Development Could Lead To Eminent Domain

 

The Milo Grogan neighborhood is organizing against a proposal for a new shopping center that would wipe out 200 homes through eminent domain.  About a hundred people met at a Gibbard Avenue church Saturday night to shore up opposition to plans being proposed by developer Jerome Solove.  People living in the near north side neighborhood do not oppose the idea of revitalizing the area.  But they object to tearing down homes in order to do it. They say his idea to make something of the old Timken bearing factory at Cleveland and Fifth avenues is fine.  They want Solove to find another way than asking the city to condemn hundreds of homes surrounding 31 acre factory side.

 

"Nobody wants to do eminent domain,'' Columbus Development Director Mark Barbash told the Columbus Dispatch earlier this week.  "Columbus is such a conservative community that to start a project with eminent domain is the wrong place to start.  Jerome Solove bought the empty Timken plant this past fall.  At the height of its operation, Timken employed 5,400 people.  When it closed in 2001, about 220 people were still employed there.

 

More at www.10tv.com

I won't be neutral and wait on this.

Solove doesn't need to take out any houses to redevelop the Timken plant. He has Plenty(!) of room "over there." The idea he wants to take out 200 houses sounds to me like he wants to rid of low income housing so rich folks & yuppies will come shop at his new mall, or whatever he wants to build there.

 

:shoot: As is, this is a dangerous proposal.

Look at the development in Cleveland at W. 117th (there is a thread)  That developer was able to get every owner to sell, it took time, but it did not have to have the government seize anyone's home.

 

Dont get me started on Campus Partners.

 

My favorite story about eminent domain was Lakewood saying that if houses only had one bathroom the house was blighted.  On 60 Minutes Lakewood's mayor admitted she lived in a house with only one bathroom.

Rookwood Exchange, anyone?

BTW...there is a take on this on the Libertarian Party website:

http://www.lp.org/lpnews/0501/eminent-domain.html

The "threat" of eminent domain is all the governement/developer needs.  It will kill any private real estate transactions.  No one will want to invest in an area when the powers that be say they will use eminent domain as "a last resort". 

 

That is what Campus Partners did to South Campus.  They kept saying they would eventually use eminent domain.  Once they declared that, no one wanted to invest in South Campus.  They let the area deteriorate for 6 years, until they had a sufficient number of empty storefronts.  Then, legally, they could call the area blighted, or economically depressed (I forget the legal term they used).

 

Either way, the threat of eminent domain can change an area dramatically.

Its dirty politics.

 

What happened with this, anyway?

nothing i've heard...probably thrown off the edge of the earth

once word got out that grasscat wanted info, the groups decided to get going on it...and yay!

 

ARTICLE DELETED

once word got out that grasscat wanted info, the groups decided to get going on it...and yay!

 

LOL...I wish....

I'm glad the developers came correct concerning the ement-domain threat.

I'm still mixed about them needing to go to I-71.  Visability from the freeway would help the project, but again, there is more than enough room at the Timken site, none of the housing needs to be taken out for this.

 

Maybe Summit St or ColDayMan can get a couple of photos of Timken so everyone can see how expansive the site is.

Hmm...I don't live to far.  I'll get it later on.

City Council to seek money for Timken site cleanup

 

Columbus City Council voted Monday night to apply for $3 million in state grants to clean up the former Timken Co. manufacturing site on Cleveland Avenue.  The money would pay for soil clean-up, excavation and engineering, according to City Council.  Council will apply for a grant from the Clean Ohio program, which helps clean up old industrial sites.

 

Columbus developer Jerome Solove is working to redevelop the 30.9-acre property.  Solove told Business First in September he set up a nonprofit development agency, the Milo-Grogan Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., to handle the site.  Tentative plans call for a $12.5 million, 550,000-square-foot mixed-use project.  Canton-based Timken operated a ball bearing plant on the site for 90 years, but closed it in 2001.

 

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/

well, coldayman didn't come through, so:

 

 

GROUP HOPES TO BUILD RETAIL CENTER ON FORMER TIMKEN SITE

Published: Monday, August 15, 2005

By Mike Pramik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Developer Jerry Solove has backed off plans to develop land in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood through eminent domain, but he says he's still bullish on the former Timken plant site near the East Side neighborhood.vvSolove said he thinks that building a shopping center there would aid the neighborhood. Solove and his partner in the project, Howard Beder, arranged a site visit last week for members of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, state development department and others involved in 2005 Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund.

