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Columbus: Olentangy River Road Developments


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A possible development site, from the 1/31/05 Columbus Business First:

 

Urban Growth leads inquiry into Gowdy Park development

Brian R. Ball, Business First

 

A vacant 28-acre parcel overlooking Route 315 north of downtown could become an office development and recreation area under a study Columbus Urban Growth will lead.  Urban Growth plans to investigate how environmental issues at the city-owned landfill site on Olentangy River Road between Goodale Street and West Third Avenue, would influence tentative plans to reclaim the property for commercial and recreational uses.

 

Preliminary planning by Urban Growth shows the acreage could handle a 120,000- and 65,000-square-foot buildings and still afford the city a recreational area for the nearby Harrison West neighborhood.  Odis Jones, Urban Growth managing director, said his staff came across the opportunity while reviewing an inventory of city-owned properties last year. "The mission of Urban Growth is to look at sites in the central city that may have issues and attempt to recycle them back into the marketplace," he said.

 

Columbus City Council will vote Jan. 31 on legislation to reimburse Urban Growth up to $50,000 for an environmental consulting contract gained by CTL Engineering Inc. The legislation also grants an option to Urban Growth to acquire the property at a price equal to the cost of the agency's development of suitable city recreational facilities on the site.

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/01/31/story7.html

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Some more information from the Dispatch, plus a nice photo of the area in discussion. The photo is somewhat old though, as several buildings in the Arena District aren't built yet, and the A.C. Humco plant in Harrison West (large brick building and surroundings on left side) is still standing. The plant was razed and new infill housing is being constructed on the site.

 

Old dump soon may sport offices, ball fields

Developers excited about possible ways to transform tract of land, city says

By Debbie Gebolys THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A piece of long-neglected property along Olentangy River Road might undergo a Cinderellalike transformation to become belle of the ball.  The 25-acre field just south of the Columbus Police heliport is bounded by W. 3 rd Avenue, Olentangy River Road, Goodale Boulevard and CSX railroad tracks. In the two decades since the city stopped using the area as a dump for garbage and construction debris, it’s been largely overlooked.

   

But developers and city officials are looking now. So are interested neighbors in Harrison West, some of whom remember the tract’s earlier days.  From 1952 through 1964, it was home to 23 softball diamonds and named for Henry "Hank’’ Gowdy, a baseball player and Columbus native.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2005/02/10/GOWDY.ART_ART_02-10-05_C1_L8D276O.html?sid=101

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  • 2 months later...

Some recent news on the proposed development of Gowdy Park:

 

Three development groups asked for Gowdy Field proposals

 

Columbus Urban Growth Corp. plans to ask three development teams to submit formal proposals for the redevelopment of the Gowdy Field site near Grandview Heights.  Urban Growth will ask Continental Real Estate Cos., Opus North Corp. and Daimler Group Inc./Wagenbrenner Cos. to submit proposals to develop office buildings of 65,000 and 120,000 square feet on the 28-acre site along Olentangy River Road between West Third Avenue and Goodale Street.

 

Odis Jones, Urban Growth managing director, said 18 developers responded to an initial request for qualifications sent out this year. The three finalists will submit proposals for the project by late April with selection of a developer expected by mid-May, he said.

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/04/12/daily24.html

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  • 2 months later...

Looks like Time-Warner might be interested in consolidating and adding jobs at up to two of the new office buildings proposed for Gowdy Park.

 

Time Warner looks to Gowdy

Offices pegged for vacant site

Brian R. Ball, Business First

 

A proposed $20 million office project for Time Warner Cable could spur the transformation of a former city dump northwest of downtown Columbus.  Time Warner Cable wants to consolidate the bulk of its Columbus operations in a 120,000- to 140,000-square-foot office building at the Olentangy River Road site between Goodale Street and West Third Avenue.  The 19-acre site also could accommodate two additional 60,000-square-foot office buildings, one of which could serve as expansion space for Time Warner.

 

Columbus Urban Growth Corp. has tentatively selected developers Daimler Group Inc. and Wagenbrenner Cos. to lead development of the project.  "We're taking a site deemed undevelopable and recycling it back into the market," said Odis Jones, Urban Growth's managing director. "We're building jobs while adding to the city's tax base."  The proposed project would preserve 450 jobs and possibly lead to the creation of 200 more positions during the next three years.

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/05/20/story4.html

 

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Council supports Gowdy Field grant request

 

Columbus threw its support behind a request for $3 million to clean up a former landfill and pave the way for a new Time Warner Cable office on the site.  Columbus City Council voted Monday to support the Columbus Regional Airport Authority's application for $3 million from the state's Clean Ohio Fund.  The money would help clean up Gowdy Field, a 19-acre site on the west side that was used as a landfill during the 1960s.

