2 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

It really isn't feasible to go 20+ financially unless you're getting some insane tax benefits. I imagine this building is another Edwards project - he's the only guy in the city other than Kaufman with both the $$$ and b@lls to pull a project of this scale off. Despite the architecture of his two other projects, he's an amazing developer and truly seems to care and want to invest in the city in an impactful way. If we do ever see a capitol square tower, I'd bet my money he'd have some sort of involvement.

You’re correct, and I’m fine with only having a few more 20+ buildings. I would love to see an Edwards/Kaufman combo building, I think it would look great. 
 

since you have high praise for Edwards, is that who is doing the music venue on the peninsula?? Haha

I don't think we'll see another tower though until all the current ones have been converted/remodeled. PNC got its treatment, so did 5/3rd, Nationwide I bet will be converted or remodeled eventually due to their (generally speaking) vacation of the building. I've been told another large office tower in the area has been discussing changing hands and converting to apartments in the future as well.

1 minute ago, VintageLife said:

You’re correct, and I’m fine with only having a few more 20+ buildings. I would love to see an Edwards/Kaufman combo building, I think it would look great. 
 

since you have high praise for Edwards, is that who is doing the music venue on the peninsula?? Haha

No - I wish I knew him. He's a remarkable guy from what I've heard, and pretty humble as well. If anything, his ego seems to forget he enters the room, unlike other developers in the city...

10 hours ago, columbus17 said:

I imagine this building is another Edwards project

 

It is Edwards. 

10 hours ago, VintageLife said:

You’re correct, and I’m fine with only having a few more 20+ buildings.

 

I think the next 20+ story building will either be on the peninsula or it will be another hotel at the Convention Center. A hotel tower on the triangle surface lot on Goodale would definitely (in my mind) surpass 30-stories, and I think that is probably the best option for the next hotel given its proximity to the Short North. 

 

But with that said, let's keep building two or three 12-15 story buildings every year for the next decade. It will do wonders for the density of downtown, both visually and in actual population and amenity density. 

2 hours ago, cbussoccer said:

 

I think the next 20+ story building will either be on the peninsula or it will be another hotel at the Convention Center. A hotel tower on the triangle surface lot on Goodale would definitely (in my mind) surpass 30-stories, and I think that is probably the best option for the next hotel given its proximity to the Short North. 

 

But with that said, let's keep building two or three 12-15 story buildings every year for the next decade. It will do wonders for the density of downtown, both visually and in actual population and amenity density. 

We still don’t have the demand for new office space downtown - we won’t see many towers until then. However, the nearly complete occupation of the Astor Park office building by a single tenant is encouraging we’ll get there soon. Once the residential population goes up and more college educated, white collar residents are downtown, I think the large office towers will return.

4 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

We still don’t have the demand for new office space downtown - we won’t see many towers until then. However, the nearly complete occupation of the Astor Park office building by a single tenant is encouraging we’ll get there soon. Once the residential population goes up and more college educated, white collar residents are downtown, I think the large office towers will return.

 

The last three 350'+ towers have not been office-centric. Furthermore, the tower proposed for the Scioto Peninsula is not office-centric. Obviously a higher demand for downtown office space would make a new tower much easier, but I don't think it's out of the question that we can see a few more non-office towers (20+ stories) pop up over the next decade. 

16 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

The last three 350'+ towers have not been office-centric. Furthermore, the tower proposed for the Scioto Peninsula is not office-centric. Obviously a higher demand for downtown office space would make a new tower much easier, but I don't think it's out of the question that we can see a few more non-office towers (20+ stories) pop up over the next decade. 

We will, but it will be sparse. Residential can build out in multiple 1+5’s rather easily. There’s no incentive to clustering as many people in a building as possible - with the exception of a hotel or high end apartments/condos that want views. The Estrella, Peninsula, and Merchant all fit such criteria. But for most residential development, it doesn’t make sense. I think we’ll continue to see more 12-15 story developments closer to the heart of downtown as land along hot corridors becomes more sparse, and as banks feel more confident they will lease out, but I don’t foresee any new large towers past what we’ve seen until a commercial tenant enters the downtown market.

2 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

I think we’ll continue to see more 12-15 story developments closer to the heart of downtown as land along hot corridors becomes more sparse, and as banks feel more confident they will lease out

 

I definitely agree with this, and I think it's great. A cluster of 12-15 story residential buildings with ground floor retail will be a heck of a lot better for creating a healthy neighborhood than a few 35-story office towers. 

