Rt. 315 tech corridor proposed

Battelle, chamber, OSU to join city in exploring ways to tap area’s potential

By Mike Pramik THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Civic leaders in Columbus want to market an 8-mile stretch along Rt. 315 as a research-and-technology corridor.  Columbus City Council President Matt Habash and Councilwoman Mary Jo Hudson will introduce legislation Monday to pay a consulting firm $138,000 to help the city define the concept.  Battelle, the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and Ohio State University are supporting the initiative.

 

The funding would go to the chamber to develop a research-corridor master plan. O’Brien/Atkins, an architectural and planning firm based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, would conduct the study.  The idea is to publicize the technology assets already present in the area, roughly bounded by Riverside Methodist Hospital, OSU, Gowdy Field and North Star Road.  It also could involve working with suburban communities and identifying land that could be set aside to serve high-tech interests, Habash said.

 

More at www.dispatch.com

Great idea!

This was approved.  From ThisWeek Newspapers, 7/21/05:

 

 

Columbus approves exploration of tech corridor on Route 315

Thursday, July 21, 2005

BY RANDY NAVAROLI

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Columbus City Council approved legislation July 18 to hire a contractor to explore the establishment of a research and technology corridor along state Route 315.  The proposed technology corridor would stretch eight miles from roughly Riverside Hospital and North Star Road south along the Olentangy River to OSU and Goodale Boulevard.  Council approved a $138,000 expenditure from its jobs growth fund to hire North Carolina-based O'Brien/Atkins to develop a corridor master plan for the area.  The plan will include a catalog of the assets of the project area, a land analysis of the project area and an overall master plan to guide the corridor's development.

 

O'Brien/Atkins is also aiding Dublin city officials with their effort to create the 1,500-acre Central Ohio Innovation Center.  Ty Marsh, president of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, said the city, Battelle Labs, OSU and the chamber will join forces to drive the project.  The technology-research area currently in place in Columbus is limited to Battelle, OSU and several other science-based industries, such as the Science and Technology Campus Corp., the Business Technology Center and the Ohio Supercomputer Center, all of which are located along Kinnear Road.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/thisweek.php?edition=UpperArlington&story=thisweeknews/072105/UpperArlington/News/072105-News-620464.html

 

From ThisWeek Newspapers (Upper Arlington), 8/18/05:

 

 

UA could benefit from Columbus plan

Thursday, August 18, 2005

By CHRIS BOURNEA

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Upper Arlington's business community may benefit from a proposal that Columbus City Council is entertaining to market an 8-mile stretch along state Route 315 as a research-and-technology corridor.  Columbus City Council president Matt Habash and council member Mary Jo Hudson introduced legislation July 22 to pay North Carolina-based consulting firm O'Brien/Atkins $138,000 to help develop a research-corridor master plan.

 

The plan would market technology interests in the area bounded by Riverside Methodist Hospital, Ohio State University, Gowdy Field and North Star Road. The research-and-technology corridor would incorporate Upper Arlington and other surrounding communities, including Grandview Heights and Clinton Township.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/thisweek.php?edition=UpperArlington&story=thisweeknews/081805/UpperArlington/News/081805-News-637732.html

 

From ThisWeek Upper Arlington, 3/23/06:

 

 

315 corridor, Metro School will boost area science assets, Battelle CEO says

Thursday, March 23, 2006

By CHRIS BOURNEA

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

During his address at the Upper Arlington Area Chamber of Commerce March 16 meeting at the Buckeye Hall of Fame, Battelle Memorial Institute president and CEO Carl Kohrt said he is enthusiastic that the (state Route) 315 research and technology corridor will move forward.  Battelle, along with the cities of Upper Arlington, Grandview and Columbus, are participating in the development of a scientific corridor along an 8-mile stretch of state Route 315.  Last summer, Columbus City Council approved paying a consulting firm $138,000 to explore the possibility of promoting the technology assets in the area bounded by Riverside Methodist Hospital, Ohio State University, Gowdy Field and North Star Road.

 

The area includes Battelle and several technology initiatives along Kinnear Road, including the Science and Technology Campus Corp., known as SciTech.  "The corridor will build on the critical mass that is already built up," Kohrt said, "so we will not be starting from scratch."  Moving the development of the corridor forward will require investments in infrastructure, such as improving central Ohio's fiber-optic network, Kohrt said.  Developing the 315 corridor "will take collaboration, it will take compromise," he said.  "But ultimately, it will bring jobs."

