sweet!

Possible expansion of Grange Insurance HQs in the Brewery District:

 

Council vote, Grange decision near

Insurer wants tax break for Brewery District HQ

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Mark Ferenchik and Mike Pramik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Grange Insurance is expected to decide as early as next week whether it will build a new headquarters in the Brewery District, a project that it says would cost more than $60 million.  The Columbus City Council is expected to vote Monday on whether the city will create two tax-increment-financing districts to pay for capital improvements in and around the site.

 

In a fact sheet it prepared last month for the city, Grange said it is planning to build a 200,000-square-foot office building near its corporate headquarters at 650 S. Front St. The building would cost between $39.1 million and $45.1 million.  Grange also would remodel its current 11-story headquarters at a cost of between $3 million and $4 million, spend from $19.4 million to $22.7 million on a 1,000-space parking garage and pay for $3.5 million of infrastructure improvements.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/10/20/20051020-B1-03.html

Also...

 

There has been another Columbus' based insurance company in talks with the city about expansion.

Grange Insurance wants to build a new office tower in the Brewery District.  This city is trying to put together the remainder of its package and make a TIF district in the Brewery District to pay for larger infrastructer to support the new Grange office.

Also...

 

There has been another Columbus' based insurance company in talks with the city about expansion.

Grange Insurance wants to build a new office tower in the Brewery District.  This city is trying to put together the remainder of its package and make a TIF district in the Brewery District to pay for larger infrastructer to support the new Grange office.

 

Can't wait for this to happen!  I really hope they take over the Salvation Army building.  It's the only building in the Brewery District that brings in a "questionable" element.

 

It's my understanding that Grange asked for two TIFs, and the first, for streetscape improvements, has already been approved.  I think the second one has to do with the city earmarking taxes for a parking garage for the 800 employees.

 

Sidenote: Have you ever thought about how perfectly Columbus is built to ride out downturns in the economy?  Insurance, Government, Healthcare, and Utilities make up a huge chunk of the workforce.  All of those jobs are relatively safe during recessions.

YAY!!!

Looks like the Grange Project is a go:

 

Grange gives Brewery District project green light

Grange Mutual Casualty Co. said Tuesday it is going ahead with plans to expand its Brewery District headquarters, after all.  "We are pleased to expand our presence in the downtown Columbus area, where we have had a presence since 1935," Phil Urban, president and CEO of Grange, said in a press release.

 

Grange plans to construct a 1,000-vehicle parking garage and a 200,000-square-foot mid-rise tower at 650 S. High St. The $61.5 million project is expected to create 800 jobs over the next 20 years, in addition to 775 already working at the site. About 60 of the new jobs are coming from Gahanna.

 

Council also approved a tax incentive that will rebate Grange 50 percent of the payroll taxes generated by the new workers. That incentive is scheduled to begin in 2009 and run for eight years. It will save the company around $1.1 million over its term, City Council estimates.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/10/25/20051025-B1-03.html

Congrats to the city for getting this done!  Now lets keep 'em coming.  Pack downtown full of workers, we've got too much space!

YES! thats very tres tres good news!

Great to have Nationwide and Grange both with plans to build new buildings, and to announce in the same week.

 

Grange's building is said to be mid-rise, i wonder how many stories this means?  I expect it to me a pretty decent structure.

I'm not sure about the height, but it should be just slightly bigger overall than their current building since it houses 775 workers and this new building will add 800 more, right?

Since I'm located about a 9-iron away from where these are going up, I figured that an update is in order.

 

Phase I has been going up steadily throughout the summer.  It looks like Phase I is going to consist of 3-three story buildings, a parking garage and a pool in a courtyard area.  The windows are in, bricks are going up, and I assume the interior trim is coming together.

 

There's also a large "Now Leasing" sign that appeared out front about a week ago.  The phone number is 614-221-2626 for those interested.  If anyone calls, let me know how they're priced, I'm too lazy to call myself.

 

Also...here's the only rendering that I've been able to find.  It's not entirely accurate, as the first floor bricks are the large gray type, and the rounded corners of the buildings have capped shingled roofs on them.

Here are some images from the John Reagan Architects submission.  There are more on the website along with descriptions.

 

http://www.johnreaganarchitects.com/planwhitd.html

 

Boring.

 

I forgot to post the winning entries from the Dispatch, but for the most part, I thought the majority of them really weren't that aesthetically drastic or inspiring at all. Most of them instead went out of their way to be eco-friendly, like the above submission. There was one that I really liked that resembled the canal walk in Indianapolis, but I think that one was rejected. Oh well, at least there will be something built on the land.