 

Solove's group represents one of four central Ohio projects vying for $40 million in state funding for the rehabilitation of so-called brownfield sites, which are locations of former industrial or commercial activity. The city prepared a bid for Solove and his partners to secure $3 million in state grant money to rehab the 30-acre site, which Canton-based Timken closed in 2001.

 

More at http://www.columbusdispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/08/15/20050815-F6-01.html

From Business First of Columbus, 3/13/06:

 

 

Timken bid still chasing state help

Business First of Columbus - March 10, 2006

by Brian R. Ball

Business First

 

The prospective developer of the former Timken Co. site in Columbus will try again to land state funding to transform the industrial site into a retail and commercial center.  But developer Jerome Solove will once more face stiff competition for the money as the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund gains popularity.  Solove said he plans to seek a $750,000 grant after his attempt to land $3 million from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund fell short last fall.

 

The money would go to clean up 34 acres at East Fifth and Cleveland avenues, south of the state fairgrounds in the Milo-Grogan area, and an adjacent 2.5-acre parcel.  Columbus City Council is expected to consider legislation March 13 directing the city Department of Development to apply for the grant in support of Solove's Milo-Grogan Urban Redevelopment Corp.

 

More at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/03/13/story5.html?from_rss=1

 

Milo-Grogan, about the same size as Olde Towne East, encompasses much land but quite a bit is uninhabitable. It is Columbus' premier walled neighborhood, which was traditionally surrounded by rail lines, now has I-71 slashing down the middle of it at the cost of several homes and businesses not to mention further isolating the neighborhood from the rest of the city along with I-670 on the south widening the chasm one has to cross. Arterials pick up where the highway and rail lines don't by making hostile barriers for pedestrians and cyclists (St Clair and 2nd Ave are signed shared roads, meaning what makes them "bike-friendly" is an occasional small "bike route" sign , nothing more on 35 MPH streets). The city put together a neighborhood plan(pdf) for improving the area, but who knows when anything would be implemented.

 

You can only access the neighborhood from a mere handful of roads and since I-670 leads directly to the airport few have a reason to pass through here, let alone end up here as a destination, aside from residents of course.

 

Neighborhood gateway, Milo-Grogan style: unsigned and gritty.

 

 

 

The raised walls in front of houses like these is common in Milo-Grogan on roads that slope near the railroad bridges and may be most prominent in this neighborhood.

 

 

 

Columbus Railway Power and Light Company. It's been closed for awhile.

 

 

It's that time of year.

 

 

Little ramshackle churches like these are found all over Milo-Grogan. On St. Clair there was one after another. So much so that one could easily dedicate an entire thread to them. I only took a couple of pics.

 

 

This is the signature building of Milo-Grogan. Formerly a school it is now Milo Arts Studios.

 

 

 

 

 

The huge abandoned Timken inيustrial site. Unfortunately, it'll be some time until some infill occurs, hopefully urban unlike the neighboring fried chicken district complete with suburban drive-thrus.

 

 

The other church I got.

 

 

 

Slated to be closed due to budget constraints.

 

 

Never seen a house like that before.

 

 

I kinda like the industrial feel here.

 

 

 

 

Milo-Grogan is mostly just down and out, but not a place to be involved in shady activity. There were 7 or 8 murders this year so far and a double homicide occured here.

 

 

 

Whoops, I lied, this is another chuch.

 

 

 

 

 

And that concludes this little tour of a mostly unknown neighborhood. Hope you found it enlightening and entertaining!

Milo Grogan has had some residential infill by Columbus Housing Partnership and Habitat for Humanity in the last 6 or 8 years -- some of it along 2nd Ave., where you showed the high walls. Overall, the neighborhood is no great shakes, but is interesting and deserves reinvestment. The Timkin site would be a great place for a dense mixed-use urban development.

I call it the Chicken District.  5th and Cleveland Ave, nuff said.

Ah. I have spent a lot of time in this neighborhood on my way to elementary school (going from Groveport to campus every day, barf! -- And going to the Chicken District to eat lunch while working at Geo. E. Fern Co.) but never knew it had a name.

Not very Columbus-ish.

Great photos, hopefully the neighborhood will see a new day sometime soon!

