More about the Columbus Idea Foundry's Phase Two from Business First:

 

Columbus Idea Foundry lands big investment from local marketing pioneers

By Carrie Ghose, Staff Reporter

Columbus Business First - Aug. 25, 2015, 8:05am EDT

 

The Columbus Idea Foundry has received a seven-figure investment so it can finish renovations to house startups and corporate innovation centers.

Columbus digital marketing pioneer Nancy Kramer and advertising veteran and serial entrepreneur Christopher Celeste made the investment, which they confirmed exceeds the $1.25 million fundraising goal from a campaign announced last year.  The exact amount was not disclosed.

 

The couple's investment – a combination of a minority equity stake and a loan – also provides some working capital to bridge the business until it starts taking in rent.  It’s being made via their startup advisory and investing business, Hatch, or Help At The Critical Hour.

( . . . )

The city had bought the former warehouse at 421 W. State Street for $900,000 and donated it to the nonprofit Franklinton Development Association, which builds and renovates affordable housing in Columbus’ oldest neighborhood.  The Idea Foundry is buying the building in a 20-year seller-financed deal, so its mortgage payments are revenue toward housing development (i.e. rent-to-own).

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/08/columbus-idea-foundry-lands-big-investment-from.html

 

Couple of Columbus Idea Foundry photos:

 

Columbus Idea Foundry CEO Alex Bandar and Jim Sweeney, Executive Director of the Franklinton Development Association at the Columbus Idea Foundry - 421 W. State Street (photo from http://www.columbusunderground.com/columbus-idea-foundry-phase-2):

 

View of the Columbus Idea Foundry building from State Street (photo from http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/08/columbus-idea-foundry-lands-big-investment-from.html):

An interesting sort of retail spin-off from the aforementioned Columbus Idea Foundry in Franklinton:

 

Idea Foundry helps attract tattoo shop/concert venue to Franklinton

By Carrie Ghose, Staff Reporter

Columbus Business First - Aug. 28, 2015, 2:08pm EDT

 

A year after its move to East Franklinton, Columbus Idea Foundry has attracted a retail business to a struggling stretch of West Broad Street.  Defining Skin Tattoo, which has been growing in Westerville for four years, recently opened a second site a block from the closed Byers auto dealership.  For special events, the studio, 575 W. Broad St., will double as a small stage for local bands.  It used to be a real estate office.

 

Owner Mike Thomas said he'd never really thought about Columbus' oldest neighborhood, but he's a member who took classes at the Idea Foundry.  When the community workshop and artisan collective moved to a hulking former warehouse on West State Street, he learned about the interlocking plans to foster businesses while helping fund affordable housing development – which recently landed a big investment.  “I wanted to be in Franklinton ... and be part of the redevelopment,” Thomas said.  “It just excited me: Here’s a chance I can be on the ground floor of something really cool.”

( . . . )

For a grand opening party Sept. 5, Defining Skin has lined up bands, live broadcasting by CD102.5 and a sponsorship from Pabst Brewing.  Proceeds from beer sales go to Volunteers of America, which has a location two doors down, and the Franklinton Arts District.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/08/idea-foundry-helps-attract-tattoo-shop-concert.html

What's next for Franklinton?  400 W. Rich St.'s developer on getting banks to buy in

By Carrie Ghose - Staff Reporter, Columbus Business First

August 26, 2015, 3:06pm EDT

 

The developer of the 400 W. Rich Street artist studios hopes Franklinton has finally reached the critical mass needed for him to land financing to develop the rest of the 7 acres he owns in the neighborhood.

 

Lance Robbins's Los Angeles-based Urban Smart Growth has rehabilitated old industrial buildings into arts-centric districts in six states, most recently in Rhode Island.  Fourteen years ago, he said, he saw potential in East Franklinton when everyone else called it "the Bottoms."

 

In light of the investment that will complete development of the nearby Columbus Idea Foundry, last week I called Robbins to ask what his next plans are.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2015/08/whats-next-for-franklinton-a-chat-with-the.html

Feature from the Columbus Alive weekly paper last year about the growth of art and culture spaces in Franklinton:

 

-- Started from the Bottoms: How Franklinton has risen to the top of Columbus’ art and culture scene

More about the Franklinton art and culture scene (or makerspace as Business First calls them) and the real estate developers that are following them into the area:

 

With backing, makers remaking Franklinton

By Carrie Ghose, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

September 4, 2015, 6:00am EDT

 

As early as 2009, and likely prior to that, artist-types were moving to Franklinton for its cheap rents, open warehouse spaces and anti-commercialized feel.  Their willingness to take a chance on a neighborhood seen as having potential to be the “next Short North”caught on.

