Columbus Development News

[Chadoh25]

Casino not seen as savior, but West Side development predicted

By Mark Ferenchik, The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, October 13, 2011 - 7:10 AM

The city’s casino eventually might become an economic engine for the West Side, but even the most optimistic planners know the Hollywood Casino Columbus won’t magically transform the struggling area.

“It isn’t going to be Las Vegas,” said H. Joel Teaford, executive director of the Central Ohio Community Improvement Corp.

Still, the casino could push development that leads to as many as 2,500 jobs, according to a consultant that studied strategies to redevelop the area near Penn National Gaming’s planned casino.

Last night, those strategies were shared at a community meeting of about 100 people.

The improvement corporation hired Maryland-based consultant Robert Charles Lesser & Co., whose study envisions new restaurants in the Ruby Tuesday/Pizzeria Uno vein popping up around the $400 million Hollywood Casino Columbus. The casino is at the old Delphi site at W. Broad Street and Georgesville Road.

The consultant also sees gas stations and perhaps a hotel setting up shop across W. Broad from the casino site.

Neighborhood leaders hope the casino will boost an area hit hard by store closings, vacant buildings and decay.

The casino is expected to employ about 2,000 when it opens in late 2012. It is expected to draw an average of 10,000 visitors a day.

Earlier this year, consultants projected those visitors would spend more than $160 million annually outside the casino, based on each spending an average of $45 a day.

Last night’s meeting at Haydocy Automotive was the last public meeting on the development plan. The consultant will tweak the plan for a final report.

The study set out to try to dispel myths about barriers in the area to help persuade businesspeople and others to invest money there.

“The perception is that this is a lousy place to invest,” Teaford told last night’s crowd. “The numbers say that isn’t true.”

The study says there currently are 3,200 “family-wage” nonretail jobs in the area. Teaford said that means living-wage jobs, although he defined that to include the many warehouse jobs that start at $10 an hour.

And it says that 25 percent of the homes that sold within 5 miles of the casino site, dating back three years, went for at least $200,000. Teaford said that includes the Westgate neighborhood.

The study says the casino is one piece of a redevelopment puzzle that includes a proposed athletic center at the site of the old Meijer store on Georgesville Road and a greenways hiking-and-biking trail system.

The consultant said there is pent-up demand for stores and quality housing in the area. Yet Kohl’s and Hobby Lobby recently closed their W. Broad Street stores. The study also suggests the mostly vacant Westland Mall should be redeveloped into a regional retail destination with quality tenants.

Teaford said he hopes the study will encourage Westland’s owner, Plaza Properties, to redevelop the site.

He also said he hopes it prompts Columbus and Franklin County officials to invest more money in the area. Already, the county is spending $8 million to widen and rebuild Georgesville Road.

The city is spending money there, too, said Dan Williamson, spokesman for Mayor Michael B. Coleman.

Earlier this year, the city and Penn National each pledged $2.5 million toward West Side redevelopment efforts as part of the deal clearing the way for the city to annex the casino site.

“What we’ve said all along when we started looking at the West Side was we didn’t want the casino just plopped out there,” Williamson said.

Earlier this year, the consultant asked residents what they wanted to see in the area. Beyond stable jobs, better housing and an improved retail environment, some said they want a more walkable environment and more green space.

And they still wonder exactly what the casino will bring.

Prairie Township resident Tom Nickoli attended last night’s meeting and said that no other large investor or businesses have committed to anything for the area.

“As of right now, all of the money is focused on the casino,” he said.

mferenchik@dispatch.com

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...las-vegas.html

[Chadoh25]

Bonds expected to help expand Vine St. parking

By Lucas Sullivan
The Columbus Dispatch Tuesday October 4, 2011 8:00 AM

Franklin County commissioners are expected to issue $16 million worth of bonds today to double the size of a parking garage near the North Market and Greater Columbus Convention Center that will provide much-needed parking in the Short North and Arena District.

The Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority has agreed to a 30-year lease with Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. that will cover the bonds to build 900 additional spaces at the 37 W. Vine St. garage.

Nationwide agreed to the lease to accommodate the 1,900 workers it plans to relocate from Dublin and Grove City.

Nationwide workers will occupy the spaces during normal weekly business hours, and they will be available for public use at night and on weekends, county Administrator Don Brown said.

Two floors will be added on top of the garage and another parking bay added on the south side. The garage comes as Nationwide is spending $26 million to construct a building at 10 W. Nationwide Blvd., which is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

County officials said the garage — with Nationwide paying per-space costs — should be completed in September 2012.

“We know there is a shortage of parking in the Short North, and the Short North Business Association has asked for help,” county Commissioner Paula Brooks said. “Anything that puts parking there is a good thing.”

The additional spaces also will free up 100 of 897 existing spaces for the new, $140 million, 500-room Hilton Hotel being built on the west side of N. High Street, across from the convention center.

The hotel is expected to open in fall 2012.

The garage generates about $1.5 million in revenue annually, said Bill Jennison, executive director of the facilities authority.

“We expect that revenue to double with the agreement we have with Nationwide,” Jennison said.

