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The Columbus Dispatch wrote
Downtown revival
Creative firms put premium on open spaces, cool addresses
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Artistic types who led the evolution of the once-gritty Short North into a chic neighborhood in the 1990s are now fueling a revival of the central business district. Some companies outgrew their space in the Short North and elsewhere. Others were priced out. And all gravitated to the core city that has seen an exodus of more traditional businesses in recent years.
One reason such companies have found reasonable rates is that Downtown is coming off historic high office-vacancy rates. At just less than 18 percent, the current vacancy rate is a great improvement over the high of 25 percent in late 2003.
Thomas said Downtown landlords have been offering “aggressive” lease concessions to lure tenants. “The market is still soft, but vacancy rates Downtown are lower than in the suburbs now,” he said.
Comments
- itinerantfoodie: Not one mention of Huntington Park or their sparse advertising. (Seriously
- Liz Samuelson: Why can't they just pay someone to do it versus a contest? I really like t
- RichLauro: Awesome! Good for Justin and best wishes!!
- Liz Samuelson: @jpizzow – Thank you for the compliment, yes lots of potential and lots o
- Taz Devil: Oh, and it should be finished soon considering that they work late into the
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Creative firms put premium on downtown offices
By: Walker
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I saw that article, too. Interesting.
What I’m really wondering is if the lure of downtown offices for creative businesses is going to translate into more residential choices for creative individuals, i.e., the employees of those businesses. We’ve been asking ourselves on a couple of other threads what the next Short North will be–Market Exchange, Discovery, Franklinton, etc.–AFAIK, no one has actually suggested Downtown itself as a candidate. That’s understandable if we expect “the arts” to be basically just visual and performing arts, since artists and musicians tend not to make grand salaries, but if we broaden the definition a little to include creative professionals (advertising, marketing, etc.), suddenly the picture on the Downtown front looks a little different, as the anecdote about that one guy moving into the Brunson proves.
This is exactly what i believe Columbus really needs to attract and retain young talent. I even think it is more important that having a good public transportation system.
Young people want exciting, creative jobs without having to drive to the suburbs to get to them. i think i’d rather have a job at a dynamic, creative firm in downtown Columbus than work at a financial services firm in NYC, for example.
Hopefully the momentum will continue.
I just don’t get how parking downtown is hard, unless you absolutely won’t walk more than a block, the options are more than plentiful; They’re 40% of downtown.
Yeh I don’t get it either. City Council is spending 50K to study parking in downtown? They should just look at the price for parking to know there is more than enough, can you think of any other city where it is so cheap?
It’s not a matter of parking not being available – it’s that PAYING to park, even if the price rate is cheap compared to other cities – is something new for employees of places relocating downtown from the burbs. From the article:
Going from paying NOTHING to park right outside your office building in the burbs to paying even $50/month for lot parking a few blocks away is a pretty big jump. I’m glad folks are doing it, but you’re going to get some folks with sticker-shock at first.
The article seems to go back and forth as to whether it is actually cheaper to have offices in the suburbs or downtown. They talk about aggressive pricing downtown due to high vacancy rates but then quote someone else who said their space costs tripled when they moved (to the Arena District)? So it doesn’t really paint a clear picture. Other than to say more “creative” firms are relocating “downtown”…..
Yeah, I think the focus of the article was on the types of jobs moving in and not on the prices. I’m sure the office space costs vary quiet a bit from the 30+ year old offices in middle of downtown to the brand-spankin new offices over in the Arena District. So it really just depends on what you’re looking for.