2009 Year in Review: Urban Development

With the economic recession being fully realized in late 2008, many expected 2009 to be a slow year in terms of urban development. Several projects had been delayed or canceled due to financing issues, but many others were able to continue with seemingly little difficulty. It’s been said that cities that continue to develop during recessions will come out ahead when the economy turns back around. Judging by the number of projects either under construction or in development, it would seem that Columbus is well posed to thrive in the near future.

Below is a rundown of the urban development projects that were completed, under construction, or announced in 2009.

Projects Completed in 2009:

Huntington Park – Ground was officially broken at Huntington Park on August 2nd, 2007, and the new Columbus Clippers Minor League Baseball park celebrated their opening day on Saturday, April 18th, 2009. A crowd of over 11,000 fans packed into the new stadium that day to take in the sights and sounds of the new Arena District location. The park has received a lot of local praise for the multiple game-watching angles within the park, the unique external sidewalk viewing area, and the impressive skyline views of Downtown. Old and new fans alike helped to set a franchise record in season attendance with over 588,000 people through the gates this year. Huntington Park went on to win “Ballpark of the Year” by Baseballparks.com, beating out several other major league competitors.

Lincoln Theatre – After 30 years of sitting vacant, the Lincoln Theatre restoration project wrapped up this Spring, and their grand opening was held over Memorial Day Weekend 2009. The restored 566-seat venue not only features live music, performance art, and other entertainment programming, but is also home to the Columbus Jazz Academy. The Academy is located on the third floor of the building features 5,000 sqft of instructional and educational space for a wide age-range of classes. The ground floor of the theatre building boasts additional retail spaces to be built out.

Audubon Center – The groundbreaking for the new Grange Insurance Audubon Center took place in April 2008, and their grand opening was held on August 28, 2009. The new 18,000 square foot Audubon Center features a variety of educational and recreational programming, while the 84 acre metro park surrounding the center offers a variety of nature trails, bird watching sites, and other outdoor activities. While the park is officially open, expansion will continue through February 2011 as the Whittier Peninsula Impound Lot is relocated to make room for more greenspace.

Columbus College of Art & Design – CCAD completed two projects simultaneously in August 2009 when they opened their new Design Square Apartments (pictured) and the Design Studios on Broad. The former is a new five-story 208-bed student dormitory building on Cleveland Avenue that contains a ground-floor convenience store and student cafeteria. The latter is a development of the old Byers Chevrolet building at the corner of Cleveland and Broad that now houses classroom and student work space as well as the new Columbus Center for Architecture.

RiverSouth – The RiverSouth District in Downtown Columbus saw the largest concentration of construction work throughout 2009 with multiple public and private developments happening simultaneously. Several of those projects saw completion this year, including the new 773-space RiverSouth Parking Garage (pictured / opened in July), the Lazarus Building retail storefronts (finished summer 2009), and the western half of the new Lifestyle Communities “Annex at RiverSouth” apartment/condo development (completed units for sale/rent Fall 2009).

Miscellaneous – Additional development projects that saw completion in 2009 included the new Downtown High School and Career Center (opened for fall classes), the $100 million expansion to the Grange Insurance headquarters in the Brewery District (pictured / completed in July), the North High Street streetscaping project that includes new Old North Columbus Arches (wrapped up in October), and a small yet significant development on the near east side in the form of the first LEED-Platinum Certified home in Ohio, located on north 21st street in the NoBo development (finished in March 2009).

Projects Under Construction in 2009:

Columbus Commons / City Center – One of the most significant ongoing development projects in 2009 was the gradual demolition of the vacant City Center Mall and the planned Columbus Commons development that will be constructed on the site. The skywalk connecting City Center with the Lazarus Building came down earlier in the year with the mall demolition beginning in October. Columbus Commons is scheduled for completion in late-2010, early 2011. Long term plans include additional mid-rise mixed-use development on portions of the temporary greenspace.

The Scioto Mile – Ground was broken in June 2008 on a massive redevelopment project along the Scioto River that will eventually be completed in June 2011 and will be known as The Scioto Mile. The development includes a reworking of Civic Center Drive, along the east bank of the river, which has been narrowed for automobile traffic and widened for pedestrian and bike path traffic. Bicentennial Park is also getting a major overhaul that will include a new 15,000 square foot fountain, a new amphitheater space, and a new restaurant space with an outdoor dining patio.

Grandview Yard – Announced in late 2007, Grandview Yard is the name of the massive new infill project that is replacing the former Big Bear warehouse site on the eastern edge of Grandview Heights, just west of Downtown. Ground was broken on Phase One in September 2009, will includes a new 126-room Hyatt hotel, an Urban Active Fitness Center, a three-story office building, and a parking garage. Phase One is scheduled for completion in the Fall of 2010. There is no formal completion date scheduled for the entire seven-phase 90+ acre site.

The Jackson on High – After originally being announced in 2006, some were starting to think that The Jackson on High condo development was never going to happen, but doubts were cast aside as construction kicked off in late 2008 and continued all year long. The iconic new Short North building is an 8-story development that houses 44 residential units and 4,600 sqft of ground-floor retail space. Units are currently available for sale although the build out is still wrapping up, and appears as if it will be completed sometime in early 2010.

