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Last summer, Nationwide Realty Investors announced plans for a new apartment building and grocery store development on the northwest side of the Arena District, at the corner of Vine & Neil. The grocery store was dropped from the plans earlier this year, but as of today, the apartments are still moving forward.
The new project is called the “Flats on Vine” and will contain 232 apartment units housed in two 3-story buildings at the southeast corner of Neil Avenue and Vine Street. Amenities include a swimming pool and fitness center for tenants.
Construction is scheduled to begin in October, with a late-2010-early-2011 completion date.
The apartments will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units with rents ranging between $700 and $1,500 per month and sizes ranging between 500 sqft and 1200 sqft.
Renderings below:
Personally, I’m glad to see this still moving forward. Of course, taller buildings are always better when playing SimCity, but I think three stories are dense enough for this location. I imagine they’ve got to limit it to around three stories to keep the prices down.
Not a bad addition for 300 new residents downtown (165 1-bedrooms plus 67 2-bedrooms = 299 bedrooms total).
They look ok, not too pedestrian friendly, but there isn’t much you can do with that slope down to Vine. I’m excited either way. Can’t wait for construction to start.
Those renderings are screaming for a buff brick, not red.
Otherwise… carry on.
Sigh…..
When will we see that grocery store?
Both the North Market and Victorian Village Giant Eagle are five minute walks from here. Why would you need a third grocery store?
Agreed. If anything, they need to build a bigger Giant Eagle up to street level where the existing one is and maybe incorporate some apartments/ condos. I’ll keep going to BD Kroger’s until it happens.
The renderings Walker posted remind me of an industrial park.
They look a little like a Business center in Dublin. I for some reason just don’t feel those renderings.
We don’t want a third grocery store, we want a good grocery store. God bless the North Market, but the Neil Avenue Giant Eagle is just crap. I was really looking forward to a new, urban-style Giant Eagle in the AD.
The renderings remind of something I would see in Grandview Yard with a splash of suburbia flare.
If you have 30 min to watch you should . if you have 6 hrs watch the whole series ! this is what we should expect from our city , that includes all involved. http://www.hulu.com/watch/23350/design-e2-gray-to-green please watch it!
My first thought when I saw it was that it resembled a slight upgrade from a 60s apartment building, especially the third rendering. The grey vents at the bottom are ventilation for the parking garage, they will be painted a color that matches the building and covered with additional landscaping. They are also adding additional lighting so the sidewalks are well lit at night for pedestrians.
In all fairness, the renderings don’t include the skyline. The views from Neil & Vine facing SE should have the skyline visible behind the apartments. Would have probably looked a little more impressive if they would have included that in the renders.
They look pretty nice, but they have too much of a suburban feel for me. I’d like to see something more along the lines of what they are doing over near Gay and 4th Streets downtown. But I guess any development is good for the city, even if it is more brick! I really wish that the city would redo the High Street facade of the convention center and add store fronts …. and actually fill them! Maybe with more convenience stores so the people who live or will live in the Arena district will have more options..
Walker Says:
September 29th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
That’s because most hardcore urban enthusiasts have a project grading scale of:
100-92 = A
91-0 = F
Thank you, Mr. Walker. I laughed quite loud at your summary analysis. Density and height will be a good topic to bring up again soon for the heart of downtown. More debate soon on zoning and incentives to push those concepts along Mile on High.
Looks like it will be a nice project. Somebody may correct me but I think you start to run into a lot of additional regulations when you build multifamily housing above 3 floors.
Anyway, there are plenty of buildings in the Short North that are only 3 floors, but the fact that they’re spaced pretty close together (just as this project will be) makes it dense enough to have some atmosphere.
#19
I totally agree that there shouldn’t be random developments all over Downtown like there had been for years. Fill in 3rd or 4th, etc, just pick a street and focus on that and then move on. The AD is already a self-contained sub-neighborhood of Downtown with plenty going for it, but that’s where we differ, since I feel like the AD is complete enough. I just worry that such a large development here will discourage infill development in the rest of Downtown, but then again I remember there was an article awhile back on how there weren’t enough apartments Downtown to meet the current demand. I’m hoping other developers saw that article.
For those criticizing the height: some people don’t like hi-rise living. 3 stories in the center of town fills a certain market demand. Especially given how much land is empty, many Columbus developers honestly don’t have a reason to build up—yet!
Regarding the design: yeah, something more bold would have been nice. But it’s not like it’s 1960s communist chic. It’ll do. Bold doesn’t always sell, unfortunately.
While I can appreciate NRIs attempt to get past the Ye Olde Warehouse look, I’m not sure this is doing it. It looks like a retrofitted 60′s office park. Slap some cool 90s modern and it and you’re ready to go!
I think it looks kind of like a high school. I take that back– it REALLY looks like a high school.