11 minutes ago, cbussoccer said:

 

I definitely agree with this, and I think it's great. A cluster of 12-15 story residential buildings with ground floor retail will be a heck of a lot better for creating a healthy neighborhood than a few 35-story office towers. 

But how will we ever be a real city without towers?!!!?? /s

Off topic but Columbus needs more downtown amenities and attractions. I would love it if a project like this downtown aquarium could get reintroduced. Someone smarter than me should email the Columbus zoo about it.

10 minutes ago, 614love said:

Off topic but Columbus needs more downtown amenities and attractions. I would love it if a project like this downtown aquarium could get reintroduced. Someone smarter than me should email the Columbus zoo about it.

Bring Otherworld downtown!!!

7 minutes ago, TIm said:

Bring Otherworld downtown!!!

Aquarium would be more impactful imo but I’m down for both!

3 hours ago, VintageLife said:

But how will we ever be a real city without towers?!!!?? /s

Well, you know...DC. I think =P

3 hours ago, 614love said:

Aquarium would be more impactful imo but I’m down for both!

100% room for both of those in the area. The aquarium should go behind the Vets Museum and then otherworld could go into Franklinton somewhere, maybe one of the river and rich stages. 

13 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

100% room for both of those in the area. The aquarium should go behind the Vets Museum and then otherworld could go into Franklinton somewhere, maybe one of the river and rich stages. 

 

Given its shape they could simply convert the Vets Museum building into an aquarium. Rename it the 'national veterans memorial aquarium' and done. Better to cut your losses early and they'd get a lot more people through the door

 

Edited January 19, 20241 yr by NW24HX

4 hours ago, VintageLife said:

100% room for both of those in the area. The aquarium should go behind the Vets Museum and then otherworld could go into Franklinton somewhere, maybe one of the river and rich stages. 

Gravity + Otherworld?

Can't they just put Otherworld in the old Strongwater and call it a day?

1 hour ago, ColDayMan said:

Can't they just put Otherworld in the old Strongwater and call it a day?

Not nearly big enough

Can they close the street and expand it to the dirt lot?

  

12 hours ago, dnymck said:

Here's the full scoring sheet for the latest TMUD round. Looks like the FCC development was pretty close but suffered from lack of payroll and taxes generated.

 

The TMUD scorecard above was posted in a Cincinnati project thread but I think will also be of interest to us here

 

Frankly, I'm baffled at the scores and wonder how they were calculated... there are a lot of strange inconsistencies that don't seem to make much sense

 

For example,

 

Scioto Peninsula (a huge project) pulls a measly 4 for "development size" yet the Galaxy at Polaris (much smaller and mostly a parking garage) is a perfect 10? A higher score in that category alone would have pushed the Peninsula into being funded

 

Also nearly every major city project scores a perfect 15 for "financing committed"? Really? (highly dubious) 

 

And Polaris scores well for walkability? In what universe? (sorry, galaxy)

 

Not to mention 40% of the entire funding given to one project? Why not spread the money around to the highest number of projects? You could fund the next 5 down the list and still have 10M+ left over for Cincinnati's "100% financing committed" convention hotel

 

I think the intent of the TMUD program is admirable but the results from each round have been disappointing and opaque. If this is reauthorized for additional years in the next budget I hope there are some changes forthcoming to the rules and decision-making process

 

Edited February 1, 20241 yr by NW24HX

7 minutes ago, NW24HX said:

  

 

The TMUD scorecard above was posted in a Cincinnati project thread but I think will also be of interest to us here

 

Frankly, I'm baffled at the scores and wonder how they were calculated... there are a lot of strange inconsistencies that don't seem to make much sense

 

For example,

 

Scioto Peninsula (a huge project) pulls a measly 4 for "development size" yet the Galaxy at Polaris (much smaller and mostly a parking garage) is a perfect 10? A higher score in that category alone would have pushed the Peninsula into being funded

 

Also early every major city project scores a perfect 15 for "financing committed"? Really? (highly dubious)

 

And 40% of the entire funding is given to one project? Why not spread the money around to the highest number of projects? You could fund at least the next 5 down the list and still have 10M+ left over for Cincinnati's convention hotel

 

I think the intent of the TMUD program is admirable but the results from each round have been disappointing and opaque. If this is reauthorized for additional years in the next budget I hope there are some changes forthcoming to the rules and decision-making process

 

Cinci's convention center is a botched project. Its a bail out because they made some big mistakes tearing down the hotel.