Wow... nice and gritty.  Sweet photos.  It may come back considering the proximity to downtown. 

Not very Columbus-ish.

 

Uh... it looks like the majority of the west side, plus parts of the east and south side. When people come to Columbus they don't see it because they usually go to the Short North, German Village or OTE.

^ Indeed. People from out of town don't think Columbus has run down parts when it actually has plenty. They're not destinations unless you work for some kind of industrial supplier or something.

Columbus has grit!?!?  Who knew.  :wink:

Not very Columbus-ish.

 

Uh... it looks like the majority of the west side, plus parts of the east and south side. When people come to Columbus they don't see it because they usually go to the Short North, German Village or OTE.

 

Read the two posts after yours and you'll know where I was going.

I thought Campus Partners had purchased the Timkin industrial site and were going to redevelop it into a grand gateway into Weinland Park.  Did this fall through... or am I completely confused?

The latest on this is that the developer was trying to secure government funding to clean the site. I'm guessing they never obtained that so it's either been put on the back burner or scrapped. Apparently, the developer wanted to tear down surrounding homes as part of the project. That would be unnecessary, since it's such a large parcel of land and they can always build up. Recently, 5th and Cleveland have been designated with as urban commercial overlays, so any new development and hopefully redevelopment included would have to follow urban guidelines, no parking in front, buildings up to the sidewalk, etc.

When was that area designated under the urban Commercial Overlay? That's great news -- sets the stage for possible good mixed-use development (though the UCO typically and far-too often is used for a one-story store or bank with lots of parking at the side and rear).

Well, the plan that includes the overlay,  has yet to be adopted, even though the plan that includes it was. So I was wrong, or right. One of the two.

I like these obscure neighborhood tours.

 

This sounds a bit like Edgemont here in Dayton

 

The differential on my car threw a pin in Milo-Grogan on a bitter cold day... needless to say... my memories of Milo aren't fond.

As the eastern reaches of Italian Village get fixed up and with the Short North plagued with too many businesses and not enough parking, there's a corner of Milo-Grogan just east of 4th St with a block or so of empty, urban storefronts just waiting to be brought back to life. I've compiled publications along with my suggestions for improving this area.

Milo-Grogan: Counting on a rebirth

 

 

By Sherri Williams

 

As a young girl in Milo-Grogan, Gail Brown grew up amid thriving Italian delis and small businesses; she watched parents head off every morning to jobs in nearby factories and rail yards. "We had strong families and homeowners," said Brown, 57, who has lived in the neighborhood northeast of Downtown most of her life.

For more, click the link

 

Milo-Grogan Neighborhood Plan

 

Background: In 1910 the communities of Milo and Grogan were annexed into Columbus. The biggest motivation was the infrastructure needs, in particular streets and sewers. This annexation added 1143 acres and about 5,000 people to Columbus. Milo-Grogan remained a self-sufficient community with large heavy manufacturing and industrial employers nearby and local businesses to meet the needs of the community on Cleveland Avenue and other nearby Commercial corridors. Construction of I-71 in 1960, split the neighborhood in half and was followed twenty years later by the construction of I-670 in the southern part of the area. The demise of manufacturing and the resultant loss of jobs as well as the aging infrastructure have contributed to the decline of the neighborhood. It is necessary at this time to develop an area plan to guide the process of revitalization and help the stakeholders with the future decisions affecting the area. In response to the request from the Milo-Grogan Area Commission the Planning Division is prepared to begin a neighborhood planning process, which will build upon the assets of the neighborhood and create a plan that can be adopted by City Council.

Purpose: The Purpose of the Milo-Grogan Neighborhood Plan is to serve as a guide for public and private decision-makers regarding the physical development of the area.

Planning Area: The planning area boundaries are I-670 to the south, railroad tracks to the east and west, and Eleventh Avenue and the railroad tracks to the north.

The Milo-Grogan Plan was approved by the Development Commission on Thursday, March 22, 2007 and by City Council on Monday April 9, 2007.