 

The Franklinton Development Association, civic leaders and property owners including nearby COSI in 2011 created the arts-centric development plan.  It started coming to life with entrepreneurial studios at 400 W. Rich St., which began attracting traffic to the dilapidated area west of downtown Columbus with events and classes.  Idea Foundry moved from Milo-Grogan and Glass Axis glass-blowing studio from Grandview Heights.  The Ethical Arts Collective studios and residences settled at 566 W. Rich Street.  Bars, restaurants and a brewery have popped up amid the area’s deserted warehouses and sketchy parking lots.

 

Now some of Central Ohio’s biggest developers have plans on properties book-ending those creative businesses: Casto Communities and Robert Weiler Co. plan a mixed-use housing development with 124 apartments along the river.  A few blocks northwest, Nationwide Realty Investors Ltd. – developer of the Arena District and Grandview Yard – in spring bought 8 acres from the former Byers car dealership.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2015/09/04/with-backing-makers-remaking-franklinton.html

A map of existing makerspaces and major real estate developments planned for East Franklinton from http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2015/09/04/with-backing-makers-remaking-franklinton.html:

 

Pilot Dogs begins $8M campaign to bring kennel, offices under one roof

By Rita Price, The Columbus Dispatch

Friday, October 30, 2015 - 6:49 AM

 

After decades of split operations — with its kennel more than 2 miles from its East Franklinton headquarters — Pilot Dogs Inc. is aiming for an all-in-one campus.

 

The nonprofit organization announced an $8 million capital campaign this week to build a new kennel and training center next to the current Pilot Dogs building at 625 W. Town Street.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/10/30/big-move.html

And something from West Franklinton:

 

Rehab of crime-ridden apartment building gives Franklinton neighbors hope

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - 7:59 AM

 

Franklinton neighborhood leaders and residents are keeping a close eye on the renovation of a S. Central Avenue apartment building that for years was a magnet for crime and violence.  Interstate Construction of Grove City either will reopen or sell the three-story, 17-unit building at 398-404 S. Central Ave. on the West Side.  The company signed a court order promising that repairs will be completed and security measures taken before the units can reopen, possibly by the end of the year, said lawyer Erica Probst.

 

City prosecutors and the owner agreed to shutter the building in March after officials filed a complaint in Franklin County Environmental Court that called the property “a tenacious drug and crime haven with no owner oversight.”  Assistant City Attorney Kristen Kroflich said it was the first case in which the Franklin County environmental judge used a court order to board up an entire apartment complex for drug trafficking and prostitution.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/11/18/apartment-rehab-gives-some-hope.html

There's lots of momentum building in East Franklinton.  However, none of the major residential projects (with the exception of CMHA's recently completed Franklin Station senior housing project on W. Broad Street) have started building yet.  And it appears that this is because local banks are not ready to jump on the Franklinton bandwagon just yet:

 

East Franklinton Still Waiting for Residential Development to Break Ground

By Brent Warren, Columbus Underground

November 14, 2015 - 8:00 am

 

The artist studios at 400 West Rich are fully occupied, the Idea Foundry is working on building out its second floor, Land Grant is cranking out craft brews, and Glass Axis is fully established in its new space.  But despite all of the activity and buzz surrounding East Franklinton, residents and neighborhood leaders are still waiting for the first of a number of proposed residential projects to break ground.

 

Urban Smart Growth’s 69-unit Lucas Lofts project was approved in May, after first being brought to the East Franklinton Review Board (EFRB) in February.  An expected ground-breaking this fall did not happen, and no date has been set for construction to start.  Chris Sherman, project manager at 400 West Rich — which is also owned by Urban Smart Growth — said that lenders are still not sold on the neighborhood.  “It’s pure lack of financing, not lack of market,” he said. “I think the market is there for 60 to 120 units to absorb quickly.”

 

Sherman added that their project may be on hold until construction starts on one of the other planned developments in the neighborhood.  “Banks are just hesitant about the project’s marketability ... they don’t understand the neighborhood,” he said.  “It may make lenders more comfortable with the area and project once they see another project move forward.” Urban Smart Growth Principal Lance Robbins recently expressed similar concerns in an interview with Columbus Business First.

