Franklinton – News & Updates

[Snarf]

Has anyone ever explored Coleman’s push for Franklinton with the idea he owns a large amount of real estate there?

[Walker Evans]

Snarf wrote:

Has anyone ever explored Coleman’s push for Franklinton with the idea he owns a large amount of real estate there?

Wouldn’t be hard to look up on the auditor’s website to find out who owns land there.

I seem to recall Jim Sweeney having a map in the Franklinton Development Association offices that showed who owned what land in East Franklinton (West Franklinton is mostly single family home lots) and it was primarily large businesses that owned the vast majority, like AEP, Mount Carmel, AD Farrow, etc. I don’t recall seeing Mayor Coleman’s name on any of the big parcels.

Of course, The City of Columbus and Franklin County own the entire Scioto Peninsula area, so we all technically own a big chunk of Franklinton as taxpayers.

[mattwardcomedy]

Coleman does not own land there

[Snarf]

Because he would have said land in his own name. Sigh.

[Cbussmallbiz]

If there is property owned it would almost certainly be held in an LLC or some sort of shell.

[Walker Evans]

Snarf wrote:

Because he would have said land in his own name. Sigh.

What are his aliases or business aliases that he owns all of this land in?

Also: why does the idea only stop with Franklinton? The Mayor has also had a strong push for the redevelopment of everything from Weinland Park to The Lincoln Theatre to Downtown proper to The Short North. Does he also own a large amount of real estate in all of those areas too?

[WJT]

Anyone with half a brain could see this coming after the floodwall was finished*. Any real redevelopment could not happen until it was done. I knew someone ten years ago who lived on Rich across from that 8 floor housing block. Nothing like seeing people on their balconies using plates as frisbees, trying to hit passing pedestrians. Some people got in a fight one night and they ended up heaving an entire couch off a balcony.
The open prostitution and drug dealing/using was shocking…that COTA shelter there was nothing but a little drug den half the time.

Progress is progress…same as it ever was.

*Now who was Coleman bribing 25 years ago to get that thing started? Hmmmm….? *sigh*

[News]

Franklinton Shipping Container Park Delayed Until 2016
August 25, 2015 11:55 am – Walker Evans

A shipping container park was originally planned to pop-up in Franklinton this summer on the site of a planned five-story 310-unit mixed-use apartment development for the neighborhood, but the concept has officially been pushed back to 2016.

READ MORE: https://www.columbusunderground.com/franklinton-shipping-container-park-delayed-until-2016

[News]

Started from the Bottoms: How Franklinton has risen to the top of Columbus’ art and culture scene
By Jill Moorhead
From the September 17, 2015 edition

It’s a Monday afternoon and Alicia “AJ” Vanderelli, Ashley Pierce and Tiffany Boggins are on the back patio of Rehab Tavern in Franklinton. Their picnic tabletop is full — not with beer bottles, but with art supplies. There’s a toolbox of sculpting tools, a sketchbook or two, and a dead cicada (a model of sorts). Vanderelli, founder of The Vanderelli Room, is painting, wiping, painting and wiping a found tray featuring an image of an English countryside. Things are about to change for the residents of the tiny brick homes. Hovering above the scene is a gigantic spaceship, with equally enormous cicadas climbing down (backwards, as they do). Her countryside will never be the same.

READ MORE: http://www.columbusalive.com/content/stories/2015/09/17/started-from-the-bottoms-how-franklinton-has-risen-to-the-top-of-columbus-art-and-culture-scene.html

[News]

East Franklinton Still Waiting for Residential Development to Break Ground
November 14, 2015 8:00 am – Brent Warren

The artist studios at 400 West Rich are fully occupied, the Idea Foundry is working on building out its second floor, Land Grant is cranking out craft brews, and Glass Axis is fully established in its new space. But despite all of the activity and buzz surrounding East Franklinton, residents and neighborhood leaders are still waiting for the first of a number of proposed residential projects to break ground.

READ MORE: https://www.columbusunderground.com/east-franklinton-apartments-bw1

[News]

Couple Excited to Build New Home in East Franklinton, Ahead of Big Developers
November 14, 2015 8:00 am – Brent Warren

Kate McCanna and her partner, TJ Manfrass, recently received approval from the East Franklinton Review Board (EFRB) to do something that hasn’t been done in the neighborhood in quite some time — break ground on a new residential building.

READ MORE: https://www.columbusunderground.com/franklinton-house-bw1

[Eridony]

It is frustrating how nothing has happened on all these developments. Especially the warehouses on West Rich Street that 18-months ago were announced to be renovated into residential. This spring they started cleaning up the site and I thought that meant the project was happening. Then nothing else happened.

Good luck to McCanna and Manfrass with their house. I love the design. Too bad with so much of the surrounding property held by people unwilling to develop they may be the only new build in the neighborhood for a while.

[drew]

Reading between the lines, I gather that a bunch of big name developers and investors bought up almost all of the available east Franklinton land as soon as the city announced that it was an area of focus for renewal (and some before then), and now the banks aren’t buying into the idea of Franklinton’s future and consequently won’t finance any new construction there… particularly not until someone else does it first. Could be a stalemate that holds for some time, with a lot of land just lying there.

The McCanna/Manfrass house looks like a nice addition, and I hope it’s not sitting by itself for as long as I fear it might be. I totally believe Chris Sherman’s point in the article – the demand for residential space in Franklinton is there – and it never fails to surprise me how conservatively and slowly investment money reacts to demand and the desire for novelty in this city.

[Nancy H]

Eridony wrote:

It is frustrating how nothing has happened on all these developments. …snip… Too bad with so much of the surrounding property held by people unwilling to develop they may be the only new build in the neighborhood for a while.

I would venture to guess lining up financing is a major hurtle. It might take NRI moving on their plans to make some of the lenders feel a little less reluctant to lend money on other projects. The fact that most of the Short North was in a National Register Historic District made the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program invaluable in the early days. Amazing how a 20% income tax credit will help line up private investors.

EDITED TO ADD: Drew and I seem to have been writing the same thing at the same time. Having some of the bigger players buy up property could be a good thing. Some of them have the ability to self-fund their projects.

[JAL]

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2016/02/09/1-red-herring-rents-space-in-franklinton-to-perform-its-theater-shows.html

Red Herring Productions plans to move into a performing space in the Franklinton neighborhood.

[Author]

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