I would add that the SW corner should receive most efforts for revitalization for numerous reasons: it's the only section in proximity to a healthy neighborhood, it has already seen quality residential infill, and has a somewhat intact, though abandoned commercial corridor on the east side of Cleveland Ave which holds the best potential for a revitalized commercial street that would restore walkability. That said, one-sided commercial streets can prove difficult, so everything should be done to make this street accessible to all modes of transportation for maximum ease in arriving here while also taking care to include gateway signage, one on the south end of Cleveland and another at the 2nd Ave bridge on the west. This corner is also a safer part of the neighborhood which is isolated from the rest of the neighborhood by I-71 to the east and E 5th Ave to the north and can provide an alternative for those who'd like to move to Italian village, but find it out of their price range.

Improving Cleveland Ave from 2nd up to E 5th to accommodate peds, cyclists, and cars is fundamental for the possibility of revitalization.

 

On page 55 there is a suggestion to "Study the feasibility of allowing on-street parking on Cleveland Avenue between Second Avenue and Fifth Avenue", which is where the lone stretch of intact commercial buildings stand. I'm rather certain that will have to happen for anyone to consider a new business here, so I don't see why a study would be needed. Of course it's feasible.

 

On page 28 traffic calming measures such as bump outs are suggested and I hope those are pursued, although they must go out far enough to fill up the entire lane (like a parked car would) if they are to calm traffic. They're cheaper and  would help keep traffic moving at a slower pace, especially since there is no stop between 2nd and 5th. They could also just be installed on the east side of the street since there is nothing but a big empty lot on the west side. There's no reason to consider bike lanes for Cleveland Ave as the plans suggests, let alone on residential streets. A bike lane means cars are given special treatment over bikes and that traffic engineers have failed to make the road inclusive for cyclists to ride in traffic. There should be no residential street where a bike lane would be needed. That would be a waste of paint which should be used for sharrows on Cleveland.  Speed humps should be considered, since if the problem is speeding cars, then the solution is to slow them, not push cyclists out of the way to accommodate law-breaking drivers.

Page 29 makes the suggestion to "Evaluate limiting speed on Cleveland Avenue south of Fifth Avenue to 25 mph." Why an evaluation would be needed at all is lost on me, especially when the plan itself states, "Retail streets should balance the needs of the automobile and the pedestrian. Traffic calming and pedestrian amenities will help to create a successful shopping street by improving pedestrian safety and making the commercial district more aesthetically attractive." (italics mine) It's obviously 100% necessary to provide the foundation for a pedestrian-friendly street by making the street pedestrian-friendly.

 

Milo-Grogan Commercial Overlay

 

The aim is to promote urban vs. suburban development on the two main commercial streets here. It seems unlikely to do much, if anything to re-urbanize existing sprawl. Another drawback for this overlay is that it only applies to development along these commercial streets and does not dictate that the streets themselves become accommodating for pedestrians and cyclists, ie urban modes of transportation.

 

On the upside, there's a new community garden at Cleveland & Starr that was started last year:

 

And the latest from City Council on 06/22/09

 

Development Committee Chair Andrew J. Ginther is sponsoring ordinance 0544-2009 to establish commercial overlays for portions of the Lockbourne Road corridor, Main and Broad streets in the Eastmoor neighborhood, portions of Fifth and Cleveland avenues in Milo-Grogan, and portions of Bethel Road, SR 161 and Sawmill Road in the Northwest area.  Each of the proposed overlays is the result of adopted neighborhood plan recommendations and community requests."

 

If you want to give some input you can contact the senior planner Brent Warren.

Brent is so nice.

More snippets:

 

Overlay adopted!

Zoning regulations tighten around developers

Portions of Bethel and Sawmill roads now are covered by a regional overlay. Council also added an urban overlay to the Fifth and Cleveland avenue areas of Milo-Grogan, a community overlay to Broad and Main streets in Eastmoor, and both the urban and commercial overlays to Lockbourne Road on the south side.

The city is working to apply the overlays to the Fifth by Northwest area near Grandview Heights, on South High Street and in northeast Columbus.

 

Wow, having standards doesn't scare off developers, who would have ever guessed? (Aside from me, of course)

 

Papsidero said the city hasn’t met as much resistance from developers as it anticipated, with frequent applicants such as fast food chains and drug store companies like Walgreen Co. and CVS Caremark Corp. amenable to the standards.

 

I wouldn't go so far as Mr. Vaccaro. They did get the overlay just recently, so part of the city's plan for the neighborhood is being acted upon, whereas other neighborhood plans are about a decade old (*cough* Warehouse District *cough*) and virtually nothing has been carried out.

