Photos: Opening Weekend at Columbus Commons

By: Walker

9 Comments

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  catnfiddle May 29, 2011 11:35 am

  These are wonderful!  Today is going to be hot and sunny, so have water and a hat, if possible.
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  Buster Bluth May 29, 2011 2:40 pm

  These look great, I hope it continues to be successful.
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  Jeftrokat May 31, 2011 11:14 am

  The opposite of suburban life, I love it!
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  titleistcm May 31, 2011 4:02 pm

  Next we need more people living downtown. Most of these people probably drove their cars down to this park and paid to park them. I don’t see that happening on a regular basis. I really hope developers see the demand for affordable rental properties downtown.
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  Walker May 31, 2011 5:50 pm

  While we walk to the park in our own neighborhood, my family and I drive pretty regularly to go to Schiller, Goodale and Franklin parks. Not to mention the occasional visits to one of our many Metro Parks throughout the region.

  I agree with you that Downtown needs more residents, but I don’t think driving to a park is completely unheard of.
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  ZHC June 2, 2011 1:17 am

  Believe me the developers see the demand for affordable rental properties downtown they’ve been singing that chorus for five years, it’s just there are very few properties where they can actually produce that and cover their costs.

  Developing downtown is extremely expensive compared to every other part of the metro. I wish it wasn’t, but I doubt that will ever change barring major changes to building code and the tax code.
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  Walker June 2, 2011 11:17 am

  What specifically in the tax code and building code makes it more expensive to build Downtown? I understand that land is more expensive per square foot, and of course, building density is more expensive due to material costs, but I’ve never heard what else makes it more of a financial challenge.

  Obviously, some developers have overcome the challenge… Edwards, Lifestyle Communities, Casto, NRI, etc.
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  ZHC June 2, 2011 10:59 pm

  “What specifically in the tax code and building code makes it more expensive to build Downtown? ”
  Well I’m not a developer so I don’t know all the specific issues they run into. I;m sure any of them could give you better and more accurate answers,. But in general the biggest issues I hear mentioned from our customers tend to be related to the amount of standards they have to meet and the approval/inspection time issue that come with that. The fact they have to get approval at so many steps along the way drive up their carrying costs and add uncertainty to their budgets. There’s a lot more code when you start to add stories to your building, including but not limited to amount of staircases, bathrooms,setbacks from neighboring buildings, size of water service and accessibility issues.Plus you have to get approval for a number of agencies before you do any work, such as the Downtown comission.

  In some cases that makes some buildings un-economical to rehab and extremely difficult to deliver a condo at under $100.00/sq and cover costs.

  To be fair a lot of the code that makes urban building more expensive is federal and affects every metro.

  Out in the sticks for better or worse you don’t have to ask permission to do much building wise, enforcement seems to be less rigorous and as you alluded to land acquistion costs are already much lower there.

  “Obviously, some developers have overcome the challenge… Edwards, Lifestyle Communities, Casto, NRI, etc.”

  You certainly can develop downtown and the developers you mention certianly have with success, but deliver units at a cost what the poster titleiscm probably considers to be affordable? I don’t think too many people have had success with that, other than charity projects such as The Commons at Grant.

  Is what it is.
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  ZHC June 2, 2011 11:00 pm

  oh and I enjoyed the park’s opening the little bit I got to see!
  Hope everyone who came down had a good time.