3 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

Cinci's convention center is a botched project. Its a bail out because they made some big mistakes tearing down the hotel.

This is great, lots of awesome info here. I'd love to see whatever guidance or criteria there was to base these scores off of. Pretty crazy that one project in Cincinnati took 40% of the entire available funds. I gotta go look into that, must be serious!

8 hours ago, NW24HX said:

  

 

The TMUD scorecard above was posted in a Cincinnati project thread but I think will also be of interest to us here

 

Frankly, I'm baffled at the scores and wonder how they were calculated... there are a lot of strange inconsistencies that don't seem to make much sense

 

For example,

 

Scioto Peninsula (a huge project) pulls a measly 4 for "development size" yet the Galaxy at Polaris (much smaller and mostly a parking garage) is a perfect 10? A higher score in that category alone would have pushed the Peninsula into being funded

 

Also nearly every major city project scores a perfect 15 for "financing committed"? Really? (highly dubious) 

 

And Polaris scores well for walkability? In what universe? (sorry, galaxy)

 

Not to mention 40% of the entire funding given to one project? Why not spread the money around to the highest number of projects? You could fund the next 5 down the list and still have 10M+ left over for Cincinnati's "100% financing committed" convention hotel

 

I think the intent of the TMUD program is admirable but the results from each round have been disappointing and opaque. If this is reauthorized for additional years in the next budget I hope there are some changes forthcoming to the rules and decision-making process

 

Galaxy at Polaris is just a garage? Huh? It's 30 acres of development i.e. larger than the entirety of the Peninsula. The Peninsula entry was just for the tower.

 

How is a 3/4 scoring well on walkability? Not to mention it's not an application for the entire area of Polaris.

 

The Merchant Building got $34 million last round. Convention (adjacent) projects will surely win these large payouts more easily.

Edited February 1, 20241 yr by aderwent

2 hours ago, aderwent said:

Galaxy at Polaris is just a garage? Huh? It's 30 acres of development i.e. larger than the entirety of the Peninsula. The Peninsula entry was just for the tower.

 

How is a 3/4 scoring well on walkability? Not to mention it's not an application for the entire area of Polaris.

 

The Merchant Building got $34 million last round. Convention (adjacent) projects will surely win these large payouts more easily.

 

Rewarding sprawl for taking up 30 acres is just another example of how this program is off the rails

 

Yes, Galaxy's 7 free standing outparcels each with their own surface parking sure do take up a lot of area. Just like how Wyoming takes up a lot more space than Manhattan

 

The largest part of the development are two massive single-use parking garages. Then there's a smattering of suburban walkups a half mile away and over a creek

 

3/4 says this should be pretty walkable, which it isn't. Per the site plan you can't even walk from Ikea Way into the development, like much of the area there are no paths provided

 

All this to say the scoring is simply a mess IMHO

 

Edited February 1, 20241 yr by NW24HX

The walkability score is just what the EPA National Walkability Index says for the project address. 

 

Quote

Walkability/Connectivity (4 points)

• Analysis of US EPA National Walkability Index dataset for the Project address based on relative walkability.

• Preference for Projects in areas of higher relative walkability.

• 1-4 scale, matching 4 levels of walkability (Least Walkable = 1, Below Average Walkable = 2, Above Average Walkable = 3, Most Walkable = 4) identified by US EPA.

 

Development size is straight up how many square feet the development is

 

Quote

Physical Scope (10 points)

• Comparative measurement of total development square feet.

• Scored through a ratio analysis – largest development gets 10 points, points assigned to other developments based on relative size to the largest.

 

Financing Committed also appears to be an objective measure

 

Quote

Financing Committed (15 points)

• Verified committed financing sources as a percentage of total eligible project costs.

• The requested tax credit amount will only be included as a “committed” financing source if the application includes a commitment letter from an identified purchaser of the requested tax credits. The anticipated purchase amount will be included in the committed sources.

• Preference for projects with a higher percentage of eligible project costs committed.