Construction is expected to begin on the garage in January; about 400 of the 897 existing spaces will be unusable for a portion of the project, Jennison said.

Charly Bauer, president of the Short North Business Association board of directors and director of operations for Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, said the seamless integration of the Arena District, Short North and convention areas makes any additional parking beneficial for all three locations.

“Parking can be a challenge at various times of the day, so this will help (residents and business owners) in the area,” he said.

lsullivan@dispatch.com

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...--parking.html

[Chadoh25]

http://www.columbusunderground.com/t...-weinland-park

[Chadoh25]

I'm SUPER excited about this! I literally walk to this corner in 12 mins!!!!

Grocery’s plan seen as another step for Downtown

Hills Market is bringing a grocery store Downtown in a move that some proponents say will fuel more residential development in the area.

The grocery store is expected to open in the spring at 95 N. Grant Ave. as part of the Neighborhood Launch housing development that, when finished, will stretch from 4th Street to Grant Avenue along Gay and Long streets.

Hills Market Downtown will offer local and organic produce and prepared foods, and it will feature a full-service deli, bakery, butcher shop, coffee shop, indoor and outdoor eating area and free parking, spokeswoman Michelle Chippas said.

“The grocery is in the perfect location to be a huge addition to Downtown,” said Cleve Ricksecker, director of the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District, a group of Downtown business owners.

The store will be in an area that has a large concentration of college students, Downtown workers, visitors and Downtown residents, he said.

“There is a growing residential market Downtown that is now large enough to support a grocery store,” Ricksecker said. “The challenge is communicating to retailers that there is still an unmet demand for retail services Downtown.

“A successful venture like this will likely spur other ventures. “

The grocery is to be housed in a building owned in partnership between Randy Walker Real Estate Services and the Edwards Cos., which developed Neighborhood Launch, Chippas said.

The Neighborhood Launch project has built or has started 73 housing units, with a goal to build 300, Chippas said. The brownstone-style condos start at $200,000, she said.

“Most people who come to the Neighborhood Launch open houses ask, ‘Where do you shop for food?’  ” Chippas said. “We believe that the Hills Market Downtown will be a successful complement to what is already offered at the North Market and Kroger.”

Kroger operates a full-service grocery store in the Brewery District near Downtown; Giant Eagle has stores in German Village and Victorian Village.

Hills Market Downtown will cover 12,000 square feet, about one-fifth the size of Kroger’s Brewery District store, which has 65,000 square feet. The company’s Hills Market on the Far North Side has 17,000 square feet, spokeswoman Jill Moorhead said.

With a 100-year history in Columbus, Kroger welcomes the competition, spokeswoman Amy McCormick said.

The new Hills Market is a signal that the revitalization of Downtown, on both the commercial and residential fronts, continues to succeed, said Mike Stevens, deputy development director for the city of Columbus.

“The Hills Market will be a strong addition that adds to the vibrancy of Downtown,” he said.

Stevens said the city offered no incentive package to get the store to open Downtown.

Nate Filler, president of the Ohio Grocers Association, said the development indicates that “if you build it, they will come.”

“Not only does it offer consumers more choices and access to fresh fruits and produce, it’ll be a crucial steppingstone to bring more people and businesses Downtown,” Filler said.

The addition of a grocery store Downtown probably will result in lenders and investors viewing the area more favorably, which will promote more development because access to financing will improve, said Columbus developer Tom Fortin.

Fortin helped attract local luxury brownie-maker Sugardaddy’s to the former Modern Finance building at High and Gay streets, now being called the Cube. Fortin also was one of the developers of Carlyles Watch, a condo development at 100 E. Gay St.

He said the grocery store could be the same growth catalyst for Downtown that the North Market was for the Short North.

“When the North Market was redeveloped in 1993, it helped to propel the Short North into the residential and commercial success that it is because it attracted more people who wanted to live in the area because of the close access to food and groceries,” he said.

“Urban living is attractive for its convenience, and having a grocer like the Hills Market Downtown will enhance the demand for more residential living Downtown.”

The market also could benefit from another residential and mixed-use development planned four blocks to the northwest of the Neighborhood Launch project.

Developer George Berardi is applying to the Downtown Commission to build a five-story, 120,000-square-foot building at Spring and Neilston streets that would have 102 apartments on the upper floors and four retail spaces at ground level.

The $11.5 million Discovery District Commons also would include 71 underground parking spaces.

The site has a surface parking lot and two smaller buildings.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...-downtown.html

[Chadoh25]

Penn National studies hotel at casino

Six months after breaking ground on its $400 million Hollywood Casino on the West Side, Penn National is studying the potential for a hotel there.

A hotel has been discussed as an option at the site, but no time frame has been given. The casino is expected to open late next year.

Penn National recently sought recommendations for a local hotel consultant from Experience Columbus, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, said Paul Astleford, president and CEO of the bureau. Astleford said Eric Schippers, Penn senior vice president, indicated that Penn was weighing a variety of options and had been approached by developers interested in getting in on the business the casino could draw and the hoped-for revitalization of the area.