 

The city of Columbus cannot apply for the money directly because it owns the site and had a direct role in creating the environmental damage. Time Warner hopes to build a $20 million, three-building complex on the site by 2007.

 

Columbus Urban Growth Corp., a nonprofit development agency affiliated with the city, is master developer for the 19-acre site. Urban Growth has tentatively selected developers Daimler Group Inc. and Wagenbrenner Cos. to lead development of the project.  Time Warner would consolidate 450 jobs on the Olentangy River Road site from other Central Ohio operations, and might add as many as 200 more from other parts of the country

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2005/06/20/daily12.html

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  • 6 months later...

City OKs construction funds for offices at former landfill

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Jodi Andes THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

A former landfill soon will be turned into a business complex, Columbus officials say.  Last night, City Council approved two ordinances that will allow Gowdy Field east of Grandview Heights to be cleared, leveled and prepared for construction, and nearby Olentangy River Road to be widened for better access to the complex.

 

Plans include:

• Adding turn lanes in both directions on Olentangy River Road near the center’s main entrance, which will be directly across from the Rt. 315 entrance and exit ramps.

• Adding turn-lane lights to the traffic signal.

• Installing pipes into the old landfill to allow the release of built-up methane gas.

• Clearing the land, which will be topped with a layer of clay soil for a firmer construction base.

• Putting in larger water and sewer lines.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2005/01/10/GOWDY.ART_ART_01-10-06_C1_L8D276O.html?sid=101

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  • 5 months later...

From Business First of Columbus, 6/21/06:

 

 

City Council allocates $8M for heliport relocation

Business First of Columbus - 1:59 PM EDT Wednesday

 

Columbus City Council has allocated $8 million to relocate its Gowdy Field heliport. During a meeting earlier this week, the city reported plans to relocate the heliport, which is located on Third Avenue near Olentangy River Road.

 

Time Warner Cable Inc. will build its new regional headquarters on property that covers the heliport site and a nearby former landfill, said City Council spokesman Scott Varner. The city began a $2.7 million redevelopment of the landfill to clear the area for Time Warner. Time Warner spokeswoman Judy Barbao said plans to move the headquarters to Gowdy Field are moving forward. The company expects to relocate to Third Avenue from its downtown facilities by next summer.

 

The city does not have a timetable or potential sites for the heliport's relocation, said Public Safety Department spokeswoman Barb Seckler. The heliport is used by the Columbus Police Department for its five helicopters, which are used for daily patrol and emergencies.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/06/19/daily19.html?surround=lfn

 

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I didn't realize that this would be moving 800 jobs out of downtown.  It's not that far away I guess, but I'd rather them build something on a surface lot downtown than on Gowdy Field.

 

I wouldn't really be too concerned about it.  This move is to a new location VERY close to downtown and underutilized.  I think filling in gaps around the CBD like this enhances the image of the area and can potentially pull even more jobs in.  Gowdy is right next to the Cap City Diner, Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe, and Mitchell's Fish Market.  When all those business types drive to those restaurants from downtown they pass Gowdy.  With Gowdy developed, the area as a whole will appear healthier, and those jobs should in the future be recouperated and then some.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Developers have hope brownfield projects pump life into downtown

Business First of Columbus - July 7, 2006

by Scott Rawdon Business First

 

Named for Columbus' Henry Morgan "Hank" Gowdy, a professional baseball player and noted war veteran, Gowdy Park has been many things - a community garden that once helped feed hundreds during the Great Depression and a park with more than 20 community baseball diamonds. Eventually, the field, near the Goodale interchange west of Route 315, became a landfill.  Now, Gowdy Field is about to become a 160,000-square-foot, $20 million Time Warner Cable office.  The field that once provided food for the community soon will create nearly 200 jobs and help retain 400 more for Columbus and anchor the city's new technology corridor initiative along Olentangy River Road.

 

The key to a healthy downtown, said Sloan, is a partnership between public and private entities to rebuild downtown brownfield sites - previously developed land whose reuse has been complicated by environmental contamination. When that happens "anything can happen," Sloan said.

 

Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/07/07/story8.html

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  • 1 year later...

Gowdy to get 2nd building

 

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( :|)

 

The developers of Time Warner Cable Inc.'s regional offices hope to profit from the visibility of that project by building a smaller office building next door.  Daimler Group Inc. expects to begin construction in August on a five-story, 141,120-square-foot office building in a bid to land other companies looking for a place near downtown and visible to those traveling Route 315.

 

Columbus-based Daimler considered two 60,000-square-foot buildings on the 7.5-acre site south of Time Warner, but "it's more efficient to do one project," White said.  Construction of the 160,000-square-foot Time Warner building is coming to a close, with employees scheduled to move in from several area sites through much of August.