 

A 310-unit, mixed-use development on the former Riverside-Bradley public housing site will likely be the first to break ground, although no updated timeline has been provided by the either the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority or developers Casto and the Robert Weiler Company, all partners on the project.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/east-franklinton-apartments-bw1

Despite the apparent reticence of banks to fund major new residential projects in Franklinton, one couple is moving ahead with their individual home project in the area:

 

 

Couple Excited to Build New Home in East Franklinton, Ahead of Big Developers

By Brent Warren, Columbus Underground

November 14, 2015 8:00 am

 

Kate McCanna and her partner, TJ Manfrass, recently received approval from the East Franklinton Review Board (EFRB) to do something that hasn’t been done in the neighborhood in quite some time — break ground on a new residential building.  If they are successful, they hope to start construction next spring on a three-story home with a small retail space on the first floor.  The couple will be beating a long list of developers to the punch in the up-and-coming neighborhood.

( . . . )

When McCanna and Manfrass started looking for an existing building or a lot to build new on, though, they quickly realized that most real estate in the neighborhood is not for sale, having already been snapped up by developers or speculators. ... After a month of looking with no success, they discovered a connection that led to a breakthrough.  A friend’s second cousin had grown up in the area, owned a number of lots, and was not interested in selling to either the city’s land bank or to a big developer.  McCanna and Manfrass got to know him and eventually worked out a deal for his lot at 509 West Chapel Street.

 

The parcel sits on the southwest corner of Chapel and Mead Alley.  The land bank owns a dozen lots on the same block, while across the street is the southern edge of Nationwide Realty Investors’ holdings in the neighborhood — 74 parcels that the developer acquired as part of its purchase of the former Byers Chevrolet site on West Broad Street.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/franklinton-house-bw1

After Scotland-brewers BrewDog committed to build a $30.4 million U.S. brewery and headquarters last year in Canal Winchester, they also committed to build a separate BrewDog brewpub in Columbus.  Though their company blog, they have confirmed that this brewpub will be at an undisclosed location in East Franklinton:  https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/columbus-calling

 

More about the East Franklinton brewpub plans from the local media:

 

-- http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/01/21/brewdog-picks-franklinton-for-its-columbus-brewpub.html

 

-- http://www.columbusunderground.com/brewdog-franklinton

As I said in another thread, that is a big get for East Franklinton.

Interesting. I agree with ColDayMan it's certainly a sizable win for Franklinton to snag this over another more established neighborhood.

 

I wonder if they are eyeing an existing space (somewhere like this maybe? - https://goo.gl/maps/UipydEGU3F22) or are looking to go into a proposed new-build?

What's needed to fix the 'death sentence for retail' in Franklinton

 

Expect more development in Franklinton this year, and not just on the big plots real estate investors have snapped up east of Route 315. But for much-needed retailers like florists and dry cleaners to return to the neighborhood, some changes will have to be made, said Trent Smith, executive director of the Franklinton Board of Trade, at a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum Wednesday focused on the city's oldest neighborhood.

 

Broad Street needs traffic-calming measures such as boulevards, curb bump-outs and landscaping, he said.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/01/whats-needed-to-fix-the-death-sentence-for-retail.html

Franklinton's future depends on lessening East/West divide

 

When people talk about Franklinton as a hip, up-and-coming, exciting development prospect for Columbus, most often they're talking about East Franklinton. Neighborhood leaders want to make sure investments, jobs and other benefits don't stop at Route 315.

 

Columbus' oldest neighborhood is encircled by the Scioto River and Interstate 70, with 315 cutting through north-south. The city made separate east and west plans after a floodwall in 2003 ended years of devastating overflows.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/01/franklintons-future-depends-on-lessening-east-west.html

 

BrewDog hints at brewpub design

By: JD Malone, The Columbus Dispatch

January 28, 2016 - 04:22 PM

 

BrewDog co-founder James Watt may have just released a rendering of the brewpub slated to grace East Franklinton later this year.  Watt tweeted an image of a BrewDog Public House earlier today with the caption, "First BrewDog bar in America?"

( . . . )

No official address has been released.  The rendering shows a simple, squared-off design with exposed I-beams across one upper story.  Open-air, roof-top patio?