 

Activists question choices by city             

Those not on list for federal money feel abandoned                                                  Wednesday,July 8, 2009 3:13 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH                         

 

Residents of Columbus neighborhoods that won't see any of the $22.8 million in federal money to help deal with foreclosed and vacant homes want to know why they were left out. "The city's turned their back on Milo," said Matt Vaccaro, a member of the Milo-Grogan Area Commission.

He said the neighborhood he represents just north of Downtown has about 200 boarded-up homes.

Last week, city officials announced they would spend about $6 million in the King-Lincoln District, the Southern Orchards neighborhood near Nationwide Children's Hospital and the South of Main area on the Near East Side.

 

Affordable housing just outside of Downtown! You try finding a house Downtown or in nearby Italian Village for $1,334.

 

Speculators descending on distressed housing

 

 

One of the houses SEG Commercial bought this year for $1,334 sits vacant on Lexington Avenue in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood. A sign over a window says "Buy This Home" and "Own in Only 3 Days" with a $650 down payment.

 

Piles of shingles, boards and other debris cover the walkway leading to the faded bungalow.

 

"It's supposed to be yellow," said Clarissa Lewis, who lives across the street.

 

She said crews had been working on the house, but not for two or three days.

 

"I wish they would finish," said Lewis, 80, who has lived there for more than 50 years.

 

She was unaware a California company owned the house.

 

She said she hopes SEG will make the house livable. Crews already have fixed the collapsing porch roof, Lewis said.

 

This article also includes the Dispatch's HOT Issue where you can read what the brightest minds in Columbus have to say on the matter: What's the best way to reverse urban blight?

Judge ends bankruptcy protection for Milo Arts center

Tuesday,  December 15, 2009 - 11:51 AM

By Doug Caruso

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A bankruptcy judge ended protection for the owner of Milo Arts this morning, leaving the building open to foreclosure.  Owner Rick Mann pleaded for more time.  He has rented apartments and studio space to artists in the former elementary school in Columbus' Milo Grogan neighborhood since 1988.  For now, no one has to move out.

 

Mann told U.S. Bankruptcy judge C. Kathryn Preston at a hearing this morning that winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ike damaged the roof of one wing of the building at 617 E. 3rd Ave. in September of 2008, making it impossible for him comply with the terms of the bankruptcy he filed in May.  Those terms included filing federal tax returns for 2000 through 2008 and submitting a business plan by Dec. 1.  Neither of those goals had been accomplished, Mann and his attorney told the judge.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/12/15/15miloartcenter.html?sid=101

That's too bad; this neighborhood really needs something to anchor it and attract visitors. Still, it wouldn't take a huge effort to fill in the few empty storefronts left on Cleveland from 2nd to Reynolds. 2nd from the Short North/Italian Village leads you right there and this section of the neighborhood is quartered off from the highway to the east and E 5th to the north. I can easily picture something resembling W 3rd in Harrison West which shows a few quality destinations is all you need, but this one would have more grass lots.

Artists' haven saved, perhaps now for good

Operator's mother buys century-old school in Milo-Grogan for $125,000

Monday, October 18, 2010  04:49 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Milo Arts remains alive in a neighborhood struggling to regain vitality.

 

After a year in which its existence was very much in doubt - again - Rick Mann's urban enclave for artists in the century-old Milo Elementary School is surviving thanks to an infusion of cash from his mother.

 

Failsafe Ventures LLC, run by Mann's mother, Dorothy Mann, of Granville, bought the building on Oct. 1 for $125,000. Franklin County's appraised value was $325,500, and the previous owner - IB Property Holdings - had paid $280,000 for it at an April sheriff's sale.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/10/18/artists-haven-saved-perhaps-now-for-good.html?sid=101

Good to hear, but I didn't know this place has been housing artists since 1988. I thought an influx of artists into a neighborhood meant revitalization, yet over two decades and nada: new residents aren't moving in to fix up homes (the neighborhood is still bleeding what few residents it has) and new businesses are few and far between (usually in the form of a fried food restaurant). Crime isn't even that bad here. What's the deal? Perhaps Milo Arts needs to do some outreach and invite visitors to check out artwork and host events: seems to be performing in an entirely insular manner which has been hurting Milo Arts itself and doing nothing to improve the area .