 

It will be the culmination of more than two years of work for Daimler and others at the old Gowdy Field site, who prepared the contaminated former landfill along Olentangy River Road for redevelopment. Daimler and project partner Wagenbrenner Co. worked with the Columbus Urban Growth Corp. to secure a $3 million grant from the state in 2005 to help pay for the cleanup. The city pitched in $780,000 toward the remediation and $2.7 million for road and utility upgrades.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/07/30/story1.html?b=1185768000^1497045

"You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers

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  • 2 months later...

Suitors sought for Gowdy site

City taking bids to redevelop police heliport

Business First of Columbus - by Brian R. Ball, Business First

Friday, October 5, 2007

 

The city of Columbus plans to sell off the Columbus Police Department's heliport as a continuation of the redevelopment of the former Gowdy Field landfill site. The city has put the 4.85-acre site on the market even though the heliport will not be relocated for at least another 18 months. A developer could be identified shortly after an Oct. 19 deadline for proposals.

 

Joel Taylor, director of the city's Department of Finance and Management, said three undisclosed developers had already expressed interest in redeveloping the site, which the city expects to sell for at least $1.75 million. "We felt rather than dealing with just those three, we should give other people the chance to participate," Taylor said of the prospects.

 

Columbus City Council in mid-2006 allocated $8 million for a new heliport.  Earlier this year, the city approved spending about $195,000 to buy 12 acres of surplus state-owned land close to the Ohio Department of Public Safety and Ohio Department of Transportation campus off West Broad Street at Interstate 70 for the relocated heliport. 

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/10/05/story1.html

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  • 11 months later...

Friday, September 19, 2008

OSU putting outpatient center in Gowdy building

Business First of Columbus - by Carrie Ghose

 

Ohio State University Medical Center plans to open an outpatient clinic and surgery center by next summer in a building on the former Gowdy Field landfill site along Route 315 about a mile south of campus.  Trustees approved a 20-year lease for the project on Friday and authorized medical center officials to explore buying the 137,000-square-foot property, built by Daimler Group Inc.

 

Faculty and medical staff for the departments of ophthalmology, ear nose and throat, plastic surgery and women’s health will move to the building. Offices and clinics should open by April, with six operating rooms set to open in July, said Peter Geier, CEO of university hospitals and the primary care network.

 

The building is part of an overall strategy medical center officials have discussed for months to make outpatient care more convenient to patients and free space for inpatient care on the main campus. The Gowdy building has free parking, for example, and moving faculty offices will ease crowding in Cramblett Hall.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/09/19/daily44.html

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  • 1 month later...

OSU may land at heliport site

Business First of Columbus - by Carrie Ghose

Friday, November 7, 2008

 

Ohio State University Medical Center officials want to relocate and expand an outpatient breast cancer clinic from Dublin to the last parcel of the former Gowdy Field landfill site in Columbus, rounding out a strategy to pump up numbers in its outpatient network.

 

OSU trustees were to vote Nov. 7 on a 20-year lease for a 103,500-square-foot clinic and offices to be built on the site of the city Division of Police’s heliport.  Construction can’t begin until a new heliport opens at the end of 2009.  The replacement for the JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Health Center could open in late 2010 or early the following year, said Mark Conselyea, associate executive director of OSU’s James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

 

The center would join OSU’s Ambulatory Surgery Center set to open in April in a building at the Gowdy site.  Sandwiching Time Warner Cable Inc.’s regional headquarters off Route 315, the two buildings would be a five-minute drive from the OSU Medical Center campus and include ample free parking.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/11/10/story2.html

 

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  • 2 months later...

Gowdy Field heliport site expected to help land 160 jobs

Business First of Columbus - by Carrie Ghose

Friday, January 16, 2009

 

Two Columbus developers working on the last piece of the former Gowdy Field landfill puzzle have asked the state for $3 million to eliminate exposure to toxic and cancer-causing chemicals before building a cancer-treatment clinic on the site.  Daimler Group Inc. and Wagenbrenner Development Inc. applied Jan. 9 for the maximum award under the latest $22.5 million round from the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund to pay for cleanup at the police heliport site on Olentangy River Road.  State development officials expected about 15 applications.

 

The developers have committed $1.6 million and the city has pledged $500,000 toward the project, the cost of which includes $2.1 million to buy the land and $3 million to remove methane and hydrogen sulfide gases and install a thick clay layer to seal off chemicals, including lead, arsenic and carcinogenic pollutants from 20 years of using the site as an unregulated landfill.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/01/19/story7.html

 

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The James will build at Gowdy Field

Friday,  February 27, 2009 - 3:09 AM

Mike Pramik, The Columbus Dispatch

 

Ohio State University's James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute has reached an agreement with Columbus and the developers of Gowdy Field near Grandview Heights to build a $20 million health-care center.  Developer Daimler Group is working on details of the building, but Daimler's Paul Ghidotti expects it to have four stories and 103,500 square feet.  Work is to begin in November, with completion by late 2010.