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/thisweek.php?edition=UpperArlington&story=thisweeknews/032306/UpperArlington/News/032306-News-118481.html

 

All stories from Business First of Columbus, 5/15/06:

 

 

Proposed corridor embraces technology and research

Business First of Columbus - May 12, 2006

by Dan Eaton

Business First

 

Michael Breslin's company gives backers of the Route 315 Research and Technology Corridor a reason to crow and a reason to cringe.  The chief executive officer of Excera Materials Group Inc. conceived the idea for a high-strength, light-weight composite material while earning undergraduate and graduate degrees at Ohio State University.

 

He and his co-founders, including Glenn Daehn, professor of Materials Science and Engineering at OSU, formed the business and set up shop in the Business Technology Center incubator on Kinnear Road.  Today, the company employs 20, has annual sales of $1.5 million and a growing reputation in the body armor market.  But the company no longer calls Columbus home. Excera moved to Worthington in 2005.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/05/15/focus1.html?from_rss=1

 

---

Transferring technology is the goal

Business First of Columbus - May 12, 2006

by Dan Eaton

Business First

 

No matter what the outcome for the final planning of the Route 315 Research and Technology Corridor, the thing that will drive the corridor's success is technology transfer - turning ideas into products and services.  "The engine in this race car is OSU," said Jay Smith, principal in Durham, N.C.-based O'Brien/ Atkins Associates, consultants on the corridor. "It is what will make this sing."

 

OSU has the professors and graduate students who develop the technology and conduct the research.  Such is the case with, among others, Michael Breslin and Excera Materials Group Inc. in Worthington and former OSU research scientists Drs. Yang Liu and Pan Zheng at OncoImmune Inc., which still calls the Business Technology Center home.

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/05/15/focus2.html?from_rss=1

 

---

Municipalities line up to collaborate, reap benefits

Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and Clinton Township stand to benefit

Business First of Columbus - May 12, 2006

by Dan Eaton

Business First

 

Getting the Route 315 Tech Corridor running will not just require cooperation between industry, institutions and government, but also the collaboration among governments.  Columbus is leading the effort, but the corridor includes or abuts three other communities - Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and Clinton Township - all of which will be part of the process as well.

 

The nature of the collaborations is still to be determined, but after preliminary talks, leaders from all communities are on board.  "We've all come to realize that the real competition isn't each other. It's places like Nashville," said Matt Habash, Columbus City Council president.  "The head of a company like Dell Computers said he didn't even consider Columbus, but we stack up well to Nashville."

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/05/15/focus3.html?from_rss=1

 

I think their biggest concern should be the fibre optic infrastructure if they're looking to bring in high-tech companies.

From ThisWeek Clintonville, 6/29/06:

 

 

Sci-tech corridor tax incentive OK'd

Thursday, June 29, 2006

By RANDY NAVAROLI

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Columbus City Council approved a unique tax incentive agreement June 26 between the city's development department and Ohio State University Physicians Inc. (OSUP) that will allow the medical facility to keep its personnel and headquarters within city limits.  The 10-year technology growth incentive agreement will give the physicians group a tax break equal to 30 percent of the withholding tax leveled against its current and future employees.

 

OSUP officials had been seeking a new location outside of city limits, a move that would have left Columbus without the benefits of the group's tax contribution.  Development department and city officials quickly went to work devising the new incentive agreement tailored to OSUP's needs.  OSUP currently employs about 1,200 people throughout central Ohio.  The incentive agreement means it will expand its facility at 700 Ackerman Road and consolidate its headquarters facility.  It will allow OSUP to retain 100 jobs at its Ackerman Road location, move another 50 from its Dublin office and add 50 more employees by the end of the year.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=Clintonville&story=thisweeknews/062906/Clintonville/News/062906-News-178893.html

 

From ThisWeek West Side, 7/16/06:

 

 

City seeks $5M grant to fund sci-tech corridor

Sunday, July 16, 2006

By RANDY NAVAROLI

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Columbus city officials are pursuing a $5-million state grant that could help them move forward a plan to establish a research and technology corridor along Kinnear Road.  Columbus City Council approved a plan June 10 to partner with the science and technology campus and several local communities to apply for the grant from the Ohio Job Ready Sites Program.  The state program, approved by Ohio voters as a bond issue in November 2005, is a $2-billion public works and economic development effort.

 

Under state guidelines, the grant money must be used for large-impact projects, infrastructure improvements, building construction and demolition and brownfield remediation.  The city will use the $5-million, if it is approved, to build speculation buildings and make infrastructure improvements in the corridor, according to Councilwoman Mary Jo Hudson, who chairs council's jobs and economic development committee.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=West&story=thisweeknews/071606/West/News/071606-News-190568.html

 

Glad this is coming together. The work on Gowdy Field has begun with TimeWarner's new local headquarters going up. It's definitely a great area for this sort of development, especially due to its proximity to downtown and the inner ring suburbs of Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington.