I've always thought it would be a good idea to build a tunnel over top of the train tracks through that area. My fiance used to live at the corner of Front and Frederick where the tracks are very close to Front street and the rumble of the trains were pretty loud even when the windows were closed (granted, she lived in an older place that lacked the sound proof insulation that could be used in new builds) but I know I wouldn't want to live that close to those tracks through there...

There was one that I really liked that resembled the canal walk in Indianapolis, but I think that one was rejected. Oh well, at least there will be something built on the land.

 

That one was one of the winners as listed above by the Dispatch.  It was the Jonathan Barnes Architecture design.  I checked out the website, but couldn't find anything related to this project.  His portfolio is pretty impressive though.

 

Do you have any links to those renderings, or did you see them in person?

More about the Grange project from Business First:

 

Grange gives Brewery District project green light

Business First of Columbus

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

 

Grange Mutual Casualty Co. said Tuesday it is going ahead with plans to expand its Brewery District headquarters, after Columbus City Council approved its tax breaks Monday.  "We are pleased to expand our presence in the downtown Columbus area, where we have had a presence since 1935," Phil Urban, president and CEO of Grange, said in a press release.

 

Grange plans to construct a 1,000-vehicle parking garage and a 200,000-square-foot mid-rise tower at 650 S. High Street.  The $61.5 million project is expected to create 800 jobs over the next 20 years, in addition to 775 already working at the site.  About 60 of the new jobs are coming from Gahanna.

 

The city said Grange needed the tax incentives to make the downtown project worthwhile.  Building in the Brewery District required the company to build parking structure, which added $20 million to its construction costs.  Grange considered other locations that did not require a parking structure.

 

MORE: http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/10/24/daily21.html

From Business First of Columbus, 11/14/05:

 

 

City gets two bites for redeveloping Whittier peninsula

Brian R. Ball

Business First

 

Only two companies submitted plans to redevelop the Whittier Penninusla in downtown Columbus, despite a national call for the same.  Columbus-based Pizzuti Cos. and Leyland Alliance of Tuxedo, N.Y., will compete for the master-development contract of 60-plus acres west of the Brewery District during the next three months.  They were the only developers filing qualifications with the city before an Oct. 28 deadline.

 

Lori Baudro, the city planner leading efforts to redevelop the land along the Scioto River through downtown, said the city has asked Pizzuti and Leyland to present detailed proposals for the old industrial property by mid-January.  A winner could be selected as early as mid-February. "We are really looking for very specific proposals that will help us determine the direction the developers would take ... so that the city is comfortable moving forward," said Baudro.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/11/14/story7.html

 

More progress on the development of my backyard...

 

The city issued a formal RFP recently: http://www.columbus.gov/Asset/iu_files/Whittier/WhittierRFProposals.pdf

 

I'm encouraged by this statement:

Creation of a strong, interesting neighborhood, that relates to the built Brewery District and has the architectural variety and quirkiness that makes a place special is the goal.

 

I'm pulling for Pizzuti, if only for the fact that he lives right next door in Miranova.  I also think that a local guy with experience in Columbus developments is less likely to cut corners to make a quick buck.  He seems to be more interested in a legacy and leaving his mark on Columbus.

Also found the schedule...

 

Request for Proposal (RFP) Materials Distributed        December 13, 2005

RFP Response Deadline                                            February 6, 2006

Team Interviews                                                      February 15, 2006

Public Open House (team attendance required)        February 15, 2006

Preferred Master Announced                                    February 23, 2006

 

I love open houses!

I stumbled across this while browsing the net. The site contains all of the display boards used in the design competition. Some of my favorites weren't winners, but the winners seem OK too.

 

http://www.neighborhooddesign.org/whittierchallenge/entries.html

 

I like the KKG submission due to the street/building layout and the inclusion of a school, market, a central park, and a community rec center. I also really like the wind turbines along I-70. Talk about giving Columbus the "green" label.

 

The architecture of the Dupont submission is nice because it stays consistent with the surrounding Brewery District buildings.

 

The Trott, et. al. submission is the "active surface living system" (venice style canal). I think the design is very unique, but it doesn't seem to have the density that other designs do. Perhaps the city can fill in the empty spaces with the school and rec center that I really want.

