.

 

4) Emswiler's Electric Co., 85 E. Long St., Dave's Gun Store, 77 E. Long St., May's Trade-In Store, 73-75 E. Long St., Columbus Cycle & Sporting Goods, and 69 E. Long St.

 

5) Here's what replaced these buildings. Progress. 

 

11 minutes ago, Pablo said:

 

Totally agree!! Here's a post of mine from 2022 in the Columbus Historic Photos thread showing the south side of Long St. in this location. I imagine the north side was similar.

 

  

 

Holy crap, what an absolute loss. Wish I was a billionaire so I could replace everything that was taken from us. Reminds me of what E Main looked like before they destroyed that area also 

I prefer the asymmetry. Provides that varied visual differentiation that so many buildings are missing. 

 

And the city doesn't even have to go the lengths of messing with plots. They simply need to send developers back to the drawing boards when they come with anything that doesn't provide visual differentiation every 30-40 feet. 

19 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

I prefer the asymmetry. Provides that varied visual differentiation that so many buildings are missing. 

 

And the city doesn't even have to go the lengths of messing with plots. They simply need to send developers back to the drawing boards when they come with anything that doesn't provide visual differentiation every 30-40 feet. 

I bring this up once a year, but the original proposal for Summit and 5th was amazing. It’s the type of design that should be going up all over the city. It looks better and blends into neighborhoods a lot better. I doubt it will happen, because it would add a small increase to cost for developers. 
 

Big Changes in Store for Intersection of Fifth and Summit

 

 

Just now, VintageLife said:

I bring this up once a year, but the original proposal for Summit and 5th was amazing. It’s the type of design that should be going up all over the city. It looks better and blends into neighborhoods a lot better. I doubt it will happen, because it would add a small increase to cost for developers. 

 

I have these saved to my phone for the same reason. The original IBEW proposal too. But I think the fact that neither came to fruition makes it hard for some to visualize the importance of these types of developments 

4 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

 

I have these saved to my phone for the same reason. The original IBEW proposal too. But I think the fact that neither came to fruition makes it hard for some to visualize the importance of these types of developments 

Reading the commission members comments on this build is hilarious. They said buildings that have different and varied facades don’t look good. Who the hell are these idiots?? 
 

Do they think this looks good?? 
 

 

Edited January 15Jan 15 by VintageLife

Im more ok with the SW corner. Not ideal but better than most. The Aubrey is an Abomination. Literal vomit. 

14 minutes ago, DTCL11 said:

Im more ok with the SW corner. Not ideal but better than most. The Aubrey is an Abomination. Literal vomit. 

I agree, the SW building isn’t awful and did a decent job of breaking up the facade. The Aubrey is garbage and you can see how crappy it’s built just driving by it. How they approved that after saying they wanted to bring distinction to that intersection is hilarious to me. Not to mention they haven’t even filled in any of the retail stuff, just altogether terrible developer.