I had jury duty this week. Nice views of River South from the jury room, 16th floor cafeteria and the High St. pedestrian bridge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pablo, as an out-of-towner, I want to thank you for your continual photo updates! It's really great to see continued progress.

 

I'll be really curious to see what/when they eventually do with the grass lot adjacent the the courthouse building -- it'll be part of the next block of South High to be developed in River South!

Pablo, as an out-of-towner, I want to thank you for your continual photo updates! It's really great to see continued progress.

 

I'll be really curious to see what/when they eventually do with the grass lot adjacent the the courthouse building -- it'll be part of the next block of South High to be developed in River South!

I don't think anything will become of the lawn area next to the courthouse. It's county property and they are just land-banking the site. There's a patch of lawn on the north side of Mound between High and 3rd - the site of the former juvi. It's been undeveloped for 25 years or so.

Pablo, as an out-of-towner, I want to thank you for your continual photo updates! It's really great to see continued progress.

 

I'll be really curious to see what/when they eventually do with the grass lot adjacent the the courthouse building -- it'll be part of the next block of South High to be developed in River South!

I don't think anything will become of the lawn area next to the courthouse. It's county property and they are just land-banking the site. There's a patch of lawn on the north side of Mound between High and 3rd - the site of the former juvi. It's been undeveloped for 25 years or so.

 

I think there is a pretty good chance something does come of it considering how valuable that land will be once the other projects finish up. When the whole River South District was just a bunch of parking lots and rundown buildings they had no incentive to do anything with the land, but now that it's so valuable they could potentially do something like what the city did with North Market parking lot, albeit not on nearly the same scale.

May 31 RiverSouth construction update from CU:  http://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-downtown-may-2017-we1

 

LC's Trautman Building (8 stories, 106 apartments) at the northwest corner of Rich & High:

 

 

 

LC's Beatty Building (10 stories, 137 apartments) at the southwest corner of Rich & High:

 

 

Borror's 5-story, 89-unit apartment building at southwest corner of Front & Main:

Facade starting to go on the Trautman Building:

 

 

Here you can see quite a bit of the action in the 'hood. 303 Main between the trees on the right, the elevator cores for the Beatty Building starting to poke up behind the RiverSouth garage, and even 80 on the Commons way in the back:

 

Question

 

I was walking through downtown Saturday evening before walking home since it was such a nice night out and my boyfriend pointed out a construction trailer set up on the proposed Millennial Tower lot.

 

So my question is... does anyone know why this would be here? Maybe leasing the spot for another project nearby? Soil sampling?

 

I know this project isn't even close to approval (let alone construction) so it seems strange.

Question

 

I was walking through downtown Saturday evening before walking home since it was such a nice night out and my boyfriend pointed out a construction trailer set up on the proposed Millennial Tower lot.

 

So my question is... does anyone know why this would be here? Maybe leasing the spot for another project nearby? Soil sampling?

 

I know this project isn't even close to approval (let alone construction) so it seems strange.

 

That trailer has been there for at least a month, maybe more. I think the trailer says Danis, which is a construction company in Columbus.

 

When I first noticed the trailer there, I thought that maybe (hopefully!!) it is related to the Millennial Tower project, but I think it's just as likely that it's being used for one of the other projects nearby. The one reason I think it might be related to the Millennial Tower project is because it is taking up parking spaces in the surface lot which, I believe, is owned by Arshot. So either someone is paying Arshot some decent money to leave that trailer there, or it's actually for the Millennial Tower project.

I took a stroll around River South today - lots to see.

 

I like the exterior finishes on Borror's building at Front & Main:

 

Exterior cladding on the Trautman building:

 

The Rich St. side:

 

Quite a change compared to 5 years ago.

 

 

 

Quite a change compared to 5 years ago.

 

Nice angle on this one; what a different place this area will be as we round out this decade. The potential of the Millennial project and the ones already completed and underway; this is the "hot" area of downtown proper.  Now it just needs to infill with more destination restaurants and nightlife, which I'm sure will come along the way.