FROM PARKING LOT TO NATURE PARK

Site offered for towed cars

Proposed land swap would give city 60 acres for its impounding lot

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Jodi Andes THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH 

 

A South Side lot tucked between the Scioto River and a residential community is one of three potential new homes for the city’s impounding lot.  Columbus officials plan to move the lot from its current location at 400 W. Whittier St. by the end of the year to make way for development on the Whittier Peninsula.

 

Shelly Materials Inc. has offered to trade the city the southern 60 acres of its quarry south of Frank Road for the site of the city’s former trashburning power plant at 2500 Jackson Pike, said the company’s lawyer, Larry James.

 

Read more at

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/01/24/20060124-B1-01.html

An update from the 2/5/06 ThisWeek German Village:

 

 

Brewery District Kroger set to open Feb. 8

Giant Eagle on Whittier plans improvements

Thursday, February 2, 2006

BY TRISTAN CROWE ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Final touches are under way for the new Kroger store at 150 W. Sycamore St. in the Brewery District. The 70,000-square-foot store is expected to absorb employees from the 560 E. Livingston Ave. Kroger, while adding an estimated 90 jobs, Kroger spokeswoman Monica Gordon said. "We're on target for opening at 5 p.m. Feb. 8," she said. "We're really close to winding down on the setup of the store, and in the process of training new associates."

 

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 4:30 p.m. Former Ohio State University football star Archie Griffin is expected to sign autographs from 6 to 8 p.m.

 

Read more at http://thisweeknews.com/thisweek.php?edition=GermanVillage&story=thisweeknews/020206/GermanVillage/News/020206-News-91399.html

 

Great news for Columbus!!!

 

I'm jealous!

Great news for Columbus!!!

 

I'm jealous!

 

Yep, I can't say my thoughts differ too much from yours and Kroger is a Cincy company.

Funny, I just drove by the store this evening.

 

Granted, I drove by it and it was dark, but there didn't appear to be much detail at all on the second story. The windows on the second "level" appear to come into the store, unlike a faux window that's just there for decoration with no glass. I'll try and get a better look sometime this week.

I'll be supporting it for a bit.  Then realize there is a Kroger across the street from me.

We have a Giant Eagle in Victorian Village, and one annoying thing is that people will shop and then walk home with the shopping cart!  Then they just leave the cart outside till they go back again!  I'm sure German Village will be seeing a little bit of this new "yard art" with this Kroger opening up

I just got the fancy shmancy flyer in the mail the other day.  Apparently they're having Archie Griffin and some other pseudo-celebs there for the grand opening tomorrow night.  Some free food type things too.

 

I'll definitely be walking over to check the place out. 

 

And on the 2nd floor windows...I've been walking by the site for months and think that they're real.  I'm pretty sure that you can see the steel of the roof through them.

 

Hopefully they'll have a police officer in the parking lot like the German Village Giant Eagle to keep carts from wandering off to my hood, and cars using the lot as long term parking.

We have a Giant Eagle in Victorian Village, and one annoying thing is that people will shop and then walk home with the shopping cart!  Then they just leave the cart outside till they go back again!  I'm sure German Village will be seeing a little bit of this new "yard art" with this Kroger opening up

 

LOL, they used to do that in Long Island too.

... people will shop and then walk home with the shopping cart!  Then they just leave the cart outside till they go back again!  I'm sure German Village will be seeing a little bit of this new "yard art" with this Kroger opening up

 

Not likely.  All the inner-city Kroger carts, have wheels that automatically lock-up when you leave the parking lot.

... people will shop and then walk home with the shopping cart!  Then they just leave the cart outside till they go back again!  I'm sure German Village will be seeing a little bit of this new "yard art" with this Kroger opening up

 

Not likely.  All the inner-city Kroger carts, have wheels that automatically lock-up when you leave the parking lot.

 

Some of the Kroger and Walgreens here in Dayton have carts that lock the wheels if you try to take them out of the parking lot, so I assume they would have this for this new store.

Funny, I just drove by the store this evening.

 

Granted, I drove by it and it was dark, but there didn't appear to be much detail at all on the second story. The windows on the second "level" appear to come into the store, unlike a faux window that's just there for decoration with no glass. I'll try and get a better look sometime this week.

 

Well, I asked to see a picture as I wanted to see the second story detailings, which is what caused this response, but someone must not have liked it too much.

 

I wished they still built them like this 1941 store on Maple Street in Hamilton.

