From Business First of Columbus, 3/19/07:

 

Report: Columbus housing undervalued

Business First of Columbus - March 19, 2007

 

Most metro-areas in the nation are seeing the overvaluation of houses curb, but prices in the Columbus market are below what they should be, a quarterly study asserts.  The Global Insight/National City Housing Valuation Analysis showed that of the four Ohio cities surveyed, the average price for existing single-family homes in Cleveland was overvalued, while price tags in Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus saw an increase undervaluation.

 

A survey of the 2006 fourth quarter - October through December - showed the average price of homes sold in Columbus remained the same as in the previous quarter at $153,900, but went from being undervalued by 1.2 percent to 2.1 percent.  During 2005's fourth quarter, the sale price for houses in Central Ohio was on target at an average of $152,300.  Results for other Ohio cities were:

 

* Cincinnati's average house price was $144,700, undervalued by 3.5 percent.

* The average house price in Dayton was $125,300, undervalued by 0.9 percent.

* Cleveland's average house price was $148,100, overvalued by 2.4 percent.

 

More information about the study is available here.

 

Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/03/19/daily3.html

 

From Business First of Columbus, 3/22/07:

 

Central Ohio home sales down 2% in February

Business First of Columbus - March 22, 2007

 

Home sales in Central Ohio dipped slightly last month with the region experiencing a 2 percent decline compared with February 2006.  Losing January's momentum - when home sales increased 12 percent over January 2006, ending a six-month streak of declining sales - existing home sales in the region fell to 1,549 units last month, from 1,579 a year earlier, the Columbus Board of Realtors said.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/03/19/daily19.html?from_rss=1

 

From Business First of Columbus, 3/26/07:

 

Commercial, housing construction contracts down

Business First of Columbus - March 26, 2007

 

Contracts for homebuilding continued a downturn last month while nonresidential building plans, which experienced big gains in January, dropped 28 percent in February, a monthly report found.  McGraw-Hill Construction's report said plans for building single- and two-family houses and apartments were down 48 percent to $70.1 million last month, from $134.7 million in February 2006. With the housing market deteriorating, plans for housing construction have plunged over the last year, with contracts down 25 percent in 2006 and 34 percent in January.

 

Nonresidential contracts, which started off with an 88 percent gain in January, dropped to $51.7 million last month, from $71.8 million in February 2006, McGraw-Hill said. Commercial construction, which includes contracts for the manufacturing, education, religious and hotel industries, jumped about 17 percent in 2006 and 88 percent in January.  Total building contracts for February fell 41 percent to $121.8 million, from $206.5 million in the same period last year.

 

More at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/03/26/daily1.html

 

From Business First of Columbus, 4/16/07:

 

 

Million-dollar homes not immune to ills

Business First of Columbus - April 13, 2007

by Kevin Kemper

Business First

 

Robin Bishop is trying to downsize and she's having trouble.  She's trying to sell her family's nine-year-old, 4,388-square-foot house in New Albany.  The asking price: $1.09 million.  With three floors, five bedrooms, four full- and two half-bathrooms and a gourmet kitchen, Bishop and her real estate agent think that's a fair asking price.

 

The number of luxury houses changing hands in Central Ohio is declining, and those residences are sitting on the market longer, according to the Columbus Board of Realtors.  In Central Ohio, 89 houses sold for at least $1 million in 2005 after spending an average of 154 days on the market, while last year 85 houses costing $1 million or more were sold after being listed for an average of 180 days.

 

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/04/16/story1.html

 

From Business First of Columbus, 4/25/07:

 

Residential contracts drop 33 percent in March

Business First of Columbus - April 25, 2007

 

Contracts for home building in Central Ohio dropped again last month, putting the year-to-date figure 37 percent behind last year's, a monthly report showed.  McGraw-Hill Construction said Wednesday plans for building single- and two-family houses and apartments were down 33 percent to $120 million, from $179 million in March 2006.  The depressed housing market regionally has pushed the number of construction plans down since last year, with contracts down 25 percent for 2006.  So far this year, housing construction contracts totaled $287 million, a downturn from $455.5 million reported for the same period last year.

 

Meanwhile, nonresidential contracts - which saw a 28 percent drop in February - bounced back with a 50 percent jump in plans to $124.6 million, from $83 million a year ago.  Year-to-date, commercial contracts were up by 37 percent to $311.6 million, from $228.3 million last year.  McGraw-Hill's research and analytics unit compiles monthly reports on construction contracts using data from Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties.