Blame urban renewal, the railroad, the Eisenhower Interstate system, and a poor economy. The housing stock there stinks and is minimal and thanks to all those other factors the neighborhood is isolated. There was a glimmer of hope a few years back with the talk of redeveloping the Timko site (huge portion of Milo area) into a Lennox-esque development but interest in that waned quickly. When Timko was up and running (til the mid 90's I think?) there was little regard for the neighborhood since they had that anchor.

Timken site up next for Wagenbrenner's redevelopment efforts

By Brian R. Ball, Business First 

Friday, June 17, 2011, 6:00am EDT

 

Wagenbrenner Development Co. may take its expertise at redeveloping industrial sites to a former Timken Co. property north of downtown.  The Columbus developer is seeking a $199,960 grant from the city’s Green Columbus Fund to help pay for environmental testing of the property at Cleveland and East Fifth avenues in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood.  Wagenbrenner also plans to seek a $3 million grant from the state’s Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund.  Plans for the site won’t be finalized until cleanup costs are determined, but developer President Mark Wagenbrenner said likely uses include a distribution center or retail.

. . .

 

Timken closed its manufacturing operations in 2001 and demolished buildings in 2003.  Timken sold the property to an affiliate of Columbus developer Jerry Solove in 2004 for $3.1 million.  Solove wanted to build a Walmart-anchored retail center there, but the plan fell apart after the project failed to secure Clean Ohio funding.  A Cleveland retail developer later picked up an option on the property before Timken regained title to the site in March 2009.  Wagenbrenner has the site in contract for $300,000, pending approval of the state grant.  Timken discounted the price to compensate for the environmental risk.

. . .

 

Wagenbrenner said he has kept an eye on the property because it is just east of the former Columbus Coated Fabrics site in Weinland Park that he spent recent years preparing for redevelopment into housing.  Wagenbrenner also plans to redevelop the nearby D.L. Auld Co./3M industrial site at East Fifth Avenue and North Fourth Street.  The tab to clean up the Timken property likely will run more than $4 million.  Environmental testing would cost more than $240,000, depending on the number of samples taken and examined, Wagenbrenner said.

 

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2011/06/17/wagenbrenner-sees-potential-for.html?page=all

After all the crap the city has done to the neighborhood they should absolutely pick up the tab. Just hope that if there is retail that it's not suburban crap like the fast food joints down the street which replaced what few urban commercial buildings were left here. I think the city adopted an urban overlay for future development on E 5th and Cleveland, but whether or not they stick with it is a whole other matter since they plain don't care what goes on in these lower-income neighborhoods.

Rumpke shows off expanded recycling facility

Company says it can double capacity

By Dylan Tussel, The Columbus Dispatch

Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - 1:14 PM

 

Rumpke is just about finished testing its expanded regional processing center, which will be able to sort twice as much recyclables.  The four-month, $10 million renovation removed the old sorting system and added all brand-new equipment at the center, located at 1191 Fields Avenue in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood, said Jonathan Kissell, a Rumpke spokesman.  Rumpke officials showed off the facility to members of the media today.

 

Much of the new equipment, including optical scanners and a glass silo, expands the types of materials that can be processed at the center and automates more of the process.  About 28,000 square feet of functional space was added.  The facility now is about 80,000 square feet.

 

Operating two eight-hour shifts per day, the center can sort more than 500 tons of materials, or about 30 tons per hour.  The old system sorted about 15 tons of recyclables per hour.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/30/Rumpke-shows-off-expanded-recycling-facility.html

 

---

Two more reports on the Milo-Grogan Rumpke recycling center renovation and addition.  One is from Columbus Underground - the other is an updated article from The Dispatch:

 

CU: Rumpke Opens Newly Renovated Recycling Facility

 

DISPATCH: Rumpke upgrades speed up recyclables sorting

Catching up on some older reports about the Columbus Idea Foundry in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood. 

 

COLUMBUS IDEA FOUNDRY WEBSITE

 

 

The Metroprenuer Columbus:  Columbus Idea Foundry’s New Community Space

 

Columbus Alive:  Columbus Idea Foundry's new space

 

And a more recent report about a planned expansion of the Columbus Idea Foundry in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood:

 

Help Double the Size of the Columbus Idea Foundry

By Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

Published on July 13, 2011 - 1:45 pm

 

The Columbus Idea Foundry is a 10,000-square-foot creative/industrial/technical collaborative workspace located in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood that houses multiple local inventors, artists and manufacturers.