^ It looks nothing like that.  ;)

Business First of Columbus - 11:06 AM EST Tuesday

Brewer's Yard Kroger to open

 

More than two years after it announced it would build a store in the Brewery District, Kroger will open a 65,000-square-foot store Wednesday along Sycamore Street in Columbus.  The opening of the Brewer's Yard store gives a growing residential population in the Brewery District a nearby location to go for groceries, banking and to-go items such as coffee, pizza, salad and even an olive bar and sushi.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/02/06/daily6.html 

This is a fantastic idea--to push local products.  From the 2/8/06 Columbus Dispatch:

 

 

Kroger turns to local products to stock ‘unique’ store

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Tracy Turner

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Kroger plans to take the neighborhood-store concept a step further today when it opens the doors to its new location near Downtown.  The company’s Brewer’s Yard store will sell products made in its own backyard.  It will be the only store in the Cincinnati-based chain to sell meats from the Herman Falter Packing Co. and fresh-baked items from Omega Bakery, both of which produce their products in the Downtown area, Kroger said.

 

The move is part of Kroger’s intent to promote development in the Downtown area and create what it calls a "unique" store, spokeswoman Monica Gordon said.  More grocery stores are stocking their shelves with local products, spurred by consumers who, more and more, want to know where their food comes from, said Todd Hultquist of the Food Marketing Institute in Washington.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/02/08/20060208-C1-02.html

My wife works next door to the new Krogers and went to the opening.  She gives it two thumbs up.... excellent selection of foods, especially ready-to-heat & eat items, decent salad bar and wine department, a Starbucks, a Donato's Pizza, etc.

Has anybody heard anything about the public open house that supposed to happen this coming Wednesday (Feb. 15th)?

 

I checked the website (http://www.columbus.gov/whittier.asp), and found nothin'!

Here's the very prompt response I got when I emailed the person responsible for the RFP... 

 

Thanks for your email,

 

I obviously have a little update work to do on the web site.  Upon the request of the two Whittier proposal teams, the submission deadline was extended to March 10th.  the Open House will be on the evening of March 22nd at City Hall, probably starting around 6:30 pm.

 

Best Regards,

Lori Baudro

 

 

Lori Baudro, AICP

Neighborhood Planning and Riverfront Implementation

City of Columbus

Planning Division

Looks like this is getting closer to becoming a reality. I hope this means the ball will start rolling soon.

 

Pizzuti gets clear shot at Whittier job

Business First of Columbus - March 3, 2006

by Brian R. Ball, Business First

 

Pizzuti Cos. has nothing but itself standing between it and the master development contract for a neighborhood planned on 60 acres west of Columbus' Brewery District.  LeylandAlliance told the city Department of Development on Feb. 21 it was withdrawing its bid to redevelop the Whittier peninsula, a former industrial district along the Scioto River.  The Tuxedo, N.Y., company was one of two developers filing a request for qualifications before an Oct. 28 deadline.

 

Steve J. Maun, LeylandAlliance president, said several areas where generations of industrial development built up the land made it difficult to plan for a mix of housing and retail development. "Upon examination, we couldn't build as complete a mixed-use neighborhood as we had hoped when we initially looked at the project," he said. "We believe those fill issues do not necessarily make it unbuildable, but what it does do is make it more expensive and more complicated."

 

Pizzuti faces a March 10 deadline to present a detailed development plan for the project. Lori Baudro, Columbus neighborhood planning manager, said the city expects the company to unveil its conceptual plan March 22.  "It's still something that needs to be won," she said of the master contract.

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/03/06/story8.html?from_rss=1

Grange HQ project getting more help

Business First of Columbus - 1:32 PM EST Friday

 

The state is sending a combined $160,000 toward the project that will yield a headquarters expansion for Grange Mutual Casualty Co.

 

The Department of Development this week OK'd $150,000 to the city of Columbus for road widening work and traffic light installment around the building's Brewery District site.

 

At the same time, the agency agreed that a $50,000 grant should go to the company for costs associated of acquiring equipment for the project.

 

Grange plans to build a 200,000-square-foot mid-rise tower and 1,000-slot parking garage next to its operation at 650 S. Front St. The $73 million project would retain 853 jobs and create 73 positions.

 

The project last year also received a state and local tax breaks.

Any predictions for how many stories this "mid-rise" tower will be?

Not sure...the parcel is maybe 1/4 of a block, and at 200,000 sq. ft., maybe 10-12 stories max?

How many stories is their current HQ building?

^ Somewhere around 10-12.