 

More at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/04/23/daily12.html?from_rss=1

 

Link contains a photo.  From Business First of Columbus, 5/7/07:

 

Condo prices may be keeping younger professionals in burbs

Business First of Columbus - May 4, 2007

by Brent Wilder

For Business First

 

The perception of downtown's emerging housing market as a teeming hub for young professionals is tempered by the reality of price tags accompanying most units in new developments.  While studios at Connextions Lofts downtown came on the market just a few years ago around $150,000, most new condo units are commonly starting around $250,000.  And even at Connextions, located at 110 N. Third St., the asking price for a loft bedroom studio under 800 square feet has risen to $175,000.

 

While there remain opportunities under $200,000 for younger urban homebuyers searching for an affordable mortgage payment, Helen Nilsson, sales agent with HER Real Living, says it's not uncommon to be working with first-time buyers at price points as high as $250,000.  Nilsson, whose Team Nilsson represents downtown condominium development CityView at 3rd, says she does not expect future downtown housing development to add more affordable alternatives.

 

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/05/07/focus3.html

 

Too bad it couldn't be another 5 stories taller but it should be a nice fill in that particular gap of the skyline. The tower should look really nice driving down 70 W towards downtown.

Amen and Hallelujah for another condo tower!(and one that is not on the high luxury end as well). The setbacks should help it blend I think. Not so bad now is it? :-)

Possibly Coleman is just holding off on something 'controversial' like streetcars before the election..and will go forward with it afterwards.?

Hope springs eternal. :-D 

 

Firefighting and street improvements are approved of by nearly everyone. I would rather he play it safe, get re-elected, and then go full force for some of these downtown improvements after securing his position. Maybe that is just wishful thinking but I am sticking with it.

 

*Isn't Coleman committed to using none/very little city money for the streetcars anyway?*

Another 10-15 of these and downtown would start filling in nicely.

Scary.

I'm all for incorporating historic elements into buildings from time to time, but I have to agree with seicer on this one.  It seems kind of awkward and out of place for the facades to be incorporated in this structure.  Maybe its just a bad rendering...who knows.  Either way, its still great news to hear more residential and another tower going up in Cbus!

 

Oh...I like the name too.  It has a classic feel to it (if that makes any sense at all).

It does look a bit like the tower is eating the historical building, but I like it anyway.  It's a little quirky and has character with all of the balconies and setbacks.

------------

To me, it looks like the glass tower grew out of the brick building like a vine taking over a tree and won. If it's done sometime next year that'd be great.

The tower should look really nice driving down 70 W towards downtown.

Scary.

 

 

You're right, Ink, it would be scary to see a tower driving down 70W.

The tower should look really nice driving down 70 W towards downtown.

Scary.

 

 

You're right, Ink, it would be scary to see a tower driving down 70W.

 

 

Ba-dum-ching!

ooh nice. looks great. i like it a lot, it's very "now" and new yorky looking. what i mean is that modern, asymmetrical additions like that sometimes happen on every block they can't tear down in nyc these days. first i've seen in ohio that looks and works just the same, so it's familiar in a good way.

Downtown condo sales drop

At least one developer says he's shelving a project

Wednesday,  May 30, 2007 3:40 AM

By Debbie Gebolys

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Downtown condos aren't immune to the real-estate slump.  Flashy new condos in the Arena District and the rest of Downtown bucked the regional and national sales downturn last year.  But so far this year, sales have dived to fewer than half the number at the same time in 2006.  It's enough to give one of Downtown's most prolific developers reason to pause.  Spectrum Properties owner Bill Shelby has built condos in three Downtown buildings and planned to start at a fourth. But he said recently that he's put those plans on hold.  "I'm waiting for the market," he said.  Shelby's latest, CityView at Third, 78 E. Chestnut St., was completed in December.  Nine of 48 condos are sold or in contract, he said.

 

His aren't the only condos that are selling slowly.  Of 18 townhouses at Rich Street Walk built last year at 579 and 587 E. Rich St., four have sold, Franklin County auditor's records show.  At the Terraces on Grant, 196 S. Grant Ave., 15 of 44 condos remain unsold after two years.  Through the first four months of 2007, just 67 Downtown homes sold or were under contract, according to the Columbus Board of Realtors.  That's fewer than half the 142 sold or under contract during the same period last year.  By comparison, real-estate sales in all of central Ohio declined 8 percent this year.