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/the-bottom-line/2016/01/brewdog-hints-at-bar-design.html

Franklinton's future depends on lessening East/West divide

 

When people talk about Franklinton as a hip, up-and-coming, exciting development prospect for Columbus, most often they're talking about East Franklinton. Neighborhood leaders want to make sure investments, jobs and other benefits don't stop at Route 315.

 

Columbus' oldest neighborhood is encircled by the Scioto River and Interstate 70, with 315 cutting through north-south. The city made separate east and west plans after a floodwall in 2003 ended years of devastating overflows.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/01/franklintons-future-depends-on-lessening-east-west.html

 

West Franklinton's future depends on lessening east-west divide...

 

This article IMO understates the extent of the challenge in WF. I think anybody whose goal is to fix ALL of Franklinton on any semblance of a schedule will fail. For the sake of WF, it really is imperative to just get stuff going in EF, where there really isn't a whole lot to show for all of the positive press and momentum.

 

I heard that the event space at Strongwater is booked solid for months. I recently did a class project where we had to design a development in Franklinton, and it actually is very true that nearly every parcel has been snagged by a developer. The problem is none of these developers want to be first. If they're smart they won't want to be last...

Couple of January articles from Business First about the Mount Carmel Hospital area of West Franklinton:

 

This first one is a subscriber-only (print edition) article.  I think BF has changed their viewing rules for these articles.  Previously non-subscribers could read the full article one month past the publish date.  I don't think that's case anymore.  So here's the gist of the article in the excerpt below and the area map that was included with the print article:

 

 

Mount Carmel West change draws investors

By Carrie Ghose, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

January 8, 2016, 6:00am EST

 

Demolition of inpatient structures at Mount Carmel West won’t start until 2019, but investors already are picking up property at the hospital campus borders.  Mount Carmel Health System has hired urban planner Tripp Umbach Inc. and invited city and neighborhood representatives to help plan West’s transformation to an outpatient medical care and education center.  Leaders hope that change can speed a rebound of the Franklinton neighborhood.

 

The hospital system last spring revealed a $46 million transformation of West as part of a $711 million plan that includes building a hospital in Grove City.  When it opens there in three years, Mount Carmel will keep emergency and outpatient services at West but demolish its inpatient towers.  It also will open up three parking garages near a potential commercial strip, plus 9 acres taken up by the towers and employee parking.  Mount Carmel College of Nursing will expand, likely taking over an adjoining office building.

 

What might seem like subtraction can add to the vitality of a neighborhood, said Paul Umbach, president of Tripp Umbach.  “Hospitals become little islands. People go and park. There’s tons of food inside. People are there 24 hours a day,” he said.  “The transition (represents) a catalyst for economic development and change. It’s the rock hitting the pond.” ... A vacant former Ford dealership on East Broad Street has attracted interest, said Trent Smith, executive director of the Franklinton Board of Trade.  He’s also aware of at least two developers considering projects nearby because of the change.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2016/01/08/mount-carmel-west-change-draws-investors.html

Here is an all-access article about Mount Carmel area development in West Franklinton from Business First that focuses on the three existing parking garages on the Mount Carmel West campus:

 

-- Mount Carmel at first considered tearing down largest parking garage by West hospital:  http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/01/mount-carmel-at-first-considered-tearing-down.html

Broad Street into Franklinton getting traffic-calming, bike-friendly changes

By Carrie Ghose, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

February 1, 2016, 11:53am EST

 

The Broad Street gateway to Franklinton is up for a major makeover designed to slow down traffic and make it easier for pedestrians and cyclists, perhaps as soon as this year.  The rest of West Broad Street through the district will have to wait before it's put on a "road diet" to calm traffic as well.  The city wants bike lanes and pedestrian improvements such as landscaped medians providing "refuge" while crossing the street in the stretch of Broad between COSI and the replacement Franklin County Veterans Memorial, said Rick Tilton, Columbus' outgoing deputy public service director.

( . . . )

The stretch through the rest of Franklinton - all the way to Central Avenue - will have to wait at least until 2018, when the Ohio Department of Transportation has it scheduled for resurfacing. (Broad Street falls under ODOT jurisdiction because it's a federal highway, Route 40.)  That's the year the rebuilt Vets is expected to open.  The following year, Mount Carmel Health System plans to start redeveloping Mount Carmel West from a hospital into an outpatient and educational campus, which opens up land for possible commercial uses.

