JSDI Celmark has submitted a new, bolder plan to the Downtown Commission for a five-story brick warehouse owned by BalletMet. The new proposal calls for a three-story addition on top the existing building at 358 Mt. Vernon Avenue, which would be renovated.
“We thought we had an opportunity here to bring some modern design aesthetics to an older building…the addition is a very unique, signature element that will be visible from the freeway.” said Mike Balakrishnan, President of Celmark Development Group.
JSDI Celmark is a joint venture between Celmark Development Group and Jerome Solove Development, the same team behind the View on High, the View on Fifth, and the proposed View on Pavey Square.
A previous proposal from last summer called for a two-story addition. Balakrishnan said that they are moving forward now after ruling out the possibility of tearing down the existing building and replacing it with a larger structure. “We found that would have been cost-prohibitive,” he said, adding that it also took some time to sort out a complicated lot split in order to complete the purchase of the property from BalleMet.
The submitted plan calls for 80 apartment units on floors two through seven, with a fitness center, common areas, and several outdoor patios on the eighth floor. The first floor would hold a lobby, a corner space reserved for a cafe or restaurant, and a garage with 41 semi-automated parking spaces.
With the building’s proximity to Columbus State Community College and the Columbus College of Art and Design, Balakrishnan expects interest in the apartments from students, although he sees the potential to appeal to a much wider range of renters.
“We are actually positioning this as a market rate apartment building,” he said. “We consider this to be the gateway to the Discovery District, right at the northern entrance to downtown – there’s going to be a lot of things happening here in the next few years.”
The proposal will be conceptually reviewed tomorrow by the Downtown Commission.
For more information on the project, visit theviewongrant.com.
Renderings via Jonathan Barnas Architecture & Design.