 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/05/30/DT_REAL.ART_ART_05-30-07_B1_EJ6S190.html

-----------

From the 6/1/07 Dispatch:

 

RENOVATION PROJECT

Athletic Club of Columbus to be updated for $10 million

Friday,  June 1, 2007 3:28 AM

By Mike Pramik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The Athletic Club of Columbus is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation that its operators say will bring the 92-year-old Downtown workout and meeting center into the 21st century.  The private club will spend more than $10 million to update the seven-story building so that fitness equipment, exercise space, meeting halls and dining areas are arranged more sensibly, general manager Frank DiLapo said.  The club will stay open during construction, which likely will take several years.

 

The Athletic Club has hired Meyers Welsh Architecture & Design to devise a master plan for the building at 136 E. Broad St. after polling members about potential improvements. It's expected to take the rest of the year to formulate the plan, and work should begin in 2008, DiLapo said.  "Our clubhouse was built in 1915, and the way people use private clubs today versus then is completely different," he said.  "We want to make sure as we roll into our centennial that we have a 21st-century facility."

 

More at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/business/stories/2007/06/01/Athletic_Club.ART_ART_06-01-07_C12_MA6ST2K.html?type=rss&cat=7

 

Automated garage envisioned for condos

Monday,  June 4, 2007 6:24 AM

By Mike Pramik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Developer Mark Jones wants nothing to do with surface parking lots, and the architect he hired for an ambitious Downtown condominium tower agrees.  Time Tower, a planned 48-unit building in the southeastern quadrant of Downtown, will employ the most innovative garage yet seen in central Ohio if it's built as planned.  The mechanized garage, built by the German company Klaus Car Parking Systems, will automatically park vehicles underground when drivers drop them off.

 

Jones' Blue Heron Land Co. has received preliminary approval from the Downtown Commission to build Time Tower as an adaptive reuse of the three-story former site of World Furniture at E. Town and S. 5th streets. The project will be of varying heights, with four sections reaching eight, nine, 12 and 15 stories.  Jones wants to begin work this year on the project, which will have 36 one-bedroom units ranging from 795 to 1,100 square feet. The remainder will be two-bedroom condos and penthouses, stretching to 1,800 square feet and more.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/business/stories/2007/06/04/ZONE0604.ART_ART_06-04-07_C14_856SUIA.html

which will offer up to 2,700 square feet in a '70s-style, updated building.

 

How trendy...

yeah that was a weird remark. i'd like to see the writer find another 70's style building in cols or anywhere for that matter that looks like the rendering. it's very oughts.

Automated parking garages are awesome. And very efficient. And very fast. Doesn't C-bus already have one?

Automated parking garages are awesome. And very efficient. And very fast. Doesn't C-bus already have one?

 

We've got one where you pull into stalls and go either up or down.  It sounds like this one is a "valet style".  You just park your car on a spot, and a fork lift thingy picks up your car and files it in a cubby hole.

We've got one where you pull into stalls and go either up or down.  It sounds like this one is a "valet style".  You just park your car on a spot, and a fork lift thingy picks up your car and files it in a cubby hole.

 

Cool beans!

------------

Firm takes dip into student housing

Business First of Columbus - June 8, 2007

by Brian R. Ball, Business First

 

Crawford Hoying affiliate Olentangy Commons Columbus Associates LLC paid $58.3 million June 1 for the complex, with plans to invest another $6 million to $7 million on renovations.  "We see an opportunity," said Brent Crawford, a principal in the firm. "Our goal is to restore that (apartment complex) as the place to be."  The 76-acre complex dates back to the early 1970s when the first parts opened. Crawford said it historically has attracted students from Ohio State and other colleges. 

 

About the deal

Transaction: Sale of a large apartment complex catering primarily to college students

Address: Leasing office at 4765 Blairfield Drive off Jasonway Avenue

Property size: Complex of 827 apartments spread over 76 acres

Price: $58.3 million

Financing: $49.6 million mortgage through KeyBank

Seller: Olentangy Commons LP/Dial Equities Inc. of Omaha, Neb.

Buyer: Olentangy Commons Columbus Associates LLC/Crawford Hoying Ltd. of Dublin

Brokers: Ed Joseph of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. represented the seller, while Brent Crawford, through the Crawford Hoying Smith Real Estate Services brokerage, represented the buyer.

Property management: Crawford Communities LLC

Leasing rates: Monthly rent for a one-bedroom, 710-square-foot unit not yet renovated begins at $610, while a 2,145-square-foot, three-bedroom unit costs about $1,360 after renovations.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/06/11/story5.html

Ground broken for renovation of Whetstone center

Thursday, June 14, 2007

By RANDY NAVAROLI, ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Columbus Recreation and Parks Department officials broke ground for the Whetstone Recreation Center renovation project June 12.  First cost estimates for the long-awaited project were set at $3.25-million for the renovations and a 6,000-square-foot addition to the aging rec center, but city officials decided to expand the project based on the community's needs.  The center is currently closed as preparations begin for the extensive renovations on the 50-year old facility.  The facility's programs have been moved to the Sharon Elementary School while renovations are completed.