Penn remains interested in possibly building a hotel on the casino site as part of a second phase of development, Penn spokesman Bob Tenenbaum said. He said a decision most likely would not be made until after the casino had been open for “a year or so.”

The concern of the tourism industry is that the hotel doesn’t take business from other hotels and meeting venues, Astleford said, speaking during an Experience Columbus board meeting yesterday. He said the preference would be to have a unique, entertainment-themed hotel dedicated to serving casino patrons and not a convention-style hotel with meeting rooms that could compete with existing venues.

On the heels of the city’s 2012 budget announcement on Tuesday that included an increase in discretionary funding to Experience Columbus by $900,000, several board members thanked Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s chief of staff, Michael Reese, for the city’s support. There was concern, though, that Experience Columbus is being used as a “pass-through” organization to funnel a chunk of that money to the city’s bicentennial project, which is related to tourism but run by a separate group.

“One of the things that (convention and visitors bureaus) around the country guard against is becoming a pass-through organization for funding,” Astleford said after two members questioned Reese on why the city wasn’t funding the bicentennial effort directly and how much of Experience Columbus’ funding from the city will be earmarked for the bicentennial.

Reese did not have answers to those questions but said that the amount directed to the bicentennial “will be more than” the $200,000 in city funding to Experience Columbus that went to the effort this year. The city provides the largest single portion of Experience Columbus’ annual budget —which this year totals $7.4 million — through a combination of bed taxes and discretionary funding.

Ty Marsh, who’s spearheading the bicentennial effort for the city, said that 70 to 75 percent of the $4 million bicentennial budget is coming from private donations from local companies such as Limited Brands, American Electric Power and Huntington Bank. He stressed that the objectives of the bicentennial — to promote tourism and enhance the image of the city — are in line with Experience Columbus’ overall mission.

County funding for Experience Columbus is not yet determined, but Don Brown, Franklin County administrator, said the recommendation is for the county’s contribution to remain flat at $1.15 m illion next year. Given that most other county-funded organizations have been asked to take a 5 p ercent reduction in the face of budget constraints, he said, this should be viewed as an endorsement of the county’s support for tourism.

Experience Columbus’ funding may also be determined in part by a committee formed by the city to make recommendations on how best to allocate revenue from bed taxes and the casino.

Representatives of the tourism industry, arts groups and social-services agencies that currently share some of the bed-tax revenue make up that committee, which was scheduled to meet yesterday.

mrose@dispatch.com

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...at-casino.html

[Mudhen419]

the new krogers on high street near campus is pretty sweet! definatly an upgrade to that area!

[Chadoh25]

Apartments eyed at Wonder Bread, Fireproof Records sites in Italian Village

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/...es.html?page=2

[Mudhen419]

URBAN RENEWAL AT OHIO STATE!!!! GO BUCKEYES!

[vidgms]

Originally Posted by Mudhen419

URBAN RENEWAL AT OHIO STATE!!!! GO BUCKEYES!

This makes no sense, what are you referencing, what is your thought process behind this statement?

[Mudhen419]

referencing URBAN MEYER the new HC at THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. HAve u been in a cave for the last week?

[Chadoh25]

Downtown Hills Market passes design regulator test

By Brian R. Ball, Business First staff reporter
Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 2:51pm EST


http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/...re-passes.html

[Chadoh25]

P.S. THIS IS NOT A SPORTS THREAD. Please save sports related topics for another thread! Thank You!

[vidgms]

Originally Posted by Mudhen419

referencing URBAN MEYER the new HC at THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. HAve u been in a cave for the last week?

Oh yeah, we don't get the internet in my cave. My bad. Your reference to modern sports really threw me for a loop being that my only sport is hunting pterodactyls to feed the family.

[Mudhen419]

What happened to the OSU campus after Jimmy T won his title? Lots of changes. Lane Ave is way different then what it used to be back in the 90's and before.. So when Urban Meyer gets here and wins national titles whats gonna happen? Huge positive impact on the university and the city as a whole.. Yes it is a learning institution but football plays a huge roll

[Mudhen419]

http://www.toledoblade.com/Retail/20...dquarters.html

Ohio dangles $400 million in incentives to hook Sears headquarters

[Chadoh25]

Originally Posted by Mudhen419

What happened to the OSU campus after Jimmy T won his title? Lots of changes. Lane Ave is way different then what it used to be back in the 90's and before.. So when Urban Meyer gets here and wins national titles whats gonna happen? Huge positive impact on the university and the city as a whole.. Yes it is a learning institution but football plays a huge roll

AGAIN FOLKS, this is NOT a sports thread. If you can somehow directly connect the present or former coach @ OSU to a development project within the City of Columbus, then fine, have at it. Otherwise set up a "Ohio Sports" Thread and have this conversation there. I set up this thread and I manage it. Please don't make me have to contact TB about this!

[Chadoh25]

Gay Street Updates

Bishops Walk

Winter 2010





Winter 2011

[Chadoh25]

Abigal Updates

Winter 2010



Winter 2011

[Chadoh25]

Grant Street Updates

Site of the future Hills Grocery Store

[Chadoh25]

Civic Center Updates

Downtown