• Scored through a ratio analysis – projects that have committed sources for 100% of their eligible project costs will receive 15 points, points assigned to other projects based on relative financing committed

 

https://development.ohio.gov/static/business/stateincentives/Scoring-Matrix-FY2024.pdf
 

2 hours ago, NW24HX said:

 

Rewarding sprawl for taking up 30 acres is just another example of how this program is off the rails

 

Yes, Galaxy's 7 free standing outparcels each with their own surface parking sure do take up a lot of area. Just like how Wyoming takes up a lot more space than Manhattan

 

The largest part of the development are two massive single-use parking garages. Then there's a smattering of suburban walkups a half mile away and over a creek

 

3/4 says this should be pretty walkable, which it isn't. Per the site plan you can't even walk from Ikea Way into the development, like much of the area there are no paths provided

 

All this to say the scoring is simply a mess IMHO

 

What project are you talking about?

 

Two massive, single-use parking garages? There's not a single single-use parking garage. Phase I is just one garage.

 

A smattering of suburban walkups a half mile away? Connected to the parking garage: 290 units in a six story building. Across a small street: an additional 136 units in a five story apartment building. Also connected to the garage/six story is a 23,000sqft Putt Shack and a 14,000sqft restaurant space.

 

Per the site plan you can't even walk from Ikea Way into the development? Demonstrably false.

 

No paths provided? Demonstrably false.

 

All this is under construction. Anything else is preliminary and subject to change.

 

 

Active malls generally push walk scores through the roof. They usually have coffee shops and movie theaters close by also.

Edited February 1, 20241 yr by GCrites

A biz 1st article talking about how the Columbus projects fell short for the TMUD funding. 
 

The Punch List: Why Columbus projects fell short in 'transformational' tax credit competition

 

The state made two small changes to its scoring process for this round of tax credits, said Chris Magill, managing director for Vista Site Selection, who represented six projects that won tax credits this round, including the Casto Kroger Bakery project.

Those focused on how payroll was considered and how "well-developed" the plan was regarding placemaking and community impact.

 

Magill said size and footprint likely had more effect on the Columbus applicants than the scoring changes did.

 

"With Columbus being a more dense city and encouraging density, projects tend to take up less square footage, or are squeezed into a smaller footprint," Magill said.

Is it a worry that the TMUD program could actually stifle larger developments? The article includes this:

 

Thirty seven percent of winners in the second and third round were projects that had previously applied. Assembly had also applied twice before.

 

"It's not the end if you didn't win," Magill said. "Developers should stay resilient and apply again."

 

With millions of dollars at stake, could developers that might otherwise have the financing choose to slow-ball the process until they’ve exhausted their options with TMUD? Or am I just missing something here?

 

Edited February 5, 20241 yr by Bryan2Cbus
clarified which program I’m speaking of in the opening sentence.

4 minutes ago, Bryan2Cbus said:

Is it a worry that the TMUD program could actually stifle larger developments? The article includes this:

 

Thirty seven percent of winners in the second and third round were projects that had previously applied. Assembly had also applied twice before.

 

"It's not the end if you didn't win," Magill said. "Developers should stay resilient and apply again."

 

With millions of dollars at stake, could developers that might otherwise have the financing choose to slow-ball the process until they’ve exhausted their options with TMUD? Or am I just missing something here?

 

Yeah I found that pretty stupid. Hopefully the pressure developers are putting on the state to up the TMUD to $400 million helps with that. 

That could be kind of risky though. Let's say you play slow ball and in the meantime labor and materials skyrocket. On the other hand right now you can be stuck in Round 3 while interest rates tank and borrowing gets cheaper.

Google Maps has appeared to have updated it's satellite view of Columbus! Appears to be from some point during the summer/fall of 2023. 

4 minutes ago, KyleofColumbus said:

Google Maps has appeared to have updated it's satellite view of Columbus! Appears to be from some point during the summer/fall of 2023. 

I think that's old. It looks the same.

23 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

I think that's old. It looks the same.

See if you're able to do an update? See below a screenshot from my computer that shows the new "Current" on High St as well as the progress of the Nicholas building. 

14 minutes ago, KyleofColumbus said:

See if you're able to do an update? See below a screenshot from my computer that shows the new "Current" on High St as well as the progress of the Nicholas building. 

Yeah it's been like that for a while now.

More apartments planned for busy Hamilton Road corridor

 

Homeport plans to add 60 apartments to the Hamilton Road corridor.

 

Columbus City Council rezoned 5432 North Hamilton Road Monday, clearing the way for the the affordable housing developer to apply for Low Income Housing Tax Credits for the $20 million project, said Aaron Wasserman, Homeport's vice president of real estate development.