From ThisWeek Grandview, 7/27/06:

 

 

Design contract awarded to Burgess and Niple

Thursday, July 27, 2006

By RANDY NAVAROLI

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

Columbus City Council has awarded a $500,000 contract to Burgess and Niple, Inc. to begin work on the Kinnear Road improvement project.  The project is a major part of the city of Columbus plan to create a science and technology corridor along state Route 315.  Burgess and Niple will conduct a preliminary engineering study of Kinnear Road from North Star Road on the west up to the Route 315 southbound off ramp intersection to the east.

 

The study will focus on developing engineering alternatives for widening the road, as well as designing drainage and streetscape features.  The plan will enhance access for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists by improving the existing pavement, curbs and sidewalks.  The master plan for the corridor breaks the 10,000-acre corridor into six strategic areas encompassing about 350 acres of developable land.  The largest of the strategic areas is a 200-acre plot near Kenny and Ackerman roads and Lane Avenue.  The second-largest site earmarked by the plan for future sci-tech development is a 50-acre site off Kinnear Road.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=Grandview&story=thisweeknews/072706/Grandview/News/072706-News-196213.html

 

From ThisWeek Upper Arlington, 8/24/06:

 

 

315 tech corridor expected to attract redevelopment to Upper Arlington

Thursday, August 24, 2006

By CHRIS BOURNEA

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

The 315 research and technology corridor presents numerous economic development opportunities for Upper Arlington, city officials say.  Upper Arlington, Columbus, Grandview Heights and several other entities are participating in the development of a scientific research corridor along an 8-mile stretch of state Route 315.  The corridor stretches from Ohio Health's facilities at 315 and North Broadway, south and east along Kinnear Road and into Ohio State University's campus, south through Battelle to COSI, west to Mt. Carmel and then east to Columbus Children's Hospital.

 

The corridor's boundaries cross four jurisdictions and cover nearly 10,000 acres, making it one of the largest research parks in the nation, according to the business plan.  "In Upper Arlington, we think of AOL and CompuServe as a very big part of this corridor" as well as other local technology firms such as the Engineering Mechanics Corporation of Columbus, city manager Virginia Barney said.

 

For more information on the 315 corridor, visit www.columbuscitycouncil.org/techcorridor.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?edition=UpperArlington&story=thisweeknews/082406/UpperArlington/News/082406-News-212197.html

 

New labs, commerce, jobs part of Rt. 315 plan

Consultants roll out development goals for research, tech corridor

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Mike Pramik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

The prospect of a transportation hub at Goodale Street, business incubators at COSI Columbus or a federal laboratory rising in a central Ohio field might seem like pipe dreams.  But they’re part of a master plan being announced today for the Rt. 315 Research and Technology Corridor.  The plan calls for educational, scientific and corporate assets spread over 10,000 acres along the central Ohio highway.  The concept for the recently branded corridor was created by the Research Triangle consultancy O’Brien/Atkins and is being championed by central Ohio leaders as a source of future jobs.

 

They say that more than $1 billion worth of research has been commissioned in the area that includes Ohio State University, Battelle and four major hospital systems.  One goal is to double the 50,000 jobs that exist in the area by 2025.  "The top goal is to expand the potential of those jobs," Columbus City Councilwoman Mary Jo Hudson said. "We need to make sure that we’re working for the success of our future generations. This area offers those types of opportunities."

 

 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/30/20060830-D1-02.html

 

SR 315 Tech Corridor Graphic: http://dispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/30/20060830-D2-00.html

 

 

Council at odds over tech corridor

Rt. 315 plan not collaborative, some say

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Jodi Andes

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Making Columbus into a technology Mecca hinges on people working together.  "Collaboration will make or break us," Columbus City Council President Matt Habash said yesterday as he unveiled the city’s plan to bring tech jobs and companies to an area along Rt. 315.  But in the latest sign of dissent among the all-Democrat City Council, three council members say they are concerned because Habash didn’t first collaborate with them.

 

The council members said they hadn’t seen the "strategic playbook" Habash presented to area leaders for the 10,000 acres along Rt. 315 that the city and its partners have dubbed the Sci-Tech Corridor.  The plan unveiled yesterday by Habash and Councilwoman Mary Jo Hudson calls for cooperation among Columbus, Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and Clinton Township.  The Columbus City Council unanimously agreed to invest more than $2.5 million in improving infrastructure along Kinnear Road and McKinley Avenue so technology businesses could grow there, but how much more the plan could cost is unclear.

