Comments on: Several New Businesses Coming Soon to Gay Street

By: Walker

Walker — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:15:52 +0000

The same grapevine that I posted about earlier also told me that the owner’s wife is Cuban, so hopefully that means that they will be somewhat authentic in their offerings. ;)

By: jennyleah31

jennyleah31 — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:40:46 +0000

i’m anxiously waiting to see if this will be a REAL cuban restaurant and not some americanized knock-off. living in miami i’m on withdraw from…. roast pork (shredded melt in ur mouth, juicy), real chimichurri, cafe con leche, rice and beans mixed moro (sp) style that’s cooked w/ ham hock etc, mariquitas w/ garlic lemon dipping sauce, and churrasco steak… !!!! i have to say though that Goya frozen sweet plantains are pretty damn good :)

By: lifeontwowheels

lifeontwowheels — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:13:47 +0000

I was about to say. I really don’t expect a business in a market like downtown to do anything too risky that may put them out in a short time. Better to have the infill and at least have people coming downtown some of the time than none. I’m sure they’ll probably catch on pretty quick that staying open later in the day, especially with the downtown festivals and other special events going on, is a good thing.

Of course we can always help that along by patronizing these places and asking about later hours.

By: Walker

Walker — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:56:27 +0000

Fixed the photo credit. ;)

Perhaps the Plantain Cafe will change their hours if there is demand for it.

By: Columbusite

Columbusite — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:19:30 +0000

Just a correction, I’m pretty sure that Gay St. pic in the slideshow is mine. You can credit it under “Keith Morris” instead of Columbusite.

Kinda bummed to hear yet another place only staying open for lunch. Oh well, more business for those that keep their doors open later then.

By: Walker

Walker — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:17:50 +0000

An update through the grapevine about The Plantain Cafe: They’re going to be a sit down cafe serving authentic Cuban eats during lunch time only. They’re aiming to be open by October.

By: Shade

Shade — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:34:52 +0000

I think you have to wait for Phase 2 of Morse Road to be done a year from now to make any comparisons. Phase 2 is east of Karl Rd which is where the frontage is for the Northland site. Menards is building a big box. I am looking forward to the bike lanes.

By: Walker

Walker — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:22:01 +0000

I’d imagine that plenty of landowners and building owners along Morse Road have money to spend on redevelopment.

By: Core_Models

Core_Models — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:25:03 +0000

Definitely, the only difference between Gay Street and Morse Road is how complete streets were handled. No socio-economic issues between them at all, they’re practically identical.

By: Columbusite

Columbusite — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:36:34 +0000

Morse Rd still has half a year, to be fair in the comparison, but I never make it up there (too far and I’d have to bike across a highway interchange) and couldn’t find anything on the progress of the “Northland Village” concept. Only talk about it dragging and that was from ’08. Surely someone else who is more familiar with Morse Rd (ie, have driven along there in the last year or so) can provide more info.

Zen Cha will be in the same spot on Gay.

I think Zach was well ahead of his time when he labeled this area of Downtown the “Latin District”, since the number of latino restaurants has doubled.

By: Walker

Walker — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:28:00 +0000

Columbusite: Great thoughtful data comparison between Morse & Gay projects. Bravo! :D

By: heresthecasey

heresthecasey — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:52:12 +0000

@columbusite, same locale for the new zen cha? or did they find new digs?

By: Columbusite

Columbusite — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:40:02 +0000

Not Adams Morgan, I want to be able to afford going out here. ;)

And like Mike said, the money the city is spending on complete street improvements like this is seeing investment in the form of developers and more businesses Downtown. I hope he and others here understand the importance of this. I can’t help but compare this with the car-oriented counterpart Morse Rd which saw street improvements costing roughly the same amount. Let’s compare the two.

Gay St was converted to a two-way street and traffic-calmed in line with a complete streets policy. It was $8 million and finished in 11/07. The first phase of Morse Rd improvements cost $8.6 million and was finished in 05/08, and really only gave lip service to complete street principals. All I found was that the improvements for Morse have been attributed to a lower vacany rate for retail from 12.7% to 12.1%, which is an improvement, but have the benefits been comparable? Have developers gone forward with conversion of the Northland site to “Northland Village”? And do they have a bar/restaurant with a patio that is full at 1:00 AM on a Sunday night?

BTW, Zen Cha was stalled but is now finally going forward last I heard.

By: Neil Jaye

Neil Jaye — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:43:54 +0000

I really hope the Gay Street district does well. I would like to see more nightlife options expand in that area. I think it could a potentially be a mini-Adams Morgan (DC) district with interesting shops, bars and restaurants if played right, which would be really cool.

By: lifeontwowheels

lifeontwowheels — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 19:40:09 +0000

I know the two are separate, I just wonder how much political capital is left for the city to keep doing these things. I think most of us here realize to keep investing (and the proof in Gay st.)-it’s convincing the citizens of Columbus that these are good ideas and investments.