 

Homeport will apply later this month for the tax credits, which the Ohio Housing Finance Agency could announce in May. Wasserman said the project hinges on landing those credits.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/02/14/hamilton-road-apartments-columbus-homeport.html

 

Fate of Christopher Columbus statue still up in the air, city seeks input

 

The city of Columbus wants feedback about what should happen to the Christopher Columbus statue that formerly occupied the grounds of City Hall.

 

The 20-foot statue was removed from its downtown home in 2020. Last year, Columbus was awarded $2 million from the Mellon Foundation's Monuments Project to help re-contextualize the statue.

 

Now conversations about that context are set to move forward.

 

In the coming months, the Reimagining Columbus initiative will hold community meetings to discuss the fate of the statue and what to put in its place.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2024/02/20/christopher-columbus-statue-public-campaign.html

 

As I highly doubt they will ever put it back in it's original location, I've always thought an appropriate replacement could be the statue of Lucas Sullivant.  Either the one over in Genoa park by Cosi or a newly commissioned one.  He's the true surveyor/settler of the area.  Just my two cents, I know there are plenty of opinions and good ideas out there. 

12 minutes ago, Gnoraa said:

As I highly doubt they will ever put it back in it's original location, I've always thought an appropriate replacement could be the statue of Lucas Sullivant.  Either the one over in Genoa park by Cosi or a newly commissioned one.  He's the true surveyor/settler of the area.  Just my two cents, I know there are plenty of opinions and good ideas out there. 

It should be a nod to the natives that had already lived here. It was already settled before Sullivant was even here. This city is a joke when it comes to actually honoring the native history of the area. 

Quote

This process will include work with historians to research and understand Christopher Columbus’ legacy and the impacts of colonialism. We’ll then convene significant community engagement to encourage the sharing of personal histories and lived experiences associated with the Christopher Columbus statue. The City of Columbus will also invest $1.5 million in new public art on the City Hall campus that reflects who we are as a city today.

I was a bit confused at first if this effort is solely geared towards rehoming/recontextualizing the Columbus statue or finding a replacement piece for City Hall. From the Reimagining Columbus website quote above, it sounds like it's both.

Honestly, it really should be...

The city was also suppose to address the flag and seal following the big re-examination of Columbus push as well but haven't seen or heard anything about it since. The Broad Street seals are also all Columbus (the explorer) related and could be redone to include many different things more representative of the city, its people, and history. 

3 hours ago, DTCL11 said:

The city was also suppose to address the flag and seal following the big re-examination of Columbus push as well but haven't seen or heard anything about it since. The Broad Street seals are also all Columbus (the explorer) related and could be redone to include many different things more representative of the city, its people, and history. 

It's history. There's plenty of other roads they can add stuff to. 

We should use this opportunity to finally realize the 90s proposal for the Serpent Mound canopy over the Broad St bridge

 

Honestly I couldn't care less about where the Columbus statue ends up

 

https://columbusunderground.com/never-built-columbus-serpent-mound-canopy-bw1/

 

 

Edited February 21, 20241 yr by NW24HX

46 minutes ago, columbus17 said:

It's history. There's plenty of other roads they can add stuff to. 

 

It's not history and carries little to no significance to the city itself on the prominent bridge. The same 2 Columbus Crest and Ship medallions are repeated at least 36 times. A total of 72. And insets of the Columbus city seal a handful of times with plenty more insets ready for additional markers. 

 

There's plenty of room for re-envisioned bridge details that includes things alot more relevant to this land locked city on non navigable waterways than ships that landed hundreds of miles to the east 500+ years ago 36 times and the crest of said explorer on arguably one of the most prominent places in the city. 

 

Relegating more relevant history to Columbus to less prominent areas seems silly. Preserving the medallions as is more silly as we look at how little Columbus actually relates to Columbus other than a decision to name the city after someone popular at the time. 

 

 

Central Ohio sees record amount of new warehouse space

 

"A record 19.3 million square feet worth of industrial and warehouse space, nearly 7 million more square feet than the previous year, was built in Central Ohio last year. 

 

Central Ohio's boom in warehouse construction started during the pandemic, as retailers had to instantly accommodate an explosion in online shopping, and suppliers fought to fill sudden gaps in the supply chain.

 

In the first few years of the pandemic, builders could hardly keep up with demand. Now, supply has more than caught up.

 

About 6.5 million square feet of industrial space is under construction now in central Ohio, but builders for the most part are taking a breather when those wrap up as demand catches up to supply.