 

Read more at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/061407/Clintonville/News/061407-News-372043.html

Downtown's rejuvenation piques troupe's interest

Business First of Columbus - June 22, 2007

by Adrian Burns

Business First

 

Shadowbox Cabaret is considering leaving its Easton Town Center home of the past eight years.  The sketch comedy and rock 'n' roll club is exploring sites in urban Columbus neighborhoods as options for when its lease expires in June 2009, General Manager Katy Psenicka said.  Some of those neighborhoods have grown in popularity and population since Shadowbox moved to Easton in 1999, Psenicka said, which has prompted the group to look at whether Easton is the best spot for the troupe before it renews a lease.  Also, Shadowbox has outgrown its 7,500-square-foot club, which holds 214 visitors, forcing it to turn away patrons on some nights.

 

"We're open to possibilities," Psenicka said.  "We just have to take a look at what are our needs may be a decade from now."  With two years before its lease is up, Shadowbox has time to consider the possibilities.  It could mean leaving Easton, renovating its club or moving to another place at the shopping and entertainment center.

 

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

"I don't want to disrespect Easton ... but the Short North has that credibility and that soul steeped in art," he said.

 

Go ahead and disrespect it.

From Business First of Columbus, 6/22/07:

 

 

Nonprofit building $11.5M apartments for homeless, mentally ill

Business First of Columbus - 1:00 PM EDT Friday, June 22, 2007

by Matt Burns, Business First

 

Franklin County Commissioners have allocated $500,000 toward a planned $11.5 million housing complex on Columbus' south side for families struggling with mental illness, chemical dependency and homelessness. The grant, provided through the local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was approved in a resolution Tuesday and comes weeks before construction on the Southpoint Place Apartments is scheduled to begin. Additional funding for the project includes equity on low-income housing tax credits of $7.3 million;, city of Columbus funding of $1.5 million; and funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank ($1 million).

 

Developing the complex, near Obetz Road and South High Street, is Columbus-based Community Housing Network Inc., a nonprofit corporation that oversees about 1,200 housing units in Franklin County. The network provides what Executive Director Susan Weaver calls "permanent supportive housing," complete with subsidized leases and social services.

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/06/18/daily28.html

 

Anyone remember 2Cos in the Short North? 

"I don't want to disrespect Easton ... but the Short North has that credibility and that soul steeped in art," he said.

 

Go ahead and disrespect it.

 

Maybe these places will start to open in these more urban/artistic communities in the first place...instead of screwing around with these faux urban environments.  Thank goodness someone is starting to get it...maybe.

Columbus has giant community couches. I guess they're cheaper than homeless shelters?

From the 3/21/07 Dispatch:

 

 

Web extra

* Summary of the study

* Full report of the study

 

COLUMBUS STATE

College pours $737 million into region, study says

Wednesday,  March 21, 2007 3:45 AM

By Encarnacion Pyle

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Tallying the benefits

An economic-impact study says Columbus State Community College contributes $737.2 million in income a year to the local economy. Here's how:

 

• $656.4 million: Increased earnings of students, past and present, who have taken Columbus State classes.

 

• $68 million: Employees' wages and the college's local purchases of services and supplies, including building equipment, computers and paper and ink.

 

• $12.8 million: Spending on books, food, housing, recreation and transportation by students from outside the region. Columbus State serves Delaware, Franklin, Madison and Union counties, and the college has a partnership with Pickaway County.

 

More at

http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/03/21/income.ART_ART_03-21-07_A1_MR6509G.html

I got my 4-year degree from OSU in Operations Management.  Went to Columbus State, took a 2-year post-grad Accounting Certificate program, and am in a much better situation because of it.  I agree with the article that CSCC is an underappreciated tool for Central Ohio.  On the flip side, I think CSCC doesn't work hard enough to intergrate itself into the urban fabric of DT Columbus.  For all the students who come and go throughout the day... there are next to ZERO services (restaurants/bars/cafes/bookstores... etc...) available in walking distance.  This must be corrected for DT Columbus to continue its forward progress.  Not to mention the fact that Franklin University and CCAD are all in the same vicinity as well.

