Posted June 23, 200915 yr After High Street, Parsons Avenue is the most intact business district, which is sad considering how butchered it is. Still, there are some stretches that could lend themselves to walking if there were more places worth going to and the street could be more welcoming to peds and cyclists with more stops for ped crossings and some sharrows in the right lanes. Also interesting is that you might notice that a black hole hovers over Parsons; that or I have a big clump of dust on my sensor which may result in me having to buy a new camera if the cost to remove it is too high. :x MAP First off, we start with a view from the west of the gateway to Parsons: a parking garage and fast food restaurants. Even with an urban commercial overlay to prevent sprawl: fast-food restaurants can still have a bunch of rear and side-parking and curb cuts. German Village? No one would be fooled. The name makes it. More potential here. A similar building on Parsons in Olde Towne East houses a great bistro, a gay bar, and an art shop. But over here it's just a big thrift store. Anyone noticing a trend? Parsons; used car lot capital of Columbus. No traffic lights for days = anti-pedestrian, anti-cyclist environment. Not to mention lower property value from the noise that comes with speeding traffic. A new bright spot on Parsons. More grit in a bit.
June 23, 200915 yr reminds me a lot of carnegie in cleveland, some nice buildings that have been altered for the worst... and a good amount of poorly planned autocentric stuff. looks like there is some decent redevelopment potential for down the road though. Nice pics. :)
June 23, 200915 yr reminds me a lot of carnegie in cleveland, some nice buildings that have been altered for the worst... and a good amount of poorly planned autocentric stuff. looks like there is some decent redevelopment potential for down the road though. Nice pics. :) An interesting thing about Cleveland is that these type of commerical routes are plentiful. There's Lorain, most of Detroit, St. Clair, Carnegie, Broadway etc. After hearing the lack of long commerical roads in Columbus I realized that Cleveland is blessed to have these. Its just unfortuante that none of them are devoid of blight and are under investment. I would love to see the city place a priorty on bring back Lorain Avenue; especially with the decent housing stock surrounding most of it. NICE Post by the way. Sorry I got on my soap box here ;)
June 23, 200915 yr columbus has plenty of long commercial roads (ie., rt161), they're just newer stock, but yeah this one is definately reminiscent of sections of those old cleveland strips. its a shame that street is so totally geared toward just driving thru and keeping it moving. too bad, the stock is there. ideally there could be a wider variety of reasons to stop. columbusite i have a request -- hows about a ne cols somali land tour? i am curious about any visual presence of the somali people, shops, groceries, restaurants, etc. all i know is a hub is rt161/clev ave and that some got into the taxi business. thx
June 23, 200915 yr Well done! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
June 23, 200915 yr Ugh.. Not a blessed thing has changed in 40 years. Brings back nothing but horrible memories
June 24, 200915 yr Nice work Columbusite. Much appreciated. I didn't notice a photo of Plank's Cafe at the corner of Parsons & Sycamore. I found one at the auditor's website. This is a view from Parsons looking west toward the Parsons/Sycamore intersection. Here is the Subway store which is across Parsons Avenue from Plank's. This is the frontal view of the building from Parsons Avenue at the intersection with Sycamore Street. This is an auditors website photo. You got a side view of this building in the thread. And here are the houses across Sycamore Street from Plank's. Another auditors website photo. If you're looking for a bright spot in this area to build on, Parsons & Sycamore might be it. Sycamore Street is a gateway street into German Village. It runs into the heart of German Village at Third Street before taking a jog over to High Street.
June 24, 200915 yr When I lived in GV, we walked to amenities along Parsons much more frequently than we did on High Street, despite being about the same distance. Parsons has a post office and a library that may not look too attractive, but are still quite functional for people who live around there.
June 24, 200915 yr S High has little there and Parsons is definitely more walkable and bikeable (my opinion after walking and biking both for pics). I thought the library looked alright. Columbus has more long commercial streets like W Broad and E Main (west of Bexley), but they're not in better shape and Main has colossal grass lots. I could see how people wouldn't want to live near here and it's not for me, but West of Parsons most of the residential neighborhoods have improved with an influx of gentrifiers who are making this part of the South Side more pleasant. We just need to nudge them a little further east. A Little Somalia (or would Little Mogadishu be more appropriate?) tour is planned for UO, but keep in mind it's in post WWII commercial development/all car-oriented, so I'm gonna need a ride up there. Not about to bike that. It's weird seeing how packed the strip malls are with Somalis in traditional garb. And here are a couple of bonus pics:
June 24, 200915 yr Another great job. Cool bonus pics. I look forward to any Somali-centric photos that might be forthcoming. But you raise a good point about what the photo thread might look like. Except for the Somali people dressed in traditional garb and some Somali business signage, it might look no different then a typical post WWII development. But it still could be interesting. Maybe more socially than visually.