 

Despite a glut of space now, Wendorf, Clark and others are bullish on central Ohio's market for industrial and warehouse space. The area's central location, cargo airport, retail industry, and highway and rail access have long given it a niche in the logistics and warehouse world, and helped it become the nation's 15th largest distribution hub with 292 million square feet of industrial space."

 

https://www.dispatch.com/story/business/2024/03/01/columbus-distribution-industry-continues-covid-boom/72687760007/

 

This will be interesting to follow. 
 

Reports suggests demand for downtown apartments is outweighed by supply

 

In 2023, 12,000 people called downtown Columbus home, according to a newly released report from the Capital Crossroads and Discovery District Special Improvement Districts. That's an increase of 3% from the 11,650 residents in 2022 and a 29% increase from the 9,270 residents in 2019.

That same report predicts the population will continue to grow to about 16,400 by 2026.

 

But Rob Vogt, managing partner at Vogt Strategic Insights, warns that the 5,800 apartments planned to come online in the next few years could take about eight years to be absorbed, if current apartment absorption rates continue.

 

Occupancy for market-rate apartments in downtown Columbus is about 89%, about five percentage points lower than the rest of the region, according to a downtown apartment market study by Vogt Strategic Insights.

 

That translates to 11% vacancy, which Vogt said is about double an ideal rate.

Overall, Vogt surveyed the occupancy of 10,481 units in the downtown market in December 2023. The report calls out a two newly opened apartment complexes with lower occupancy rates:

One at the Peninsula is about 33% leased since opening in November.

Gravity's second phase is about 30% leased after the first units opened in June 2023.

19 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

This will be interesting to follow. 
 

Reports suggests demand for downtown apartments is outweighed by supply

 

In 2023, 12,000 people called downtown Columbus home, according to a newly released report from the Capital Crossroads and Discovery District Special Improvement Districts. That's an increase of 3% from the 11,650 residents in 2022 and a 29% increase from the 9,270 residents in 2019.

That same report predicts the population will continue to grow to about 16,400 by 2026.

 

But Rob Vogt, managing partner at Vogt Strategic Insights, warns that the 5,800 apartments planned to come online in the next few years could take about eight years to be absorbed, if current apartment absorption rates continue.

 

Occupancy for market-rate apartments in downtown Columbus is about 89%, about five percentage points lower than the rest of the region, according to a downtown apartment market study by Vogt Strategic Insights.

 

That translates to 11% vacancy, which Vogt said is about double an ideal rate.

Overall, Vogt surveyed the occupancy of 10,481 units in the downtown market in December 2023. The report calls out a two newly opened apartment complexes with lower occupancy rates:

One at the Peninsula is about 33% leased since opening in November.

Gravity's second phase is about 30% leased after the first units opened in June 2023.

The bottleneck is being hit. We have the space now (which will help with affordability), but due to a lack of amenities, no one's moving into it. Downtown is still very much a selective environment.

47 minutes ago, VintageLife said:

This will be interesting to follow. 
 

Reports suggests demand for downtown apartments is outweighed by supply

 

In 2023, 12,000 people called downtown Columbus home, according to a newly released report from the Capital Crossroads and Discovery District Special Improvement Districts. That's an increase of 3% from the 11,650 residents in 2022 and a 29% increase from the 9,270 residents in 2019.

That same report predicts the population will continue to grow to about 16,400 by 2026.

 

But Rob Vogt, managing partner at Vogt Strategic Insights, warns that the 5,800 apartments planned to come online in the next few years could take about eight years to be absorbed, if current apartment absorption rates continue.

 

Occupancy for market-rate apartments in downtown Columbus is about 89%, about five percentage points lower than the rest of the region, according to a downtown apartment market study by Vogt Strategic Insights.

 

That translates to 11% vacancy, which Vogt said is about double an ideal rate.

Overall, Vogt surveyed the occupancy of 10,481 units in the downtown market in December 2023. The report calls out a two newly opened apartment complexes with lower occupancy rates:

One at the Peninsula is about 33% leased since opening in November.

Gravity's second phase is about 30% leased after the first units opened in June 2023.

With the amount of product that came online in and near downtown last year, I guess it’s not super surprising. There’s gonna be several hundred more units coming online this and next year too. Hopefully, 1) this is enough to bring prices down to a level that anyone who wants to live downtown can afford to (the article does mention the designated affordable units are all leased up), and 2) all of the coming amenities are enough to keep enticing more people to choose to live downtown.