 

The first phase of roadway improvements, from the Scioto River bridge to the railway, also would upgrade water and sewer lines and beautification elements such as street lights and a decorative street light at Broad and Belle.  The city has not yet put the job out for bids so no budget is set, but it's tentatively scheduled for this year.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/02/broad-street-into-franklinton-getting-traffic.html

City considering sale of 15 Franklinton sites for redevelopment

By Evan Weese, Staff Reporter - Columbus Business First

Updated: February 1, 2016, 4:52pm EST

 

The city of Columbus is considering the sale of 15 vacant parcels in Franklinton for residential redevelopment, according to Monday’s City Council agenda.  The sites are among 39 lease-to-own units being built by the Franklinton Development Association, contingent on the receipt of Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

 

If approved by City Council, Columbus would sell the parcels, which previously had foreclosed homes that were demolished, to the Franklinton Development Association or a related LLC.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/02/01/city-considering-sale-of-15-franklinton-sites-for.html

Nationwide Realty pays $1M for vacant Franklinton land

 

 

Nationwide Realty Investors Ltd. has expanded its Franklinton neighborhood land holdings with one of its largest acquisitions to date.

 

NWD Franklinton LLC, a real estate development affiliate of the Arena District developer, paid $1 million for a vacant 2.3-acre parcel along West Broad Street, directly west of railroad tracks running through the Scioto Peninsula, show public records.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/03/21/exclusive-nationwide-realty-pays-1m-for-vacant.html

Updated map of Nationwide Realty Investors land holdings in Franklinton from http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2016/03/is-franklinton-the-next-grandview-yard-nationwide.html.

 

 

The two yellow parcels represent sites that the City and Franklinton Development Association jointly have sought development proposals for.  One is nearly an acre of vacant ground along West Town Street.  The other is a nearby 105-year-old former church building and land at the northwest corner of State & McDowell.  Developers are being encouraged to submit proposals by April 29, with the East Franklinton Review Board examining plans prior to a sale of the properties, according to http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2016/03/25/franklinton-sites-up-for-grabs-as-city-seeks.html.

I am impressed by how much property NRI has acquired in Franklinton.

The Metropreneur profiled the offices of Knockout Concepts, a company that builds mobile 3D scanning systems in Franklinton.  Knockout Concepts is located in a formerly industrial building near the corner of W. Rich Street and Gift Street.  Knockout shares the building with Kobolt Studios:  http://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/work-knockout-concepts-adds-tech-franklinton/

 

 

The building doesn't look like much on the outside, but its got alot of character on the inside:

 

 

 

 

More photos at http://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/work-knockout-concepts-adds-tech-franklinton/

The Franklinton Development Association building at the corner of West Town & McDowell Streets - whose 2012 renovation from a former corner liquor store was previously shown HERE in this thread - has gotten this Franklinton wall mural:

 

Red Herring rents space in Franklinton to perform its theater shows

By Michael Grossberg, For the Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, February 9, 2016 - 4:13 AM

 

Red Herring Productions plans to move into a performing space in the Franklinton neighborhood.  The 3-year-old semiprofessional troupe will renovate a 2,000-square-foot warehouse at 566 W. Rich St. and create an 80-seat black-box stage — to be called the Franklinton Playhouse.

 

The troupe previously produced shows for the Riffe Center studio theaters downtown but chose to seek a more intimate space.

 

Red Herring has signed a one-year renewable lease with the Ethical Arts Collective, an arts-service group that manages the one-story, 8,000-square-foot building.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2016/02/09/1-red-herring-rents-space-in-franklinton-to-perform-its-theater-shows.html

400 West Rich Doubling Size of Event Space

By Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

February 28, 2016 - 8:00 am

 

The rental event space inside the 400 West Rich artist studio warehouse has been so popular since it opened in 2013, that the building managers are ready to double down.  This spring, a second event room measuring 2,900 square feet will open in a formerly unused adjacent space within the building.

 

“This allows us to open ourselves up to marketing toward the 500 to 700 person capacity events,” said 400 West Rich building manager Chris Sherman. “We have been catering to the 300 to 450 capacity range.”... The existing 400 West Rich event space has already been booked to host 68 weddings in 2016, and around a dozen are scheduled for 2017.  Sherman said that the popularity of the event space has been great for supporting the art studio activities in the rest of the building.

