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The Columbus Dispatch wrote
Courthouse price tag soars by $11 million
Friday, October 19, 2007
By Barbara Carmen
Franklin County commissioners were reeling from sticker shock yesterday, after learning their dazzling, $105 million glass courthouse could run 10 percent over budget unless they make hard choices.
“It looks like $11 million in compromises,” Commissioner Paula Brooks said after meeting with architects.
Commissioners had an immediate reaction to the redesigned exteriors. They didn’t like them.
Architects allowed that the projector they were using wasn’t the best, but they didn’t argue that they liked the original — and pricier — designs better.
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I think they should make it in an O shape…that would be cool
haha manatee… how do you feel about that?
I actually did think once that it would be sweet to have a Statehouse that, from the air, was in the shape of the state of Ohio. :idea: :wink:
Does that make it the right thing to do? Does it make it impossible?
Do you really want the government to get into the real estate game? To control what we eat, and where we shop? To have the same people who have control of eminent domain in the position to rent out property and subsidize government through rental income?
Did you follow what happened in New London, CT at all?
And if this was a case where there was a huge demand for ground level commercial enterprise, there might be some argument for innovation. But there are empty storefronts across the street waiting for tenants. Appropriate streetscape improvements coupled with public art should be the goal to provide a link between existing and future commercial nodes.
I’ll have to dig through the dozens of articles to find the quote, but from my readings it sounds like the new courthouse building will not take up the whole High-Mound-Front-Main block and there is room for additional mixed-use development on the site.
So this should not be a completely dead block with a single 9-5 M-F use if everything fleshes out as planned.
Does that make it the right thing to do? Does it make it impossible?
Do you really want the government to get into the real estate game? To control what we eat, and where we shop? To have the same people who have control of eminent domain in the position to rent out property and subsidize government through rental income?
Easy there square. I’m just suggesting that they lease out a 1,000 sq. ft. parcel of a building. Nobody is going to control where you eat by leasing out a (currently non-existing) space to Starbucks. This doesn’t seem impossible or unreasonable to me.
Heck…look at the Lazarus Building.
Streetscape improvements and public art don’t draw pedestrians. Check out those beautiful fountains and benches surrounding the Ohio Courts Building sometime. Empty. There’s no reason to go anywhere close to the government controlled riverfront.
Let’s just take a walk near the riverfront from south to north…
Franklin County Complex –> Juvenile Detention Center –> Dept. of Jobs and Family Services –> Ohio Courts Building –> Department of Education –> City Hall –> City of Columbus (at least 2 buildings) –> Police Station #1 –> Police Station #2 –> Kinneary Federal Courthouse. Then add up all of the parking lots that are allocated to these buildings.
by Kevin Kemper
Friday, August 22, 2008
It’s almost a small city. A micro economy that feeds dozens of businesses and vendors.
One of the busiest courts in the state, the Franklin County Courthouse complex is a three-building spread that employs an estimated 3,350 people while annually welcoming more than one million people through its doors.
Located at 369, 373 and 375 S. High Street in downtown Columbus, the courthouse and its employees are responsible for not only the administration of justice in Franklin County, but also the well-being of dozens of area businesses that supply the complex and its employees with food, documents and a variety of services.
And when the county’s new courthouse opens just north of the existing complex on High Street, these businesses expect they will continue to act as satellites in the courthouse’s economic orbit.
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I will have to agree on the retail space , It does not have a place at the courts. There is plently of un-devloped retail space in down town columbus.
This is getting built FAST! Every day when I walk by, I can see a lot of progress being made.
can anyone post some photos of the progress? i havent been down that way in a while
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
By Robert Vitale
Columbus has delayed handing over the rights to streets now beneath the new Franklin County courthouse because City Council members aren’t sure they want what’s being offered in return.
In exchange for two alleyways on which they’re already building, county commissioners say they’ll give the city a $2.1 million credit toward purchasing the 29-year-old Franklin County Municipal Court building, owned by county government but operated by Columbus.
Councilwoman Maryellen O’Shaughnessy said she’s not sure the city would ever want to buy the building, though, especially if it means giving up immediate cash during a dismal budget year.
She persuaded council members to table transfer of the streets last night so the offer can be studied further. The value of the city alleyways — sections of Wall and Noble streets — is pegged at the $2.1 million that county commissioners are offering in credit.
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So this should not be a completely dead block with a single 9-5 M-F use if everything fleshes out as planned.
don’t even have to do that, just look at the building
I will post a pic(s) of it on here tomorrow, it only takes up 1/2 the old 4 parking lot complex that used to be there……..construction trailers and equipment now sit on areas that will not be built upon as far as the new courthouse goes anyway.
Anyway, as it stands now I think almost all the structural steel is up, plastic has been applied to shield the workers from the weather on various floors. The flooring steel has been laid almost entirely but the concrete over it not poured yet. What’s quite striking watching this thing evolve monday thru friday each week is the utter lack of workers and the serious amounts of energy used to build it. At times early as it was being built the site only had maybe 8-10 guys there. Even now that most of the structure is up there still aren’t very many there, same with the Lifestyle Communities project. Modern construction is all about brute force applied using machines and petrol. Theyve already put 3 huge like 5000 gallon tanks of propane on site for heat during the winter and I bet they fill them several times over the next 4 months.
Short to mid term though, I think once the thing is finished it will be quite awhile before anything else is built anywhere near it given the economic conditions. This economic depression is gonna put the halt on lots of plans and new construction. Like it or not its gonna be another single use building open regular business hours and that’s it. Given that legal services are about the only growth industry around though I guess that’s ok, at least its on the non discretionary side of the economy.
Sure, I agree that it’s not going to see additional development for awhile. Just that I previously read somewhere that they are leaving the open area flexible for future non-gov expansion.
(click to enlarge)
pics taken today
Nice photos! Thanks for posting them! :D
Construction photos from today:
i didnt see this posted anywhere so sorry if this is a dup. but here is a webcam for construction updates:
http://www.earthcam.net/users2/interface.php?i=0&id=1948&projectid=1249&clientid=917&tab=default
Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t this way smaller than the current court complex? How are they planning on housing everything they currently do?
AFAIK this is an addition from what I’ve been told, not a replacement. So I guess the answer they aren’t planning on housing everything in the new building.
AFAIK this is an addition from what I’ve been told, not a replacement. So I guess the answer they aren’t planning on housing everything in the new building.
That would be what I was missing then :D