June 26, 200915 yr This thread has prompted me to take a closer look at the Parsons and Livingston intersection, which is the northern starting point for the originally posted photo tour. Childrens Hospital is the major player at this intersection. And they have completed some recent projects here. Childrens Hospital is also in the middle of a $842 million redevelopment of their main campus and in the process of implementing their 2012 Master Plan. This has been discussed in this thread and in the recent Business First article "Children’s Hospital expansion reaches beyond campus boundaries". The first image is a map of the current Parsons and Livingston intersection from the Franklin County Auditor website. The second image is Childrens Hospital 2012 Master Plan. SE CORNER (PARSONS & LIVINGSTON) AND NEARBY LIVINGSTON AVENUE PROJECTS Childrens Hospital has a trio of recently completed projects on the south side of Livingston Avenue. The Livingston Avenue Parking Garage which fronts both Livingston and Parsons. The Ronald McDonald House which is further west on Livingston. And the Center for Child and Family Advocacy office building which located between the Parking Garage and the Ronald McDonald House. Let's take a look at them - starting with the Ronald McDonald House on Livingston and moving west toward Parsons Avenue. 1) RONALD McDONALD HOUSE - 711 E. LIVINGSTON AVENUE According to the Hospital website, the Ronald McDonald House houses 80 guest rooms and was opened in July 2008. Unfortunately, the most recent auditors photo is from Nov. 18, 2007, when the building was still under construction. The smaller photo shows the completed building from the hospital website. 2) CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY ADVOCACY - 655 E. LIVINGSTON AVENUE This is a two-story 28,500 sq. ft. office building. Here is a view of the completed building from Livingston Avenue from the auditor website, which unfortunately is only a partial view of the entire building. 3) LIVINGSTON AVENUE PARKING GARAGE According to the hospital website, this is a 1500-space garage that is dedicated for hospital staff parking and was opened in February 2008. The parking garage fronts both Livingston Avenue and Parsons Avenue. But the garage footprint does not extend to the corner of Livingston and Parsons. The corner is occupied by a KFC restaurant. The parking garage was actually built around the KFC! Quite an unusual arrangement! I don't know the history of the parking garage project or why the KFC remains at the corner. However, it is quite possible that Childrens Hospital and the KFC owner could not come to an agreement to purchase the property. According to the auditors website, this KFC property is corporately owned, not locally owned. Maybe corporate KFC asked for an extremely high price and Childrens said "to hell with KFC, we'll build around you". Because that's what it looks like. Anyway, here are views of the parking garage looking from Livingston moving toward the KFC at corner of Parsons & Livingston. SW CORNER (PARSONS & LIVINGSTON) - FORMER BOBB CHEVROLET DEALERSHIP PROPERTY OWNED BY BOBB CHEVROLET This is the former location of a Bobb Chevrolet dealership and service center. It is currently closed but is still owned by Bobb Chevrolet. According to the auditor website, the property contains 4.35 acres. Currently there are no known redevelopment plans for this property. Its a potentially prime corner property for a relatively large scale new development project. The map is from the auditor website and shows the Bobb Chevy property hi-lighted in tan. The photo is from the original post. The view is from Livingston looking toward Parsons - the Bobb Chevy property is on the right in the photo. NW CORNER (PARSONS & LIVINGSTON) - WENDY'S, FORMER KROGER STORE AND OTHER PROPERTY OWNED BY CHILDRENS HOSPITAL This property is shown in the Hospital's 2012 Master Plan as their "Future West Campus". Currently, no details are available on the future West Campus from the hospital. This is a parcel map showing the northwest corner of Parsons and Livingston. Childrens Hospital owns all the property in the area bordered by Livingston to the south, Parsons to the east, I-70 to the north and the Columbus Public Schools Africentric property to the west (this property is hi-lighted in tan). This corner contains a Wendy's restaurant that is still operating. There are hospital administrative offices in a one-story building located next to the school property. There is a hospital-owned orthopedic office building located next to I-70. The photo is from the original post. The view is from Livingston looking toward Parsons - the Wendy's/former Kroger property is on the left in the photo. NE CORNER (PARSONS & LIVINGSTON) - CHILDRENS HOSPITAL MAIN CAMPUS And finally we get to Childrens Hospital Main Campus, which is the main focus of the $842 million investment. Below is a Business First map of the main campus work to be done. The final image is the new hospital tower, which is currently under construction. The campus graphic and tower rendering are from the Business First articles "Children’s Hospital expansion reaches beyond campus boundaries" and "Features of new Nationwide Children's tower"
