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Could the Hilltop be hip? Yes, and that’s the image it needs to project to spur an economic turnaround, says Cleve Ricksecker, a veteran of urban revitalization efforts in Columbus.
Ricksecker will share his thoughts on the Hilltop’s potential in a talk Wednesday, May 6 at 7 p.m. at the J. Ashburn Jr. Youth Center, 85 Clarendon Ave. The free event is presented by the Hilltop Business Association and the Westgate Neighbors Association.
“If you’re 30 or 35 and a creative person, you want to move to a place that’s hip or will be hip soon,” said Ricksecker, executive director of downtown’s Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District. “The Hilltop needs to signal there’s a new wave.”
That’s what the Short North did 30 years ago when it started Gallery Hop, an event that today draws thousands of people each month. Back then, Ricksecker had just moved to a run-down Victorian Village.
The Hilltop will redevelop faster than Victorian Village and the Short North, says Ricksecker, who led the Short North Business Association for several years. “When the Short North was developing, people didn’t ‘get’ urban living,” he said. “Today, people understand urban living.”
Young adults are looking for a neighborhood, Ricksecker said. They don’t want to live in Powell and they can’t afford Victorian Village or Clintonville. That makes the Hilltop a strong market for first-time homebuyers.
“No one yet thinks of the Hilltop or Westgate as being at all hip, yet it’s the hottest neighborhood in Columbus right now,” he said. “What happens in Westgate will spread and stimulate the neighborhoods east of Hague. Commuting patterns will help this process.”
Cleve’s advice to the Hilltop and Westgate: Use the Internet to signal a new image. Also, appeal to artists to create live-work space and entrepreneurs to create a coffee shop or “a good, funky gathering place.”
“Pay attention to your best demographic – young people in their 20s and 30s,” he said. “That will be your best source for revitalization. It’s inevitable that things will change for the better. What the Hilltop can do is speed up the process.”
I’d be asking for less crime, but that’s just me.
What I’m paying for a mortgage is a lot cheaper than rent in the Short North, GV or VV. There’s a good reason to promote home ownership, the real estate is quite affordable.
The problem being the stretches of West Broad and Sullivant that have little to offer the consumer beyond check cashing and cheap cell phones and do not appear to be safe.
JonMyers Says: I see home ownership and the affordability of owning a home as the cornerstone of a lot of attract and retain efforts targeted at creatives in this city. I’m not dismissing the importance of affordable housing, but I’m merely pointing out that there appears to be a disproportionate heavy focus on home ownership as a strategy to lure creatives.
I think with most people in most scenarios, owning a home is the first step in owning a neighborhood. I can understand why they’re targeting the “creatives” first, as they’re probably more likely to be entrepreneurs and open businesses, fix up broken down homes, and even renovate second or third homes and either sell or rent them.
lifeliberty, What crime happens in the Hilltop that doesn’t happen anywhere else in Columbus? From looking at this map (http://www.spotcrime.com/oh/columbus) you’re only safe in Upper Arlington and Dublin.
I had more problems in the 3 years I rented in Grandview than the 6 years I’ve owned in the Hilltop. My biggest complaint where I live has been the noisy dog next door.
I would love to get as many of you as possible to come out to the Westgate Home And Garden tour to get a more realistic look at what the hilltop has to offer. It’s June 13th from 4-8 and you can get tickets at Tigertree. There are rough patches and no one is arguing that. We have a big PR challenge ahead of us to change some minds. I think the misperception of crime being so much worse there than the rest of the city is based on the occasional drive through broad st. at night and not actual experiences in our neighborhoods.
The Hilltop welcomes good renters, too. Many of the rentals here have character. The ones I know best are at Chestershire and Sullivant, across from the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, on both sides of Chestershire. They are well managed and nice looking.
We moved to Westgate in the fall of 2006, and I think that it’s the most neighborhood-like neighborhood that I’ve ever lived in. In the last two weeks, one neighbor invited my son to grow beans in their garden and another baked us a bunch of cookies for giving their car a jump. In that respect, it’s just been way more than I imagined.