Not bad, not bad

Information courtesy of Paul at columbusretrometro.com

 

BREWERY DISTRICT SOCIETY WHITTIER PENINSULA UPDATE PRESENTATION

(Columbus, Ohio): Brewery District Society would like to invite Brewery District residents and

business owners to attend a meeting at the Germania Singing & Sports Society at 543 South Front

Street on Wednesday April 19, 2006 at 7 p.m.

 

Lori Baudro, City of Columbus, will give an update on the Whittier Peninsula Development.

 

Calendar Listing:

BREWERY DISTRICT SOCIETY MEETING

Whittier Peninsula Update Presentation

 

Date:

Wednesday, April 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Program:

Whittier Peninsula Development Update

Location:

Germania Singing & Sports Society

543 South Front Street

 

For information:

614.542.9007 or [email protected]

Here are some highlights from the meeting last night...

 

- The Metro Parks development is well underway.  Much of the old north warehouse is demolished and fill work is continuing.  The Parks representative said that they were told from thier director and board to have something to open up to the public THIS YEAR!  It will likely be the northern portion of the park and possibly be the southern boat launch/fishing platform.

 

- The Audobon Center is targeting a 2008 opening date.  I think a good amount of the schedule depends on when the city impound lots get moved.

 

- The most important thing at the meeting was the fact that a good amount of funding is in place for the Metro Parks and Audobon Center.  There is also a fair amount of enthusiasm for the project by those two parties that I believe is rubbing off on the city.

 

- The Pizzutti team has submitted thier plan to city hall, however, details are not available at this time.  Something could come out in the next few weeks if everything goes well.  The city is still reviewing the plan.

 

- A big hangup right now is the relocation of the city impound lots.  Once those get moved (hopefully to the site off of 104), then the central park development, audobon center, and housing portion can be greenlighted.

 

- The plan is to have very limited parking on the site and encourage people to bike, walk, run, rollerblade into the park as possible.  After all, this will be the equivalent of a nature preserve, and they don't want to have it turn into a parking lot.  There are ideas about a COTA transit stop, and I raised the suggestion that the proposed streetcar loop can come down Whittier St. and back on Sycamore as it makes it's turnaround.  This would also make the new Kroger store accessible to downtown residents who want to run out for some groceries.

 

- Green development will be a key focus of the site.  The Audobon center is intended to be built as a LEED building.  The highest LEED certification was recently given to Audobon centers in Milwakee and California.  I personally think it would be neat to include a few small windmills on the site as one design team suggested in the competition.

 

Those are the highlights that I can think of right now, if anything else pops into my mind, I'll post it.

Thanks for the update!  :-)

 

I'm glad to hear that progress is being made on this project.  This project could really help bolster the South end of downtown.

Sounds great, especially the Audobon Center. They need to move those impound lots ASAP.

That reminds me!  This is from the Audubon Ohio website...

 

http://www.audubon.org/states/oh/oh/centers/architectselection.html

 

Letters of Interest

The Columbus Audubon Center is soliciting Letters of Interest from Design Professionals who would like to submit proposals for the design of the Audubon Center’s new nature center, which is to be built as one element of the Whittier Peninsula Metro Park and development. The new nature center is expected to be between 12,000 to 15,000 GSF in size.

 

Letters of Interest are due on or before 4:00 PM on April 26, 2006 and are to be delivered to the Columbus Audubon Center at 692 North High Street, Ste 303, Columbus, Ohio 43215 addressed to the attention of Ms. Heather Starck.

 

Letters of Interest must be short. Letters having more than six pages will not be considered. Letters must present the following information:

 

1. Name of the firm or firms interested in proposing

 

2. a brief presentation of the firm’s experience with LEED certified designs

 

3. a listing (including city and street address) of similar projects designed by the firm

 

4. a listing of the names of LEED AP’s in the firm and projects on which each AP has worked and the company for whom they worked

 

5. other pertinent information that the firm may wish to include.

 

From the Letters of Interest received, the Columbus Audubon Center will select up to ten firms who, in the opinion of the Audubon Center, appear to be most qualified for this project. Those firms will be invited to submit full proposals. Upon receipt and evaluation of the full proposals, the Audubon Center will select up to four firms who will be invited to present their personnel and qualifications.

 

The Columbus Audubon Center reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to waive any informality or irregularity, to accept or reject any firm submitting information and to act or not act in what it believes are the best interests of the Columbus Audubon Center.

 

Any questions concerning this request for Letters of Interest should be directed to Mr. Tom Kucera, P.E., LEED AP at H.R.Gray who is acting as the Owner’s Representative for the Columbus Audubon Center on this project.