The Downtown Commission is scheduled to hear a full slate of development proposals at its meeting on May 26, including the first phase of the Scioto Peninsula development.
The meeting, which will be held virtually, will be the first to take place since the city cancelled all such public meetings in March, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
An announcement earlier this month cleared the way for the city’s area commissions, panels, design review boards and historic commissions to begin meeting online. Board members as well as applicants are now participating in the meetings via the WebEx platform, and they are streamed live online.
The plans submitted for the Scioto Peninsula are similar to those presented to the commission last fall, and include an eight-story office building, an eight-story hotel with a one-story retail building behind it, and two residential buildings – one 11 and the other six stories tall. The residential and hotel buildings will feature ground level restaurant and retail space.
New renderings for the two residential buildings were included in the submittal.
Also on the agenda for next week’s meeting:
- Edwards Companies will be seeking approval for its plan to renovate the 24-story PNC Building and build a sunken plaza along its East Broad Street frontage.
- A series of murals by artist Kirk Mangus are being proposed for one of the exterior walls of Pizzuti Companies’ Library Park Apartments.
- The commission will get to weigh in on the design of a new, three-acre riverfront park near the new Crew Stadium. The city presented some plans for the park in February, but at that time the focus of the review was on the proposed Olentangy River-spanning pedestrian bridge, which was approved.
- A plan from Franklin County to tear down the elevated pedestrian bridge that connects the Karnes Building at 410 S. High St. to a nearby parking garage. The county announced in January a larger plan to build a new municipal courthouse on the site now occupied by the Karnes Building and Dorrian Commons Park.
- Significant alterations are being proposed for the first two floors of the Fifth Third Center at 21 E. State St.
The Downtown Commission meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 26 at 8:30 a.m. For information on how to access the meeting virtually and how the public can participate, see www.columbus.gov.