July 4, 200915 yr Hal and Al's got a mention in a recent 614 Magazine as one of their "Hot New Dives"... Hot New Dives By Kate Liebers & Steve Croyle, 614 Magazine A bright blue pocket of pop culture sits on a stigmatic South Columbus street. The beer selection is vast, the dress is casual, and sirens only occasionally interrupt the alternative music. The main obstacle for this newly opened bar is the location, yet instead of considering the rough neighborhood a worry, Hal and Al's made it the punch line. Bar manager Dan Ores, 37, refers to Hal and Al's as The Parsons Challenge. And he is even making promotional t-shirts with the motto. If Parsons has the potential, Ores has the practice. He has worked at House of Blues for 12 years, opening a venue in Chicago as well as in Cleveland. With the nearby Carabar facing a grim future as highway development plans take place, Hal and Al's is likely to become the next hangout for alternative music fans with cult beer-oriented taste buds. Read more at http://614columbus.com/magazine/07-01-2009/hot-new-dives
July 4, 200915 yr The neighborhood south of Childrens Hospital is featured as one of three areas targeted for revitalization money by the city. Apparently its called the Southern Orchards neighborhood. Below is the portion of the article that refers to Southern Orchards neighborhood south of Livingston and east of Parsons. Also included is a location map. Neighborhood boost Columbus is using $22.8 million in federal money to improve several neighborhoods, with an emphasis on three where revitalization already has begun Friday, July 3, 2009 - 3:01 AM By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/03/HOMETARGET.ART_ART_07-03-09_A1_0NEC9K5.html?sid=101
July 4, 200915 yr I refuse to acknowledge the latter two; much of them are in already existing neighborhoods. Bastards. By the way, Hal & Al's and Planks are two great reasons to go to Parsons. I have no problem recommending out-of-towners check them out.
July 4, 200915 yr Funny that about a quarter of "South of Main" is actually north of main. ;) And I'm not 100% sure, but I'm willing to bet that there are no orchards in "Southern Orchards". Ridiculous to name a neighborhood with something that has zero significance, eh?
July 5, 200915 yr Not quite ;) . After all, one of the best neighborhoods in the city did that. The problem with Southern Orchards is that there are plenty of areas in the Near Southside that don't have their own identity, so why not use that name for another part of the area? Their map is different from this zoning map which goes east out to Lockbourne Rd. So you have Southern Orchards with Livingston Park as one of the sub-neighborhoods which extends outside of SO's boundaries. You'd think that since these are created by the city they'd make it more cut and dry, but I guess not. South of Main would be fine if it were for the non-Olde Towne East section which already takes up the western half or so. I just noticed that King-Lincoln has doubled in size with the eastern boundary at Taylor instead of 20th. Dubious mapping indeed.
July 5, 200915 yr Meh. The boundaries seem to change with these neighborhoods depending on who is talking about them and what they're talking about. I'd hardly take any of these as being too "official". I mean... it's not like just anyone can grab a marker and draw some lines on a map and make a "neighborhood" right? It takes someone with a special designation to do be able to do that for real.
July 5, 200915 yr Thing is, it's in a newspaper. Oh yeah, nice to see that Parsons will get some loving from the CU crowd this month.
July 6, 200915 yr Methinks you give too much credit to newspapers. ;) But yeah, we've been giving the north side far too much love lately. ;) Time to make our way back down to the south side! :D
July 6, 200915 yr Hah! This place cracks me up, I guess 3 twenty year old huffy's qualify you as a cycle shop! My basement is stuffed with bikes, I need open up across the street from this place.
July 18, 200915 yr <b>Hal & Al’s Adds Some Nightlife to the Southside</b> By Walker | July 17, 2009 8:55am <img src="http://www.columbusunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/hal-n-als.jpg"> The blue paint on the exterior of Hal & Al’s Bar is bright enough to make anyone do a double-take when driving by. The only problem is that you might not normally have too many reasons to make the trek down Parsons Avenue to notice it. After spending some time off the radar, the secret is slowly getting out that Hal & Al’s is worth the special trip. Their weekly event lineup keeps people entertained and their drink menu keeps people happy on the cheap. We recently chatted with Manager Dan Ores to find out a bit more about this new Southside spot. Read More: http://www.columbusunderground.com/hal-als-adds-some-nightlife-to-the-southside
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