April 4, 201015 yr Council eyes $3M soccer complex Tuesday, March 30, 2010 - 5:55 PM By NATE ELLIS, ThisWeek Staff Writer Pickerington City Council this month will consider allowing a private developer to build an indoor soccer complex on Refugee Road. Council is expected to hear a first reading April 20 of legislation to approve a rezoning and final development plan for a 115,000-square-foot soccer complex with four indoor soccer fields. Homestead Development Co. received approvals last month from the Pickerington Planning and Zoning Commission to rezone land along Refugee Road just west of Hill Road Plaza from residential to a planned community commercial district for the project. The planning and zoning commission also approved the company's final development plan, which calls for the approximately $3-million indoor complex to be built behind the former Big Bear shopping center. If approved by council, the first phase of the project likely would be completed sometime next year and would include construction of the indoor soccer complex. Additional phases of the project call for construction of a 65,000-square-foot, $9-million office development just south of the soccer complex and a 28,000-square-foot commercial development that could house stores and restaurants fronting Refugee Road. Full article: http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/pickerington/stories/2010/03/24/Pickerington-soccer-complex.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=104
December 6, 201014 yr Historic mill plans open house amid restoration Monday, December 6, 2010 02:50 AM By Mary Beth Lane THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH LANCASTER, Ohio - With the restoration of Rock Mill about half done, the historic gristmill is decking the halls in holiday evergreens and lights to show itself off to the public. The first Christmas open house at the 1824 gristmill just north of Lancaster is scheduled for Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. The event is free. Organizers hope to make it an annual tradition. Volunteers will serve chili, mulled cider, gingersnaps and sugar cookies to visitors and give them a chance to wander inside the mill to see the progress that has been made restoring it. Full story at: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/06/historic-mill-plans-open-house-amid-restoration.html?sid=101
January 29, 201312 yr Plans moving forward for soccer complex on Gray Drive By MICHAEL HAYES, THISWEEKNEWS.COM Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 3:41 PM The development team for a proposed 112,959-square-foot indoor soccer complex appeared with Pickerington officials at City Hall for an "informational meeting" Dec. 5 to iron out the facility's various architectural, site plan and landscaping details. ... Homestead Development Co. officially purchased a 16-acre plot from the city in October for $263,029 so it can construct the $4 million facility on Gray Drive, next to Pickerington's new water plant. In July 2011, Homestead received approval to build a similar complex behind Big Lots, west of Hill Road. Homestead, instead, sold that 70-acre parcel to OhioHealth, which will build a health care campus there. Homestead became interested in the new location and contracted with the city to purchase the land outright. The developers must now go through the approval process with the Planning and Zoning Commission all over again. READ MORE: http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/pickerington/news/2012/12/12/plans-moving-forward-for-soccer-complex-on-gray-drive.html
October 6, 20159 yr Third time may be charm for sale of historic Fairfield County Home building By Mary Beth Lane, The Columbus Dispatch Monday, September 21, 2015 - 6:49 AM Offered for sale “as is”: a three-story, brick building built in stages between 1825 and 1865, six outbuildings and three parking lots that can hold a total of about 90 vehicles. Anyone interested? Fairfield County commissioners are again seeking bids to buy the historic old county home at 1587 Granville Pike and the nearly 6 acres of hilly land on which it sits. Proposals are due by 9 a.m. on Nov. 5, and there is no minimum bid. The old Fairfield County Home for the infirm and poor operated until 1985, when the last residents were sent to nursing homes or other care. In 1986, county officials remodeled the building for government offices and named it for Clarence E. Miller, the late former congressman. ... It has sat vacant since late 2013, when the Fairfield Department of Health moved into rented space in a modern office building. County officials don’t need the building. But they hope someone will want it. Jeff Siegler, director of revitalization at the preservation organization Heritage Ohio, lives in Lancaster and said he hopes the building can be saved. He praised the commissioners for seeking bids again rather than rushing to raze the building. The old county home, which lies across the road from Ohio University’s Lancaster campus, could be rehabilitated into apartments, he said. Steve Luchtenberg of VPL Architects Inc. of Lancaster was hired by the county commissioners for $15,000 to inspect the building and concluded that it is structurally sound. Luchtenberg estimated that renovating the nearly 40,000-square-foot building would cost $4.3 million. He suggested redeveloping it for office space. For now, the county continues to spend a few hundred dollars monthly in utility costs to keep the power on, including the sprinkler system and exit lights, and to heat the building in cold weather, county Facilities Manager Dennis Keller said. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/09/21/third-time-may-be-charm-for-old-county-homes-sale.html