 

Sherman said that while the new event space can be opened up for larger events that utilize both rooms, they can also be sectioned off to host two separate events simultaneously, each with its own separate bar and restrooms.  Both event spaces will have exterior access from Lucas Street, and both will have separate access to the existing courtyard patio in the middle of the building.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/400-west-rich-event-space

Bottoms Up Coffee Co-Op is opening in Franklinton at the southeast corner of Broad & Cypress - in the building shown in the below streetview image:

 

 

As part of building renovation, Bottoms Up Coffee Co-Op has commissioned a mural honoring the history of Franklinton on the wall facing Cypress Avenue.  The Dispatch featured a photo of the mural still being painted at http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/04/27/artist-paints-tribute-to-great-flood-in-franklinton.html:

 

If you're wondering what going on in this mural, it's based on this historical photo taken after the Great Flood of 1913 that devastated Franklinton.  The photo shows two houses turned on their side by the flood waters.  These two houses were previously located at this corner of Broad & Cypress:

 

And here is the finished mural - as featured at http://www.columbusunderground.com/bottoms-up-coffee-co-op:

Catching up on Franklinton news:

 

From 2/28/16:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/more-artist-studios-and-workforce-house-coming-to-franklinton

 

Planning Underway for Mount Carmel West Campus in Franklinton

By Brent Warren, Columbus Underground

April 13, 2016 - 3:00 pm

 

Mount Carmel Health Systems announced a plan last year to transfer inpatient operations from their Franklinton hospital to a new one to be built in Grove City.  Along with that announcement came a promise to invest time and money into creating a new Mount Carmel West Campus, with an expanded College of Nursing and opportunities for private development on the adjoining land.

 

That process began earlier this year, with a series of meetings with area residents and neighborhood leaders. ... “The goal is to leverage work that has already been done, like the West Franklinton and East Franklinton plans,” said Mount Carmel Director of External Affairs Jason Koma.

 

Conceptual renderings and a site map presented by Mount Carmel offer some ideas for what the campus could look like.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/mount-carmel-franklinton-bw1

Recent profile from the Dispatch about housing renovations in Franklinton and rising rents for the rehabbed properties:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/05/01/franklinton-rents-on-the-rise.html

^ That Dispatch piece also focused on this renovated house at 35 S. Dakota Avenue in Franklinton that was purchased from the City of Columbus Land Bank in 2014: 

 

 

 

 

More photos at http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/05/01/franklinton-rents-on-the-rise.html

Big storefront on Broad Street in Franklinton in line for redevelopment

 

 

Wasserstrom Co. is exiting the furniture sales business, freeing up a prime redevelopment opportunity in Franklinton.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/05/17/3-acre-site-on-broad-street-in-franklinton-in-line.html

^ Interesting location in this near downtown section of W. Broad Street (between 315 and the elevated railroad tracks that border the Scioto Peninsula).  The National Office Warehouse building itself is in-between the recently built Franklin Station Apartments (a 3-story, 100-unit CMHA senior apartment building) and the venerable Phillips Coney Island restaurant.

 

Phillips is a local lunchtime institution and a real mixing spot for downtown politicos and working-class customers.  And its a must-visit spot every four years for any national news crew that comes through Columbus!  But urban design wise, I wouldn't mind if the Phillips location eventually got a redevelopment treatment like the campus Wendy's got or the Short North White Castle is scheduled to get.  Interesting times for Franklinton indeed:

 

Franklinton housing project to double in size

 

 

Redevelopment plans are expanding for the site of the former Riverside-Bradley public housing complex in Columbus’ Franklinton neighborhood.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2016/06/10/franklinton-housing-project-to-double-in-size.html

More office and retail, but 80 less units. Better layout and more river oriented, but they were actually encouraged to go higher(8 to ten stories) and they did not, even with the encouragment.

 

*It says it is doubling, but I cannot access that site. Per CU, it looks to be the same area covered but with 230 units instead of 310...so I realize I could be wrong about that.

Franklinton Mixed-Use Development Proposal Receives Updates

 

 

Changes have been been made to the large mixed-use development planned for the former Riverside-Bradley public housing site in East Franklinton. The first phase of the project will now include 230 apartments, over 36,000 square feet of office and retail space, and a 290-space parking garage.