Question

 

I was walking through downtown Saturday evening before walking home since it was such a nice night out and my boyfriend pointed out a construction trailer set up on the proposed Millennial Tower lot.

 

So my question is... does anyone know why this would be here? Maybe leasing the spot for another project nearby? Soil sampling?

 

I know this project isn't even close to approval (let alone construction) so it seems strange.

 

That trailer has been there for at least a month, maybe more. I think the trailer says Danis, which is a construction company in Columbus.

 

When I first noticed the trailer there, I thought that maybe (hopefully!!) it is related to the Millennial Tower project, but I think it's just as likely that it's being used for one of the other projects nearby. The one reason I think it might be related to the Millennial Tower project is because it is taking up parking spaces in the surface lot which, I believe, is owned by Arshot. So either someone is paying Arshot some decent money to leave that trailer there, or it's actually for the Millennial Tower project.

 

I'm pretty sure this trailer is an LC trailer. Until recently it was on one of the parking lots that LC owns on the northwest corner of Main and Front.

 

Speaking of which, it looks like the LC Matan project on that corner is about to get underway -- the rest of the site was fenced off last week, and this morning a backhoe was out tearing up pavement.

RiverSouth construction pics posted October 15 at http://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-downtown-columbus-east-franklinton:

 

303 S. Front Street apartment building at the corner of Front & Main:

 

 

View of Rich Street looking toward High Street:  The twin LC RiverSouth projects are in the foreground and 80 on the Commons project is in the background:

 

 

Trautman Building at the northwest corner of Rich & High:

 

 

Beatty Building at the southwest corner of Rich & High:

RiverSouth construction pics posted October 15 at http://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-downtown-columbus-east-franklinton:

 

303 S. Front Street apartment building at the corner of Front & Main:

 

This building is almost complete less than a month later.

This building is almost complete less than a month later.

 

The first residents moved in this past weekend; the interiors of the upper floors of the building are still being completed.

 

Construction has also begun on the new LC building across the street (on the northwest corner). Looks like they have been drilling piles for the foundation this week.

I love these last few pics.

 

Looking at the Scioto, how did we ever think it was okay to have it dammed up as a bloated sewage-sedimentation pond? The city really got it right with removing that dam. I have to give the city mad props for that. And the views of RiverSouth where virtually every building in the pic did not exist ten years ago show how much is actually getting built.  Getting rid of the hulking badly designed mall really payed off. Even Highpointe is getting sort of hidden and just becoming part of the crowd(fortunately).

 

Even though I have been a skyscraper fan since I was a little kid, I would be perfectly fine with continued infill of 6-12 floors like this all over downtown(but more affordable/below market rate housing and a couple luxury skyscrapers would not hurt).

 

Here the LC Matan looks near ground breaking. This is taken from the lot where Millennial Tower is proposed. Behind is the recently opened 303 Main and the Julian to the left.

 

Here the LC Matan looks near ground breaking. This is taken from the lot where Millennial Tower is proposed. Behind is the recently opened 303 Main and the Julian to the left.

 

Something really needs to be built on the grass lot between the Julian and the courthouse building. Does anyone know who owns that lot currently?

^ The County owns it and is not planning anything in the near future.

There really has not been that much progress on the exterior of the LC Trautman building. Same with the Beatty. So Slow......

There really has not been that much progress on the exterior of the LC Trautman building. Same with the Beatty. So Slow......

 

I actually walked by those buildings on Saturday. It looks a lot of work has been done on the inside of the Trautman building, at least from what I saw on the first floor. It almost seems like the inside will be finished before the exterior is finished.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from I-70 it looked like the tower crane for the LC Trautman project has been removed.

^ If so, this is big news considering that crane had been there since 2014! I think that building is supposed to open in the spring, so hopefully they are on track.

 

Also, I wonder when we could expect to see work start on the Crawford Hoying 11-story building. The old Swan Cleaner was demolished, but since then that site has just been used as a staging area for the 10-story LC building.