 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/31/20060831-D4-00.html

 

From ThisWeek Upper Arlington, 9/14/06:

 

 

Council OKs tech business payment

Thursday, September 14, 2006

By CHRIS BOURNEA

ThisWeek Staff Writer

 

After much discussion Monday night, Upper Arlington City Council unanimously passed legislation authorizing a $150,000 payout over a three-year period to TechColumbus.  TechColumbus, a business incubator located at 1275 Kinnear Road, was seeking matching funds from the city of Upper Arlington and several other municipalities as part of an application to receive $15-million to develop new businesses from the state of Ohio's Third Frontier program.

 

In exchange for Upper Arlington's investment, TechColumbus executives have promised to work with city officials to identify sites where emerging technology businesses can locate within the city's borders.  TechColumbus has also received individual $750,000 commitments from the cities of Columbus, Dublin and New Albany, as well as a $150,000 commitment from Franklin County.  Upper Arlington's funds will be disbursed to TechColumbus in three $50,000 payments from the city's Economic Development Fund.

 

Full story at http://www.snponline.com/NEWS9-13/9-13_coluatv315corridor.htm

 

From ThisWeek Hilliard, 4/5/07:

 

 

Nanotechnology jobs to move to Columbus' Tech Corridor

Thursday, April 5, 2007

 

A 10-year, 65-percent jobs creation tax credit is being used to lure a nanotechnology firm from Richardson, Texas, to the 315 Research and Technology Corridor.  Nanotechnology is the science and technology of building devices from single atoms and molecules.  Mayor Michael B. Coleman on Monday announced his proposal for not only the jobs creation tax credit but also a 30-percent jobs growth incentive to bring Zyvex Performance Materials Inc. to Columbus.

 

The proposal was subject to City Council approval, which was granted on Monday.  If council members give their consent, "109 jobs in the high-tech world of nanotechnology will be moving into the city," according to Coleman's press secretary, Michael S. Brown.  "Columbus is fast-becoming a tech-town, with small and large companies and talent working with major research engines like OSU and Battelle," Coleman said in the announcement.

 

Full story at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/040507/Hilliard/News/040507-News-331669.html

 

grasscat, it is amazing that you are able to remember all these old threads and keep showing how a story develops over multiple years.  That helps put things in context to say the least.  Great stuff.

 

Credit this post to BrownsFan.....

 

OSU'S WEST CAMPUS

Modified 315 tech corridor in works

Coleman, Gee OK preliminary ideas for smaller project

Sunday,  February 24, 2008 6:54 AM

 

A year and a half ago, Columbus announced plans to turn 10,000 acres along Rt. 315 into a place that would attract research and technology companies.  The so-called 315 Research & Technology Corridor would bring 50,000 jobs to an 8-mile stretch along the freeway between Riverside Methodist Hospital and Downtown, with areas for people to work, live and play.  But the project stalled -- "never got fully formed" is the way Ty Marsh, president of the Columbus Chamber, put it.

 

Now, the city is pulling back its focus to the west side of Rt. 315 between Kinnear Road and Lane Avenue, where Ohio State University has been working to develop a technology park.  Mayor Michael B. Coleman and OSU President E. Gordon Gee met recently to set priorities for building a 21st-century version of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.  The area of interest is mostly undeveloped and needs utilities and roads, which Columbus could supply.  But it is on OSU's West Campus, offering the resources of the university as well as its research hospitals, and is close to Battelle and Chemical Abstracts Service.

 

Full story at http://dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/02/24/TechC.ART_ART_02-24-08_D1_K19EG13.html?sid=101

 

can these threads be merged?

My bad on starting a new thread. I guess I need to do a better job of finding the old ones.

Nice catch BrownsFan.  Interesting update for the 315 Tech Corridor idea.  Too bad the original map from 2005 isn't still showing. 

Here's a project website:(a pretty good one at that....)

 

http://www.315corridor.com/

Here's a project website:(a pretty good one at that....)

 

http://www.315corridor.com/

 

Thanks.  It is a pretty good website.  And there's a pdf of the 2005 MasterPlan that has the original map I was looking for.  The original 315 Tech Corridor planning scope looks like it went from Riverside Hospital at the north and continued south to the OSU campus, Battelle and Mt. Carmel Hospital, while also including COSI and Children's Hospital.

 

An editoral in today's Dispatch about the 315 Tech Corridor...