October 6, 20159 yr Location map and view of the Fairfield County Home from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/09/21/third-time-may-be-charm-for-old-county-homes-sale.html:
December 17, 20159 yr Land-bank use gains popularity across central Ohio By Mary Beth Lane, The Columbus Dispatch Monday, June 29, 2015 - 5:41 AM LANCASTER, Ohio — Abandoned and decrepit buildings aren’t just an urban problem. Just like Columbus, Franklin County and other metropolitan areas, smaller counties are beginning to take steps toward dealing with blight. Fairfield County has a land bank that can demolish houses that are behind in taxes, clearing the land for reuse. State law allows counties with more than 60,000 residents to organize land banks. The organizations work to demolish vacant properties that bring in crime and bring down property values, and return the land to productive use and the tax rolls. Fairfield County’s land bank took its first major step last week by acquiring the deeds to its first batch of decaying, vacant houses. Among 12 abandoned houses blighting several Lancaster neighborhoods, 10 are to be demolished in the coming months, and two might be offered for sale as fixer-uppers. The land bank plans to acquire and demolish abandoned houses throughout the county, including some in the Fairfield Beach neighborhood at Buckeye Lake. MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/29/land-bank-use-gains-popularity.html
June 29, 20186 yr Fairfield County downtowns flourish with revitalization, new developments The last few years have seen a shift in what people are looking for when deciding where to live. Although there is still a need for larger houses for growing families, millennials and baby boomers have become increasingly interested in walkable communities with entertainment and dining options. While downtown Columbus may be the first thing place people think of, Fairfield County downtowns are being revitalized to offer amenities to attract new residents and meet the needs of its current residents. “For years, Fairfield County was looked at as a rural community with some exurban towns,” said Rick Szabrak, Fairfield County Economic and Workforce Development director. “Because our towns already have established communities, they offer that sense of place that people desire. Now we’re reinvesting in our downtowns to build that vibrant feel that offers both walkable communities and old-town charm.” More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/06/15/fairfield-county-downtowns-flourish-with.html "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 30, 20186 yr It will never happen, but the region would really benefit from a commuter rail network linking these cities with downtown Columbus
October 8, 20186 yr Former Wolfe family retreat re-emerges as Violet Township community space Violet Township government officials are preparing to move into the Wigwam by early next year, providing a public use for the private retreat east of Columbus where the Wolfe family once hosted powerful politicians and Hollywood royalty. Wolfe Enterprises, a business controlled by family members of late businessman and longtime Dispatch Publisher John F. Wolfe, sold the historic 63-acre property near Pickerington to Violet Township for $2.7 million in July. Besides providing office space for the township’s eight employees, the Wigwam will be reborn as community space. ... Among the plans, the Wigwam’s 303-seat theater will become home to the Pickerington Community Theatre, which currently lacks a permanent performing space. The lodge banquet hall, which can seat 400, will be made available for rentals, including corporate conferences, weddings and other events. Most of the wooded land on the 63-acre Wigwam property will remain rustic. Plans call for developing 10 acres on the property’s north side, off I-70, into a commercial area that could include a hotel and offices. ... The township’s current office building on nearby Rustic Drive will be sold - it’s also a prime spot for commercial development. MORE: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20180919/former-wolfe-family-retreat-re-emerges-as-violet-township-community-space