 

Also, I wonder when we could expect to see work start on the Crawford Hoying 11-story building. The old Swan Cleaner was demolished, but since then that site has just been used as a staging area for the 10-story LC building.

 

Rumor is the spring time for that as well, not sure if that's still accurate or not.

^ Interesting. Hopefully that rumor is true. I think the 10-story LC building is supposed to be finished by the end of the year, so hopefully that building can at least start by then. Maybe, once the LC building tops out they won't need quite as much staging area and Crawford Hoying can get started.

^ Interesting. Hopefully that rumor is true. I think the 10-story LC building is supposed to be finished by the end of the year, so hopefully that building can at least start by then. Maybe, once the LC building tops out they won't need quite as much staging area and Crawford Hoying can get started.

 

Yea I think once the Trautman building is completed that will help as well.  Last time I went past there was a lot of equipment that is specifically used for masonry work.  Most of that equipment needs flat ground to work properly so that could push it back a bit as well unless they use the alley. But I remember someone from the company managing the construction C-H's building saying this spring, so let's see we have about 5 months to find out :).

The longest standing tower crane in Columbus is officially down!!!

The longest standing tower crane in Columbus is officially down!!!

 

I'm fairly certain this crane was standing longer than the cranes were for the Wexner Medical Center, which is about 15 stories taller, and much more expansive than this 8-story building. That's quite an impressive feat if you ask me....

Take a look inside 303 – Borror's high-tech downtown apartment project

 

 

Borror's new downtown apartments mark a turn to smart technology for the developer.

 

The building is called 303 and features an 89-unit community on S. Front Street. Leasing has begun and the first residents will try out "smart apartment" technology the Borror wants to introduce in other communities.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/01/10/we-take-you-inside-303-borrors-high-tech-downtown.html

According to the latest DC agenda, LC is seeking to reduce their under-construction Beatty building one story from 10 to 9 floors. This was originally proposed (5 years ago!) as being 8, to match the Trautman project across the street, but then was bumped up to 10 (3 years ago!)

 

Maybe this means they'll be done by 2020? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

According to the latest DC agenda, LC is seeking to reduce their under-construction Beatty building one story from 10 to 9 floors. This was originally proposed (5 years ago!) as being 8, to match the Trautman project across the street, but then was bumped up to 10 (3 years ago!)

 

Maybe this means they'll be done by 2020? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

That is....appalling. I hope the commissioners stick to their guns and demand the building is built in the way they approved it.

 

Also, where might one find DC agendas prior to the meetings?

 

That is....appalling. I hope the commissioners stick to their guns and demand the building is built in the way they approved it.

 

Also, where might one find DC agendas prior to the meetings?

 

https://www.columbus.gov/development/public-meetings/Columbus-Downtown-Commission/

 

https://www.columbus.gov/development/public-meetings/Columbus-Downtown-Commission/

 

Two other sites I use for projects after commission/council approval:

 

https://oeaaa.faa.gov/oeaaa/external/searchAction.jsp?action=showSearchArchivesForm

 

https://ca.columbus.gov/ca/default.aspx

LC Matan foundations are underway.

 

Est. completion - Spring 2026

^Ha!  At the Downtown Commission, LC stated that their Goat restaurant will open next month and that Trautman move-in is summer 2018. Beaty and Matan move-in was listed "late 2019".

I believe the Goat opening date. Last time I drove by it looked like most of the interior work is done, at least on the first floor.

So what is the "bricklike" material that they are going to use instead of actual bricks going to look like regarding the Matan? Apparently the height reduction on the Beatty from 10 to nine floors will not be a big deal and will actually lead to more units.

^ This Biz First article might provide the answers to your questions: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/01/25/lifestyle-communities-makes-tweaks-to-s-high-and-s.html

 

It's interesting they say the Beatty building will be 9-stories, but look like 10-stories. Not sure how that works. The good news is they actually add units to the building with the change, like you mentioned.

