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(Photo by Columbusite)
The fan-favorite nomination for our “Best Urban Development of 2008″ was actually not contained to one specific project, but a whole cluster of development that occurred along Gay Street in the past year.
The new Residence Inn hotel opened in February at the corner of Gay & Pearl. The Neighborhood Launch project continued construction through out the year, and the first units were sold and moved into. The first of the downtown scooter parking lots were also opened on Gay Street over the summer.
There were several major events happening on Gay Street as well. The first annual Independents’ Day Festival was held there in September, and a very active spot could also be found on Gay during ParkING Day.
In 2009, Gay Street should see the completion of the new CCAD dorm building located at Gay & Cleveland, the beginning of a redevelopment of the Modern Finance Building at Gay & High, and newly remodeled businesses along the street including the expanded Grip Technology offices and the 1400 Downtown salon.
Second Place: Ibiza
Third Place: Lazarus / OSU Urban Arts Space
I was just going to post about how I think Gay Street is going to be an amazing place to live. Are those apts/condos for sale above Due Amici?
It’s certainly the redevelopment / reconfiguration model for the rest of downtown.
Working at Tip Top for the past year, I have been able to watch Gay St. continue to grow into the type of urban landscape I wish we could see all over downtown.
That being said, the 2nd place to Ibiza cracks me up. It’s STILL an empty lot that looks like Arizona.
Yay! Some of my favorite pics from the summer are of us sitting at Tip Top’s patio with the city as our backdrop. It’s a great urban vibe unmatched in the city so far.
Surber Wrote:
There’s two units on Metro-Rentals: http://metro-rentals.com/downtown.htm
LaChewla Wrote:
Yeah, I was surprised that so many people voted for it. I guess everyone is excited to see it start! :D
As was mentioned on Walker’s podcast, there’s no reason for four-lane streets to be one-way. I think Gay St. shows this, among other elements that are taking place to make Gay St. successful.
Also coming this year will be the second location of Zen Cha in the space that used to be Capital Photo.
I originally omitted in the information about Zen Cha, because I heard that they were having some delays and hadn’t heard any updates in awhile. Wasn’t sure what their timeline is looking like now. Anyone else have any updates?
From what I understand, they have signed a lease on the space and they are waiting for the developer to turn the space over to them so that they can begin their build-out. Maybe we will be able to order a Fresh Fruit Spring Blend or a mango bubble tea right on Gay St. by late spring or early summer. Can’t wait!
Me either! Although, I do have a limit on number of bubble teas per week now. :)
How many is it Anne? 4 or 5? :)
I had Fantasia yesterday.. .yum!
only one. :(
Well, I’m flattered. It was pretty bright that day, but regardless it’s hard to take a bad picture of Gay St. I’m just surprised the city hasn’t jumped all over this and gone on a two-way conversion spree. Main St. needs it bad in the Red Brick District and Market Exchange District needs traffic calming. The city has already planned to convert all of Front two-way. That project is especially important because right now Gay St. sits as a pedestrian/bike-friendly island. Connecting this with a calmed, two-way Front St. would it much less daunting to peds and cyclists. Washington Ave., and Town or Oak St. are the two streets Downtown already set to become bike boulevards.
What gets my goat is that we could have had some of this already, but instead the city is spending millions on making Morse Rd. pedestrian and bike-friendly when it’s very physical form is 100% out of line with that. On the upside, according to an article from City Scene “the city also wants to implement *several* bike boulevards (where bikes take priority over cars) downtown” (* added). See that? They’re listening. But seriously, I’m hoping another street gets transformed and wins best urban development of 2009, because as great as Gay St. is becoming, the city needs to spread the love. Just not out to Morse Rd.
Columbusite Wrote:
There’s been some other conversions going on (Town, State, Front to name a few), and it sounds like more are on the way. I think the biggest hangup from doing them all at once is the fact that two-way streets don’t grow on trees.
What’s up with those green cowlings/housings in the medians though … I think they are for covering valves for the irrigation system or something … boy are they ugly!!!! I certainly hope they are temporary.
The street itself, the businesses … gotta love it. Main Street next???
Who remembers how ugly Gay Street used to be when it was one-way? Raise your hands! Hard to believe it’s already been three years, but here’s a photo from Feb 2006 that I took looking eastward from High. Nothing but cars headed at me. No tree-lined median. Nothing. Dreary.
Hopefully with the proposed split changes, we won’t see downtown take 2 steps backwards after work like this with the proposed one way feeders.