May 16, 20196 yr $46M community center plan in Violet Township shelved after voters reject funding A plan for a $46 million community center in Violet Township won't move forward. A week after voters overwhelmingly defeated a ballot issue to support the 95,000-square-foot project, Violet Township Trustee Melissa Wilde said she doesn't expect to try to bring forward an alternative proposal. The township had proposed a 4.6-mil, 25-year parks and recreation levy to finance construction of the community center with a $2 million operating budget. But voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 2 in the May 7 election with a vote of 1,461 for and 6,575 against. ( . . . ) The two-story center was to be built off Pickerington and Refugee roads on donated agricultural land. Plans showed two gyms, pools, a fitness area, multipurpose rooms, running track and multipurpose space. ( . . . ) In the meantime, Violet Township is preparing to relocate its offices to the 60-acre Wigwam property off Blacklick Eastern Road this week, which it acquired from the Wolfe family last year for $2.75 million. The township has been converting some of the buildings of the Native American-themed retreat into a civic and event space. MORE: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2019/05/15/46m-community-center-planin-violet-township.html
June 25, 20195 yr Pickerington council to consider lease with Center Ice for indoor-hockey facility Pickerington City Council is expected to consider an agreement that would allow a nonprofit group to build an indoor ice-hockey facility on 8 acres of city-owned land. City Council is slated to vote on an ordinance that would give the Center Ice Foundation of Central Ohio two years of exclusive rights to 8 acres at 1111 and 1113 Gray Drive. The group’s leaders said they are seeking to raise about $8 million to build an 80,000-square-foot indoor-hockey rink that would be managed by OhioHealth Chiller, an entity owned by the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets. The Chiller operates eight indoor rinks in Columbus, Dublin, Lewis Center and Worthington. MORE: https://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20190615/pickerington-council-to-consider-lease-with-center-ice-for-indoor-hockey-facility
July 26, 20204 yr Historic Fairfield County log home, farmhouse saved, given new uses Two historic homes, recently donated to the Fairfield County Park District, will become offices and public program centers: A historic log home dating from about the 1850s was donated by Chris and Barbara Claypool, and a century-old brick Italianate farmhouse was donated by David Hague and Tammy Miller. The donations were most welcome and the buildings will provide important services to park visitors and staff, said Kimber Caito of Fairfield County Park District. The district hopes to have renovations at both buildings finished by the end of this year. The Claypools donated the 1,800-square-foot log house to the park district last year, paying to have it moved to Smeck Park and rehabilitated. Called the Cruit House, the log house was built by English immigrants William and Hanna Moon Cruit sometime after they arrived in Fairfield County in 1829. Renovations to the structure are almost complete, Caito said. When finished, it will be used for educational programming and public events at the park, such as the annual Harvest Celebration and the Winter Hike. The 2,600-square-foot brick farmhouse donated by Hague and Miller was built about 1920 on what was once the McGill farm, now part of the nearly 900-acre farm and private nature preserve called Coyote Run near Pickerington belonging to the couple. The Fairfield County Park District began offering public programs at the Coyote Run preserve last year. So Hague and Miller decided to donate the house and one acre around it to Fairfield County parks. The farmhouse will become the park district’s Pickerington office and the base for the district’s education services coordinator. Work began on the farmhouse earlier this year with the district filled in an old in-ground swimming pool, clearing dead ash trees and old shrubbery around the foundation and adding public parking. The district will have handicap-accessible ramps and restrooms installed at the house. MORE: https://www.thisweeknews.com/homes/20200719/historic-fairfield-county-log-home-farmhouse-saved-given-new-uses The 1,800-square-foot log house donated to the park district that was built in 1829 and called the Cruit House. It will be used for educational programming and public events at the park: The 2,600-square-foot brick farmhouse donated to the park district that was built in 1920. The farmhouse will become the park district’s Pickerington office and the base for the district’s education services coordinator:
February 4, 20214 yr On 6/25/2019 at 7:48 PM, Columbo said: Pickerington council to consider lease with Center Ice for indoor-hockey facility Pickerington City Council is expected to consider an agreement that would allow a nonprofit group to build an indoor ice-hockey facility on 8 acres of city-owned land. City Council is slated to vote on an ordinance that would give the Center Ice Foundation of Central Ohio two years of exclusive rights to 8 acres at 1111 and 1113 Gray Drive. The group’s leaders said they are seeking to raise about $8 million to build an 80,000-square-foot indoor-hockey rink that would be managed by OhioHealth Chiller, an entity owned by the National Hockey League’s Columbus Blue Jackets. The Chiller operates eight indoor rinks in Columbus, Dublin, Lewis Center and Worthington. MORE: https://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20190615/pickerington-council-to-consider-lease-with-center-ice-for-indoor-hockey-facility Looks like the group behind to the push to get an indoor ice-hockey rink in the Pickerington area is changing gears: Pickerington hockey group partners with Phoenix developer Lee Ploszaj for potential mixed-use project A nonprofit group wanting to bring an indoor hockey facility to Pickerington plans to partner with a private developer to roll an athletics complex into a project that could also include restaurants, retail shops and a hotel. With no ice rinks south of I-70 in Central Ohio, a group of hockey parents in 2019 formed the Center Ice Foundation of Central Ohio with the goal of raising $8 million to build an indoor hockey facility in Pickerington. Since then, CIFCO has faced challenges in raising money, with the pandemic scuttling fundraising at public events and tournaments. Lee Ploszaj, a hockey parent who is also president of Community Center Partners LLC, a Phoenix-based development company, became interested in the foundation’s plans and decided to partner with the group. Although plans still are preliminary, the foundation has shifted gears from raising money to build a facility to raising money that would be contributed to CCP’s pre-development work to locate a site for a mixed-use project featuring an ice rink and possible commercial businesses. The groups are looking in Pickerington, Violet Township and Canal Winchester at undeveloped land along the U.S. Route 33 corridor. The project – which could include indoor and outdoor facilities for other sports, as well as retail shops, restaurants and a hotel – could be built on 75 to 100 acres for an estimated cost of about $150 million. MORE: https://www.thisweeknews.com/story/news/local/pickerington/2021/01/22/pickerington-hockey-group-partners-developer-lee-ploszaj-potential-mixed-use-project/4214499001/
March 9, 20214 yr OhioHealth to add full hospital to Pickerington ER campus OhioHealth Corp. plans to add its 13th hospital by expanding its freestanding emergency department and medical office campus in Pickerington. Central Ohio's largest health system plans to start construction this year on 30 undeveloped acres to the north of the complex at Hill and Refugee roads. Plans are still in early stages, so the size, cost and design have not been determined. ( . . . ) The Pickerington Medical Campus opened in 2015 with emergency, outpatient surgery and medical offices. A short-stay observation unit was later added and OhioHealth also purchased the adjoining medical office building from developer Daimler Group. ( . . . ) Expansion was in mind since construction started on the Pickerington Medical Campus. When the 26-bed, 80,000-square-foot Grove City Methodist Hospital facility opened in 2018, OhioHealth called it a template for expansion that brings more services to outlying communities. It is thought that the new Pickerington hospital could between that size and the 80-bed Dublin Methodist Hospital, which OhioHealth opened in 2008. MORE: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/02/12/ohiohealth-to-expand-pickerington-er-with-hospital.html
March 21, 20214 yr Commission approves 336 apartments near Pickerington Ponds Metro Park A new housing development is advancing near Pickerington. An affiliate of Donald R. Kenney & Company Realty has proposed a development called Lawndale Commons on about 33 acres of farmland at 3981 Bowen Road near the Pickerington Ponds MetroPark. The land currently is zoned to allow as many as 188 units, or 5.71 units an acre. But the developer wants to boost that to 336 apartment units, or 10.21 units per acre. "This allows us to condense the development internally to the site and we are now able to preserve almost 14 acres of open space," Jill Tangeman, a partner at Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease LLP and legal counsel for the developer, told the Columbus Development Commission at its recent virtual meeting. The Development Commission approved the project, but Columbus City Council has the final say. MORE: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2021/03/15/336-apartments-pitched-near-pickerington-ponds.html
July 16, 20213 yr Expansion planned for Pickerington's new Ohio State Wexner office on Refugee Road Nate Ellis - ThisWeek Group - July 15, 2021 "A new Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center facility in Pickerington is expected to be a precursor to a larger local presence. ... An exact timetable hasn't been set; Dahdah said such projects typically take three years to complete, but he expects a medical campus to be built locally. 'At some point, we would like to expand to a larger location that has multiple centers in there, like we're doing in Dublin, New Albany and Powell,' he said. 'We're just looking for the right piece of land and the right timing for that and then we'll transition these practices from here to that building. That'll be about 250,000 to 270,000 square feet,' Dahdah said. 'It'll have a surgery center, diascopy, physical therapy, advanced immediate care and all kinds of specialties and diagnostic services.'"