We’ve heard a lot of ideas and seen some fits and starts since we got here, but Tigertree has been a galvanizing force who has helped bring ideas and people together in a way that has me convinced that great stuff is going to happen for the Hilltop.
Looking forward to Wednesday!
Why the insistence on marketing neighborhoods to a small niche within Columbus vs. everyone? Like I’ve stated, there are plenty of people who wouldn’t mind downsizing to a smaller, but not to small, city from around the country, especially the coasts. Problem is, how many of them know about Columbus, let alone the Hilltop? And why are we alienating other peoiple in Columbus who would move here by ignoring them?
A part of the problem is that this city is not setup for visitors. Downtown is the only neighborhood with several kiosks and there are virtually no signs to point you to different neighborhoods aside from German Village and the Arena District. Then where an area is labeled there’s no way to find it unless you already know. For example, the little commerical stretch of Parsons in OTE has flags which read “Olde Towne Quarter”, but nothing to lead you there. This is very amateurish. We should already have much better, i.e. existing, wayfinding signage.
I’ll venture to guess that the reason for niche marketing of neighborhoods is that it’s a whole lot less expensive and way more effective than blanketing everyone with your message. Very few products or services are marketed at an audience of “everyone.”
The sign project is new – It’s really nice, I think. I would expect it to expand as budgets allow. I’m sure everyone agrees that it would be nice to have the whole city signed now, but there is an economic reality underlying the whole thing.
Columbusite Says: And why are we alienating other peoiple in Columbus who would move here by ignoring them?
I didn’t read anything that made it sound like other people are not welcome in this neighborhood.
Maybe there are not enough bike racks on the west side?
I am looking forward to Wednesday night! I have always been a big proponent of Westgate and look forward to what is to come for the area. My goal is to one day tell people I live in Westgate and they say cool rather than “Where is that?” or “Is that in Columbus?”
If anybody were to open a coffeehouse in the area, there’s a series of old storefronts at 3100 W Broad St that seems to have a lot of potential.
^^^Yes, the Hilltop is lacking in bike infrastructure.
Walker, while they didn’t say they’re not interested in other people buying in the neighborhood, everyone else was basically omitted. I just think making an urban area attractive will alone result in a more varied increase in all sorts of urban pioneers. Maybe that’s the group they should be focusing on which includes YPs?
It’s extremely important that some community-oriented businesses open up. I think that’s why a coffeeshop or something similar out here is in such high demand, at least according to residents in Westgate on CU. Urban Spirit and Zanzibar provide spaces for building and strengthening their neighborhood and I couldn’t imagine the KLD without them. Heck, a book store opened up next door to one of them, so it follows that a business that brings a positive vibe to a neighborhood can attract other businesses. Speaking of the 3100 block, that’s the only option since it’s the lone intact urban block. If they can make the most of that block, however, it could attract development, but the city already shot themselves in the foot by allowing sprawl which will take forever to redevelop into more urban storefronts and residences.
There will be a coffee shop and performance space that will be owned and operated by someone you are all familiar with. That’s kind of all I can say right now.
A Hilltop coffee shop. Sounds like it’ll be worth checking out. A performance space sounds interesting too. The more destinations the better.
This was a very informative meeting. I left feeling excited and ready to participate.
It was cool to see those pictures of the worn down buildings (which I assumed were buildings on Broad) and finding out they were taken in the Short North back in the day. I think most people know the Short North wasn’t always the hip place to be, but seeing those pictures really puts it into perspective. There is absolutley no reason the Hilltop couldn’t transform into something great.
The meeting definitely gave me a new perspective on the buildings on Broad Street, although I would think the best place for a smaller business would be Hague to Demorest on Broad Street…it would be a dream if someone bought the Foxy Lady building-tore it down and built anew.
Is it just me or does there seem to be some confusion about what is Westgate(great) and what is Hilltop(not so great)?
When I think of Hilltop I think of the area East of Eureka.