 

The operators of the Foundry just launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $5,500 to double the size of their space and provide opportunities for a photographic dark room, a videography stage, a textile/ upholstery station, a lithography room for etching/engraving circuits, and around a dozen individual studio rental spaces.

 

MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/help-double-the-size-of-the-columbus-idea-foundry

 

---

With an update from the Columbus Idea Foundry website:

EXCITING UPDATE!  WE DID IT! Huge thanks to the Central Ohio creative community (and beyond) for contributing $9150 to our Kickstarter project!  We were originally asking for $5500 to help expand and to establish a new arts/tech wing, and we’re enormously grateful and humbled by the overwhelming support and enthusiasm we’ve received.

Wagenbrenner lands Clean Ohio cash for Timken site

By Brian R. Ball, Business First staff reporter

Date: Monday, November 21, 2011, 2:57pm EST

 

Wagenbrenner Development Inc. has scored Clean Ohio cash for yet another brownfield site.

 

The state on Friday (Nov. 18) awarded $3 million for the developer’s plans to clean up the Timken Co. property at East Fifth and Cleveland avenues as officials continue to explore just how to put the 31-acre property back to productive use.  Columbus Business First reported in June that Wagenbrenner was interested in the site, where a ball bearings manufacturing plant has long since been demolished.

 

It was one of 15 projects receiving a combined $27.5 million at the Clean Ohio Council meeting Friday (Nov. 18).

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2011/11/21/wagenbrenner-lands-clean-ohio-cash-for.html

It's great that the neighborhood got something like the Idea Foundry, it's also a shame that North Central lost what was its one great place. Still, it's over two decades since the neighborhood's last biggest destination, Skankland, had closed its doors. Maybe now that the Idea Foundry is literally just up the street, I would hope that the still-standing structure (if the city didn't have it silently torn down out of nowhere) might just see new life in it. I can tell you that a good bar in a healthy industrial area bordering a not-so-good neighborhood can be very fun and even draw suburban visitors where they previously would never have thought for a millisecond of venturing to such a place.

 

The future Skankland 2.0?

 

In fact, just as the Idea Foundry left North Central high and dry of a worthy draw it could happen to Milo-Grogan again if they find a spot outside of here to relocate. I posted elsewhere here about how Skankland proved you can get people to head out to destinations in somewhat iffy areas. What's great about the location is that it's in the industrial quarter of Milo-Grogan vs the other residential 3/4 so you don't have to worry about the image of boarded up homes dissuading patrons from stopping in like you would the old Summit Grill building on 2nd & Cleveland. If any revitalization is going to happen elsewhere it has to happen here in this mainly industrial area first since it lacks the image problem of the rest of the neighborhood, which is most likely why someplace was able to thrive here in the first place.

 

If Liz Lessner reads UO I hope she does, because she knows it can happen again and that she is the only one who would get it done in Cbus. I bet she would even be able to get funding to assist renovation costs.

News about the Third Hand Bike Co-Op moved into the Milo-Grogan neighborhood from Columbus Underground:

 

Third Hand Bike Co-Op is Relocating to Milo-Grogan

By: Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

Published on August 25, 2012 - 9:10 am

 

Third Hand Bike Co-Op is relocating down the street from 174 5th Avenue to 979 5th Avenue, and changing neighborhoods in the process.  They’re saying goodbye to Weinland Park and saying hello to Milo-Grogan.

 

READ MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/third-hand-bike-co-op-is-relocating-to-milo-grogan

 

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And also from the Third Hand Bike Co-Op website - http://www.thirdhand.org/joom/

 

It's Official...THBC is Moving!

 

Goodbye 174 E 5th Ave! 

 

While our old space served us well, we are looking forward to expanding in the new warehouse we have purchased at 979 E 5th Ave, only one mile east of our old location!

If only you didn't have to contend with 50 MPH traffic and a highway overpass to get there by bike down 5th. That and the fact that the neighborhood has no bike infrastructure even though it's a small one. Hope they persevere and residents make use of this place, but that one mile east from WP leads to a whole different world. I used to live just on the other side of High and if I still did I'd certainly be dissuaded by the new location even knowing that you can take 2nd to St Clair.