RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Spring has officially arrived! Birds are chirping, flowers are starting to bloom, and construction cranes fill the air. While the national recession has certainly slowed down many aspects of the building industry, Columbus is leading the nation in construction jobs. This edition of our construction update takes us to Grandview Avenue, the Short North, the RiverSouth District, the Arena District and beyond. Many of the development shown are nearing completion dates scheduled for 2011.
The pictorial can be found below.
Construction is nearing completion on Phase 2 of Bishop’s Walk at Neighborhood Launch Condos. Once this portion of the project is finished, Neighborhood Launch will be home to 74 of its planned 300 new residential units:
Construction is progressing on The Abigail, a student-oriented apartment building located Downtown, adjacent to CCAD. The building features one, two and three-bedroom units and is now accepting rental applications online:
Progress continues along the Scioto Mile, the new Downtown riverfront interconnected park system that will open this summer. Pictured below are photos of the promenade along the riverfront, a shot of the new Rich Street Bridge, and an updated view of the new restaurant space in Bicentennial Park that will be home to a new restaurant from the Columbus Brewing Company:
Construction at Columbus Commons is 99% complete and the grand opening will take place on May 26th:
The new Downtown Hilton Hotel broke ground last summer. There’s been quite a bit of progress made on the foundation work lately, and the 500-room hotel will be going sky-high soon. The planned opening is Fall 2012:
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital expansion project continues construction with most of the visible exterior work completed on the new 12-story building and progress being made on the new 6-story office building:
Grandview Yard hasn’t started on Phase 2 yet, but they have mostly completed the demolition work of the former Big Bear warehouse space. The only things left are a few piles of rubble and a couple of Big Bear signs:
Work on the NOBO on Long development in the King Lincoln District has made much progress in the past month. The historic building on the left is being renovated into 2 condo units, and the building on the right is a new build that will house 7 more units:
The RiverSouth neighborhood located Downtown remains under heavy construction as streets, sidewalks and utilities get a complete overhaul along Front Street, Rich Street, Main Street and others:
The iconic Goody Boy diner in the Short North has been half ripped apart to make way for a new restaurant renovation:
The Flats on Vine apartment development in the Arena District appears to still be completing some minor cosmetic type work, but is already leasing units online:
Last but not least, The Windsor development is nearly wrapped up, which replaces the Kingswood Building that tragically burned down in January of 2009. New retail tenants include Matt the Miller’s Tavern, Orange Leaf Yogurt and a relocated Objects for the Home. The upper floors are home to 37 apartment units and are now being leased:
WOW…great photos! (Walker?)
Yep, I took them. ;) Thanks! The weather was nice enough to give some nice blue backgrounds the past two weekends.
Any reason you left off the biggest project in Cbus?
Wow, lots going on in Columbus. It’s a great sign of the strength of this city.
niobl22 Says: Any reason you left off the biggest project in Cbus?
I imagine you’re referring to the OSU Medical Center expansion? No, no reason. This wasn’t meant to be a comprehensive report. We also left out the Weinland Park Kroger, the Hollywood Casino, and a few others.
Nice to know all of the projects are basically on schedule, that’s a good look.
Looks like they’ve added a 7th and 8th floor onto the Children’s research building.
Impatiently waiting on the next crane-worthy project in or near downtown.
I second @jpizzow. I’m sure this has come up before, but I’d love for Columbus to match Cincinnati in adding another tower to the skyline. Then again, I would be excited about another midrise hotel popping up on any existing surface parking lot downtown.
North Bank is a new addition to the skyline from northern viewpoints. The Hilton Hotel will be as well. Though I imagine you’re wanting something taller. ;)
speaking of Childrens, what is up with the granite curb stones on Parsons, granite really? what is this New Albany? and how long will they weather the traffic?
Granite will last considerably longer than concrete. The city is using granite downtown as well in River South.
I wish the county commissioners or the cols conv bureau would install a construction cam for the new hotel like they did for the courthouse. I inquired a few months back but never received a response.
Also, anyone notice that the city spiffied up the Trautman building across from Columbus Commons? A little fresh paint and some snazzy new black awnings. Too bad they evicted all the paying tenants a couple years back.
Looks awesome!
Love your screen name Buster!!
For the Hilton Columbus Downtown, there is a camera. http://www.earthcam.com/client/HiltonColumbusDowntown/
Thanks to Walker for posting all these great images. I love walking through the area and seeing all this activity, especially as the weather improves. Hard, physical evidence of Columbus on the move.
On the granite question: Granite was the standard for much of downtown and neighboring districts when the streets were built. It lasts 100+ years, much longer than concrete, and looks better. It took a lot of work from City leaders and planners who care about the look and solidity of downtown to get the granite standard in place for more projects moving forward, including all of the improvements around the Parson’s gateway.
there are some cool new renderings (at least I haven’t seen them) of the interior of the hilton here:
http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/CMHDWHH-Hilton-Columbus-Downtown-Ohio/photoGallery.do;jsessionid=75677188D9C016A24C59AB54A4EABCE9.etc21
Thanks for the cam link!
Mike, are you sure about the historic use of granite in Columbus, almost all of the curbs I’ve seen are local/regional sandstone. Granite is expensive to ship and the closest sources are Vermont, and Canada, not a great deal back in the day. It just seems a strange use of limited city funds when 1/2-3/4 of the material is buried below ground. It will be interesting to see how it weathers the large trucks and snow plows.
Good questions. Got me thinking and digging a bit.
The City passed the new downtown streetscape standards about 10 years ago and have been bringing them to bear more and more on projects. Parsons Ave. Gateway, RIversouth’s roads, and the 70/71 split will all be done to these standards, as will smaller projects where there is a full reconstruction from curb to curb. You can read more by going to the Planning Division’s library, and click on Columbus Downtown Streetscape Plan.
http://development.columbus.gov/planning/plansoverlays.aspx?id=17112
Granite is the preferred material, but you are correct that back in the day they used what was more readily available, sometimes limestone, sometimes sandstone. All three natural stones are considered far preferrable to concrete for looks and they last much longer, making them more cost effective in the long run.
Hope this is helpful.