It sounds like they're only replacing brick with EIFS along the two alley sides of this project (Cherry and Ludlow), so it shouldn't make that much of a difference - especially if the neighboring surface lots are filled in.

^^ thanks for the info guys.

^ This Biz First article might provide the answers to your questions: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/01/25/lifestyle-communities-makes-tweaks-to-s-high-and-s.html

 

It's interesting they say the Beatty building will be 9-stories, but look like 10-stories. Not sure how that works. The good news is they actually add units to the building with the change, like you mentioned.

 

It's done all the time with buildings of various sizes; think the Short North Donatos, a one story building that looks like two.

Changes to Two LC Projects Downtown Approved

 

Although the approval of the Millennial Tower was the biggest news to come out of Tuesday’s Downtown Commission meeting, a project immediately to its south was also on the agenda.

 

The five-story Matan development, which is planned for the northwest corner of Front and Main streets, was initially approved by the commission in late 2015.

 

More below:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/changes-to-two-lc-projects-downtown-approved-bw1

 

^ This Biz First article might provide the answers to your questions: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/01/25/lifestyle-communities-makes-tweaks-to-s-high-and-s.html

 

It's interesting they say the Beatty building will be 9-stories, but look like 10-stories. Not sure how that works. The good news is they actually add units to the building with the change, like you mentioned.

 

It's done all the time with buildings of various sizes; think the Short North Donatos, a one story building that looks like two.

 

Yea, I guess what they are saying is the size of the building will not change, just the configuration of floors and units. I suppose that's good to hear.

I know that questions about those approved revisions to the Beatty and Matan buildings have been answered, but here are the visuals of the changes:

 

Apparently the height reduction on the Beatty from 10 to nine floors will not be a big deal and will actually lead to more units.

 

 

 

It sounds like they're only replacing brick with EIFS along the two alley sides of this project (Cherry and Ludlow), so it shouldn't make that much of a difference - especially if the neighboring surface lots are filled in.

 

^The Matan elevation appears to be the Front Street façade, and shows EIFS.

 

Basing this off the elevations at the bottom of this page:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/the-matan-bw1

The Scioto Mile was buzzing today with bikers, joggers, skateboards, dogs, families, and all kinds of people out enjoying the beautiful weather. And it's going to get a lot busier still...

 

In this view alone you can see 250 High, 80 on the commons, LC's Trautman, Beatty, and Annex projects, and a sliver of HighPoint. Just out of view are 303 S Front, The Julian, and LC's Matan. Still to come are Crawford Hoying's 11-story building and *hopefully* Millennial Tower.

 

All together those projects will mean around 1500 units in a roughly 4 block area (still just a small fraction of downtown), absolutely none of which existed even 10 years ago. Yes I still miss City Center, but River South has come a long, long way

 

They need to re-clad that parking garage.

They need to re-clad that parking garage.

 

I would prefer them to tear down the garage portion and replace it with a new mixed-use building with a parking component that backs up to Ludlow Street but isn't visible from the river. Wishful thinking, I know, but it would be nice.

Doesn't that parking garage have some kind of protected status?

Fun fact about that garage ;)

 

‘Historic’ parking garage led to Columbia Gas building’s odd shape

 

Columbia Gas of Ohio’s planned move to the Arena District from its 200 Civic Center Drive home has its roots – at least in part – to an odd historic preservation decision made in the early 1980s.

 

Columbus Gas President Jack Partridge said when the RiverSouth headquarters were being designed back then, they were barred from demolishing the 1950s-era parking garage next door.

 

Yes, that’s right. The parking garage at West Town Street and Civic Center Drive for some unknown reason was considered more sacrosanct to the city’s movers and shakers at the time than the 1830s-era Ohio Penitentiary that was demolished in 1998 to make way for the Arena District.

 

“(The garage) was a historic landmark,” Partridge said with a chuckle, “built in the 1950s.”

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/04/historic-parking-garage-led-to.html