 

The layout of the development has also been altered, apparently in response to concerns expressed by the East Franklinton Review Board when the project was reviewed conceptually in May of last year. Board members at that time thought more emphasis should be given to the river side of the project.

 

More below:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/franklinton-mixed-use-development-proposal-receives-updates-bw1

As long as it gets going soon, I couldn't care less about the height at this point.

 

Franklinton needs one of its proposed projects to actually break ground and open. That will spur the others along, and drive demand for more. The ball just needs to get rolling... Hopefully ASAP!

Wow. Huge news today for the former National Office Warehouse site on Broad St mentioned a few posts upthread. It, along with the neighboring Phillips Coney Island site have been purchased by Kaufman Development.

 

Their proposal calls for a new development with 241 apartments, 50,000 sqft of offices, 30,000 sqft retail space, and a laundry list of 'funky' amenities: outdoor fitness areas, a dog park, community gardens, dedicated graffiti and mural walls, an outdoor movie screen, art galleries, co-working space, a food truck court, shipping-container food incubators, and a climbing wall.

 

The East Franklinton Review Board will have it's first conceptual review of the project this month, with developers hoping to start construction by the end of this year.

 

NBBJ is the design architect for the project (also of Kaufman's 250 High and Two25 Commons projects), and responsible for the stunning renderings below:

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/06/14/first-look-funky-mixed-use-development-with-241.html

^ WOW!!!  THAT is really something!!!!

 

Here's the location aerial posted at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/06/14/first-look-funky-mixed-use-development-with-241.html.  Compare with the google aerial posted at http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,205.msg805859.html#msg805859

 

Hell yes to this project!!! This is HUGE for that area!!!!!  :clap:  Very interesting design and cool list of uses!!

Looks like they took every trendy design element from current architecture and landscape architecture and mixed it together in a pot. I does look interesting.

Kaufman's 500 West Broad project fits with evolving landscape in East Franklinton

 

 

Kaufman Development's bold vision for redevelopment of four acres along West Broad Street won't stand alone in East Franklinton.

 

The site targeted for a mix of residences, offices and retail is situated amid a potentially active corridor, especially at the hands of Nationwide Realty Investors Ltd. The master planner of Columbus’ Arena District and Grandview Yard neighborhoods last year acquired 8 acres of the former Byers Chevrolet dealership at 555 W. Broad St., south of Broad and one-tenth mile to the west of the Kaufman site.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2016/06/14/500-west-broad-project-fits-into-evolving.html

Kaufman Announces Five-Story Apartment Development in Franklinton

 

 

Franklinton has been a hotspot for development announcements over the past several years, and that trend continues today, with new plans proposing a five-story mixed-use apartment building on Broad Street in the heart of the neighborhood. The project will be the first in Franklinton from Kaufman Development, which has primarily focused their urban development efforts more centrally Downtown.

 

“We’ve been following the neighborhood for many years now and getting involved in what’s happening there through the Franklinton Development Association, Independents’ Day and through a variety of our other friends that are active in the community,” explained Kaufman Development founder Brett Kaufman. “We really relate to the neighborhood and feel like we can do something really unique and special there — different from any other part of the city.”

 

More below:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/kaufman-announces-five-story-apartment-development-in-franklinton

 

Another proposal...will any of these projects actually go in is the question.

Another proposal...will any of these projects actually go in is the question.

 

I think there have only been two large proposals for Franklinton(while a lot of land acquisition has gone on)..this and the one that was sent back with the request for 'more height' and being directed more toward he river. The CU article says they want to break ground within six months, so hopefully things start moving quickly(unless there are some macro-economic things that happen of course).

 

*Also they are moving ahead with the Vets thing nearby, and I don't know if the garage/park construction has started yet.

Another proposal...will any of these projects actually go in is the question.

 

I think there have only been two large proposals for Franklinton(while a lot of land acquisition has gone on)..this and the one that was sent back with the request for 'more height' and being directed more toward he river. The CU article says they want to break ground within six months, so hopefully things start moving quickly(unless there are some macro-economic things that happen of course).

 

*Also they are moving ahead with the Vets thing nearby, and I don't know if the garage/park construction has started yet.

 

There's also the smaller Warner Junction project that was proposed. It's been stalled for a couple of years now.

On a side note, too bad Edwards couldn't do something fun like this Kaufman project for their student housing project at 16th and High. Instead it will be a 6 story student barracks...