I agree. I went to Columbus State to get my AA degree so I could transfer to OSU and it was a very wise decision. Not only that, but my parents saved a whole bunch of money by sending me there instead of OSU!!!

Condos fuel downtown population gain

Business First of Columbus - 4:14 PM EDT

Friday, June 29, 2007

by Matt Burns, Business First

 

Downtown Columbus has broken its half-century trend of flat or declining population with 30 percent growth this decade, a study said Friday.  Columbus-based Danter Co. said more than 1,000 people took up residence downtown between 2000 and 2006, bringing the center city's population to 4,502 - roughly the size of Groveport.  The study was a follow-up to a similar examination by the research firm in 2000, just as the downtown condo-development wave was starting to take shape.

 

Researcher Ken Danter said downtown's growth has been impressive given the doldrums for the Central Ohio housing market. He said purchases of downtown housing held steady at about 300 closings a year in 2005 and 2006.  "When you look at how condominium momentum has been growing ... that's even more significant," he said.  The study said demand for downtown housing is at more than 5,000 units, and it could increase by 30 percent if a streetcar system is installed.  The city is exploring developing a streetcar line for downtown.

 

Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/06/25/daily39.html 

Just imagine the population explosion when the condos lanquishing on the market actually sell.

 

That'll be, like, 150 extra residents.

-------------------------------

-----------------------

Schools' merger has folks talking

Deaf-blind campus raises land issues

Tuesday,  July 3, 2007 5:37 AM

By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The state released almost $1 million yesterday to begin planning and design work for the combined Ohio state schools for the deaf and blind.  Meanwhile, those who live near the Morse Road campus want a say in what it eventually looks like.

 

Alumni and others have worried about safety and other issues with a consolidated campus including academic and residential buildings. But the state Controlling Board approved $970,654 yesterday for studies that will determine the scope and budget of what could be a $40 million project to be finished by 2012.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/03/DEAFSKOOL.ART_ART_07-03-07_B1_IQ76JIR.html

Carpenter recycles salvage for profit and preservation

Business First of Columbus - July 6, 2007

by Cindy Bent Findlay, For Business First

 

Chris Sauer would like to help Columbus solve an old problem.  Sauer, a finish carpenter who often works in the Victorian Village area, says he grew tired of being unable to find a source of antique architectural elements for some projects - and seeing gorgeous old pieces thrown away on others.

 

In 2006, Sauer founded Columbus Architectural Salvage as a side business, and today opens his doors by appointment at his shop in Grandview.  He has stocked it with items such as clawfoot bathtubs, Arts and Crafts-style fireplace tools, mantels and surrounds, as well as more mundane items, such as doorknobs and doors. 

 

He says his business is the only one in the city that focuses on preserving and selling antique building parts.  One other local outlet, Habitat for Humanity's Build It Again Center on Westerville Road in Columbus, takes donations of new and used building materials and resells them to the public, though most of the stock is of new or newer material.

 

MORE: http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/07/09/focus1.html

Few specifics offered on plans to combine state schools

By KATHLEEN L. RADCLIFF

Suburban News Columbus

 

We'll know more in August. Meanwhile, details remain up in the air.  That was the message received by the residents who filled the multipurpose room at the Whetstone Library last week in hopes of learning more about plans to combine the Ohio State School for the Blind and the Ohio School for the Deaf on one Clintonville campus.

 

Eric Algoe, chief operations officer for both schools, and Robert Grinch, senior project administrator for the Ohio School Facilities Commission, presented an update on the proposal at Thursday's meeting of the Clintonville Area Commission.

 

Read more at http://www.snponline.com/NEWS7-11/7-11_boschools.html

 

----------------

-----------

Columbus will build 2 parking garages Downtown

Friday,  July 20, 2007 11:09 AM

By Robert Vitale

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Mayor Michael B. Coleman announced plans this morning for two parking garages that will add 1,400 spaces to a Downtown seen as pinched for parking.  The garages will go up at sites near 4th and Gay streets and southwest of the redeveloped Lazarus building.  The city has yet to purchase the sites, but Coleman said the garages will open in 2009.

 

“We must tackle … the issue of parking in our Downtown,” Coleman told a breakfast gathering. “We are hitting that head-on.”  The garages will be financed through the city by Columbus Downtown Development Corp. Chief executive Guy Worley said they'll be paid for in part by an assessment on nearby businesses.

 

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/20/parking.html

Awesome, apparently there is not enough parking dowtown.  I'm glad that this is one of the issues that Coleman is busy solving.

 

Columbus will build 2 parking garages Downtown