 

 

Rt. 315 corridor for high technology is given a course correction

Saturday, March 1, 2008 - 2:55 AM

 

The proposed 315 Research & Technology Corridor is a worthwhile project that ultimately could mean high-paying jobs, new businesses contributing to the tax base and a national identity for Columbus.  But the master plan to unify all the various science and technology ventures along an 8-mile stretch of Rt. 315 into a technology park perhaps was overreaching.  A decision by Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman and Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee to scale down the project is sensible.

 

The master plan called for development of the 10,000 acres between Riverside Methodist Hospital on the north and COSI Columbus on the south.  The governments of Columbus, Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington and Clinton Township would make infrastructure improvements to the roads and utilities.  Developers would build laboratories and offices, add parking lots and garages and also improve entertainment and shopping.  A community center would be built.  The whole area would be distinguished by common architecture and signs.

 

But now that plan has been gathering dust for a year and a half.  With new officials serving on the Columbus City Council and the new president of OSU settled in, all parties can focus this ambitious undertaking and get it moving.  The idea is to concentrate on the west side of Rt. 315 between Kinnear Road and Lane Avenue.

 

Full editorial at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2008/03/01/315corr.ART_ART_03-01-08_A10_IV9G6JE.html?sid=101

Companies gravitate to existing spaces along technology corridor

Business First of Columbus

Brian R. Ball, Business First

Friday, May 2, 2008

 

The planned expansion of an Ohio State University-sponsored research and technology campus along Kinnear and Kenny roads has sparked some marketers of nearby commercial properties to catch the technology wave.  But the demand for those properties could depend on how quickly the campus of the Science and Technology Campus Corp., or Scitech, gets under way and how aggressive their rates for space compete with the private-sector space.

 

Operating under the umbrella of TechColumbus, the area's business technology promoter, Scitech consists of a collection of buildings on OSU's West Campus and between 60 and 70 acres the nonprofit research park leases from the university.  Much of the existing space, principally old warehouses and light assembly buildings, remains undeveloped as the idea of the stretch of properties along Route 315 between North Broadway Avenue and downtown is promoted as the technology corridor gains momentum.

 

Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/05/05/focus5.html?f=et177&b=1209960000^1629924&ana=e_vert

 

Tech plan needs push, some say

Sunday, September 14, 2008

By Mark Ferenchik

The Columbus Dispatch

 

The Columbus City Council paid a consultant $138,000 three years ago to figure out how to develop and market a research and technology corridor along Rt. 315.  Today, the city, Ohio State University and others still are working on the idea.  Companies have expressed interest in moving near the university, said Ted Ford, president of TechColumbus, a technology-business incubator that manages the tech campus.

 

He said he couldn't reveal who they are.  But the tech-corridor idea, and Forbes magazine this year naming Columbus as the top up-and-coming tech city in the country, have helped create a buzz.  But if the concept is to have any momentum, some say, leaders must work on the corridor daily, especially if it will be used as a marketing tool to attract business.

 

 

Read more at http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/09/14/copy/CORRIDOR315.ART_ART_09-14-08_B1_27BAN55.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

OSU aims to jolt research alliances

Business First of Columbus - by Kevin Kemper

Monday, November 2, 2009

 

Science and Technology Campus Corp., the Ohio State University-affiliated developer of west campus’ research and technology park, is planning to expand with a 40,580-square-foot research and office complex adjacent to the university’s ElectroScience Laboratory.  Tentatively called the Wireless Communication/Radio Frequency Research Building, the $7.3 million project is designed as companion space to the nationally recognized lab.

 

Construction on the new building is scheduled to begin in 30 to 60 days said SciTech President Doug Aschenbach.  SciTech expects the project to be completed by late 2010 or early 2011.  As envisioned by the project’s Akron-based architect, Braun & Steidl Architects Inc., the building would be connected by a covered walkway to the laboratory at 1320 Kinnear Road. 

 

 

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/11/02/story2.html

 

<b>TechColumbus Growing Regional Tech Industry One Business at a Time</b>

Community Support — By Melanie McIntyre on September 3, 2010

 

<img src="http://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/tech-columbus-3.jpg">

 

Locals looking to establish technology-related businesses, or connect with existing ones, have quite the resource in TechColumbus.

 

Located at 1275 Kinnear Rd., TechColumbus essentially is a business incubator that works with investors and entrepreneurs to develop and launch technology startup companies in the 15-county Central Ohio region. In addition to offering more than 140 professional and networking events per year to its members, TechColumbus also works to create a business environment that will help them succeed.

 

READ MORE: http://www.themetropreneur.com/columbus/techcolumbus-growing-regional-tech-industry-business-time/