RiverSouth – As previously mentioned, the RiverSouth area in the southwest portion of Downtown was home to a variety of ongoing development in 2009. The projects that are still under construction include the new Franklin County Courthouse building (pictured), the revamp of South Front Street which has partially been converted to two-way and partially still under construction, the Main Street and Town Street Bridges that are being replaced, and the eastern-half of the Lifestyle Communities “Annex at RiverSouth” residential development.

Children’s Hospital – In November 2007, Children’s Hospital announced that they would soon begin the development of a 12-story building that would expand their campus located just southeast of Downtown. The $800 million expansion will also make Children’s the second largest pediatric hospital in the country. The development was kicked off in September 2008 and construction continued throughout all of 2009. The new building is scheduled to open sometime in 2012.

Grandview Avenue – A vital portion of Grandview Avenue experienced an unexpected tragedy when a building caught fire in January 2009 and several businesses were destroyed. A new development is already rising from the ashes as Wagonbrenner has started construction on a new four-story mixed-use building at the site that will include apartments and ground-floor retail space. Additionally, the redevelopment of the Grandview Station project located further south on Grandview Avenue has also recently made some progress.

Neighborhood Launch – One of the most ambitious Downtown developments was Neighborhood Launch, which continued to grow in 2009. Their row of contemporary condos along Fifth between Gay and Long was completed this summer, and construction is already underway on their next phase as they move eastward on the project. Next door, construction continues on the new four-story 682-space parking garage that will consolidate the nine blocks of parking lots that are disappearing with the development of Neighborhood Launch.

Kingsdale – The redevelopment of the Kingsdale shopping center in Upper Arlington has been under discussion for several years. Plans for the center were finalized in October 2008 which includes a larger Giant Eagle Market District store and 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and office space. Demolition began in August 2009 and the reopening of the new shopping center is planned for sometime in early 2010.

Flats on Vine – Nationwide Realty Investors continued their residential development in the Arena District in 2009 by announcing the 232-unit Flats on Vine apartment project in September. Construction began shortly afterward in October in order to meet their late-2010-early-2011 completion date timeline. NRI also briefly mentioned their plans for additional office and retail buildings along Nationwide Boulevard between High and Front Streets, although no renderings or timelines have been announced.

Commons at Buckingham – Originally announced in May 2007, the Commons at Buckingham is being constructed to help fill the need for low-income housing in Downtown Columbus. Construction began in July with a scheduled completion date of July 2010. The new building includes 100 efficiency apartment units and will be operated similarly to the successful Commons at Grant development.

Whitney Condos – After four years in the making, the Whitney Condos development finally broke ground in August 2009. This project is located just east of Downtown in the King Lincoln District and will feature 28 affordable new townhomes in the $160k-$260k price range. Units are currently being pre-sold with a construction completion targeted for Summer 2010. The project developers own around 60 additional parcels of land in the neighborhood and have plans to continue with additional urban infill.

Projects Announced in 2009:

Convention Center Hotel – There have been rumblings of a new Downtown Convention Center Hotel over the past few years, but it was finally made official in March. It was then revealed in October that the hotel would be branded as a Hilton and would feature 500 rooms, 30,000 sqft of meeting space, an underground parking garage, and multiple hotel bars and restaurants. Renderings of the hotel were made available in mid-November. Construction is scheduled to begin Summer 2010, with an opening targeted for Fall 2012.

ProjectONE at OSU – In September, The Ohio State University announced a new $1 Billion expansion to their Medical Center. The development centers around a new 17-story hospital facility located on the main OSU campus north of Downtown. The project is expected to add over 6,000 direct jobs, an additional 26,000 indirect jobs. The building is scheduled for completion sometime in 2014.

The 70/71 Split – Multiple announcements were made by ODOT in 2009 on the planning of the Interstate 70/71 split that runs through the middle of Downtown, yet no real progress has been made. In January ODOT revealed a $1.6 Billion development plan. In February they chose the option of converting several Downtown streets into highway feeders. In August, ODOT announced that the project would be divided into two parts due to some budgetary concerns. And in November ODOT revealed their design plans for the highway and feeder streets to the universal disdain of locals. ODOT wants to push forward with initial construction in 2010.

Hollywood Casino – Obviously, the most politically charged development announcement in 2009 was the November 3rd passage of the constitutional amendment that would allow Penn National Gaming Inc to build a casino on Nationwide Boulevard on the western side of the Arena District. No renderings of the project have been made available, but it has been announced that the business would be branded as a Hollywood Casino, and will be a single-story structure with an attached parking garage. Local civic leaders and grassroots efforts are quickly mobilizing to block the development from happening. Penn National has stated that they’d like to break ground in 2010 and open the casino in 2012.

Honorable Mention – Greatest Disappearing Act:

Ibiza on High – The Ibiza development was originally announced in October 2006 as an 11-story 180-unit condo building located in the heart of the Short North. The project would include a rooftop pool, hidden parking deck, and ground floor retail. Governor Strickland attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project in April 2008. After months of silence, some folks on Columbus Underground started to question whether or not this project was still moving forward. In March 2009 we sat down for an interview with developer Rajesh Lahoti to find out what was taking so long. Some questions were answered, but delays continued to persist. As of December 2009, the Ibiza site remains a vacant dirt lot and official project updates have practically ceased.

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