Borror Properties is hoping for final approval from the Downtown Commission this month for its Pen West office and residential development. Submitted renderings show a re-oriented and re-designed office building at the western edge of Nationwide Boulevard, as well as additional pedestrian walkways connecting that building with a two-story parking garage and six-story apartment building.
The new visuals also show more detail for the city-owned parkland that sits between the proposed development and the Olentangy River. Jeff Baur, Executive Vice President of Development at Borror, said that the design of the park is still a work in progress, but that there seems to be some momentum behind the idea of including a pedestrian bridge over the river that would provide access to the Olentangy Trail.
“NRI (Nationwide Realty Investors), ourselves, and the city are all partnering on that park, and we’re all interested in doing a pedestrian bridge across the river,” he said. “That’s the goal of all three of us, to provide good access to the Olentangy bike trail.”
Borror is calling the apartments Central Outpost, after the name given to the collection of city buildings that occupied the five-and-a-half acre site for many decades. The office building, which will be home to new headquarters for Borror as well as for Ruscilli Construction, will be known as 650 West Nationwide Boulevard.
The land north of Nationwide that Borror is redeveloping is only one part of the larger plan for the area, which was announced by the city late last year. Brad DeHays of Connect Realty said that his company’s plans for the former power plant building on the south side of the street are still in development, while NRI has not shared any details on plans for their property, the 25-acre Jaeger manufacturing site that sits between the Central Outpost land and the railroad tracks.
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Renderings via Borror Properties / Berardi+Partners.