September 13, 20213 yr Maybe we need a Pickerington thread (do we have one?), but here is some info and a rendering of the coming OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital.
September 13, 20213 yr 10 minutes ago, cbussoccer said: Maybe we need a Pickerington thread (do we have one?), but here is some info and a rendering of the coming OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital. There is a Pickerington thread (sort of). We put Pick-town news in this Fairfield County thread. (There is also a separate thread for the county seat, Lancaster)
September 13, 20213 yr 1 hour ago, Columbo said: There is a Pickerington thread (sort of). We put Pick-town news in this Fairfield County thread. (There is also a separate thread for the county seat, Lancaster) The Pickerington disrespect is palpable. ;)
September 14, 20213 yr Lower the Hill Rd. speed limit to 35 plz. Too hard to patronize the businesses when you have to tear ass in heavy traffic and worry about hitting everything.
September 14, 20213 yr 18 minutes ago, GCrites80s said: Lower the Hill Rd. speed limit to 35 plz. Too hard to patronize the businesses when you have to tear ass in heavy traffic and worry about hitting everything. Driving on 256 and, increasingly, Refugee Road is often a terrifying experience. And I'm someone who rarely gets nervous while driving and actually enjoys crazy city driving in places like Manhattan.
September 14, 20213 yr Yes prefer driving in Manhattan even though you need a better skid plate under the car than you do in Pickerington.
September 14, 20213 yr 23 minutes ago, GCrites80s said: Yes prefer driving in Manhattan even though you need a better skid plate under the car than you do in Pickerington. Manhattan driving is fun because everyone knows what they are doing and where they are going, and it's every man for himself. Pickerington driving is terrifying because nobody knows where they are going or when their lane is going to abruptly end, and everyone thinks it's your job to look out for them.
January 19, 20223 yr On 9/13/2021 at 12:55 PM, cbussoccer said: Maybe we need a Pickerington thread (do we have one?), but here is some info and a rendering of the coming OhioHealth Pickerington Methodist Hospital. Pickerington is about to join the Central Ohio tower crane party. A tower crane base is now in place for this project.
February 15, 20223 yr So I had a family member who was driving around downtown Pickerington and noticed some development down there. So I found these two articles: https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/communities/pickerington/2021/09/10/mixed-use-development-olde-pickerington-village-expected-completed-november/5754202001/ https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/local/pickerington/2021/07/01/pickerington-plots-course-land-uses-through-new-comprehensive-plan/5304282001/ I feel like there may be more but that's a start. And I agree with cbussoccer that we should have a Pickerington thread.
August 16, 20231 yr DHL Supply Chain to build 755,000-square-foot distribution center in Fairfield County “DHL Supply Chain is building a large facility in Fairfield County, marking an expansion of the global company's already robust presence in Central Ohio. The Westerville-based logistics provider, a division of Germany's DHL Group, recently began construction of a 755,000-square-foot distribution center at 8695 Basil Western Road NW in the village of Carroll, which is located in Violet Township in northwestern Fairfield County. The distribution center, which is about 35 miles from DHL Supply Chain's Westerville headquarters, will create approximately 200 new jobs. It is expected to open in the second quarter of 2024. The new facility will bring DHL's total Ohio footprint to more than 15 million square feet, according to the company. In North America, DHL has more than 161 million square feet.” https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2023/08/16/dhl-supply-chain-new-755k-sf-distribution-center.html
May 17May 17 Data center proposal promises economic boost for Fairfield CountyA new data center campus could be coming to Fairfield County.The project would cost somewhere in the billions and is expected to generate hundreds of jobs for the area.Right now, 500 acres are in the process of being annexed into Millersport from Walnut Township and would be located off state Route 204 and Route 37.https://www.10tv.com/article/news/local/boomtown-ohio/data-center-proposal-fairfield-county/530-1d2be7e9-dd5a-49a3-93f0-29505e63abba
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