 

Daimler and Franklin County are seeking a Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant to help clean up the site, which is a former landfill.  With the relocation of the city's heliport from the site, the project would complete redevelopment of Gowdy Field, where Time Warner Cable has its local headquarters and OSU Medical Center plans to open an outpatient center.

 

Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/02/27/James.ART_ART_02-27-09_C7_L8D276O.html?sid=101

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Wow, Gowdy Field filled up quickly!

 

Interestingly enough, the Grandview Yard development is pretty-much directly behind the Gowdy Field development. All that separates them is a rail line. It would be fantastic to see these two areas connected, and a light rail station would be a great way to do it.

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  • 2 months later...

Two central Ohio projects have won 2009 Clean Ohio Fund Impact Awards, the Ohio Department of Development announced last week.

 

The Gowdy Field-Time Warner Cable regional headquarters project won the award for best site redevelopment in a major city.

 

The second award, for best environmental stewardship, went to the Whittier Peninsula project, a Metro Parks effort in Columbus.

 

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/05/18/monday.html?sid=101

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Gowdy site lands state cleanup money

Business First of Columbus

Monday, May 18, 2009, 6:06pm EDT

 

The next developments at the former Gowdy Field landfill site in Columbus took a step closer to reality Monday when state officials awarded a $3 million grant for environmental clean-up for the project.  The Clean Ohio Council awarded a Revitalization Fund grant to the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, which was the sponsoring applicant for developers Daimler Group Inc. and Wagenbrenner Development Co.  The grant will fund the cleanup of toxic and cancer-causing chemicals at the former police heliport site on Olentangy River Road, which spent two decades as an unregulated landfill.

 

Daimler is looking to build a $19 million, three-story medical office and clinic for Ohio State University Medical Center at the site, which fronts Route 315.  The school plans to move and expand its JamesCare Comprehensive Breast Health Center from Dublin at the new building.  The developers four years ago won a $3 million Clean Ohio grant that paved the way for the construction of Time Warner’s regional headquarters and a neighboring office building that is being leased by OSU Medical Center for an outpatient center.

 

Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/05/18/daily10.html?surround=lfn

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  • 8 months later...

OSU planning cancer facility for women

Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 3:18 AM

By Suzanne Hoholik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Navigating Ohio State University's campus can frustrate any visitor.  And if you have to do it every day for six weeks for radiation treatment, it can be downright maddening.  So much so that 75 percent of OSU cancer patients get their radiation treatment somewhere else, said Mark Conselyea, associate executive director of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital.

 

To retain more patients, OSU is building a women's outpatient oncology center off campus.  The center is going up on Olentangy River Road at 3rd Avenue, near Rt. 315.  It is just north of the university's Eye and Ear Institute on the former Gowdy Field site.  Ohio State will lease the 103,000-square-foot building from developer Gowdy Partners for $73 million over 20 years.

 

MAP AND RENDERING OF THE WOMEN'S OUTPATIENT ONCOLOGY CENTER AT GOWDY FIELD

 

Full article at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/02/11/Radiation.ART_ART_02-11-10_B1_K0GID79.html?sid=101

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  • 10 months later...

The Target store in the Lennox Town Center that serves the University Area is getting a "PFresh" remodel.  The "PFresh" grocery concept adds "200 percent more food products than its traditional general-merchandise stores, including more produce, meats and bakery items," according to a 2009 Business First article

 

Someone also posted some photolinks showing a Philadelphia "PFresh" Target remodel in the Lennox/OSU Target Renovation thread at ColumbusUnderground.com.

 


 

More Target stores will increase groceries

Lennox Town Center site to be remodeled

Friday, January 14, 2011

By Tim Feran

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Expanded grocery offerings, including fresh produce and meats, are coming to the Target store on Olentangy River Road - and others nationwide - as part of a company expansion and remodeling effort.

 

The company plans to remodel about 400 stores in 2011, including the one at 1717 Olentangy River Rd., where work is scheduled to be completed by March 27.

 

MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2011/01/14/more-target-stores-will-increase-groceries.html?sid=101

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  • 1 month later...

Slightly late on posting this one.  But the new Bravo italian restaurant which opened last month in the university-area Lennox Town Center was good news for that area as well as the renovated retail center.  And also fairly significant for the local owned and operated restaurant chain.

 

New Bravo is biggest

Expansion in central Ohio demonstrates viability of Italian restaurant group in economic downturn

Tuesday, February 1, 2011 

By Denise Trowbridge

FOR THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

 

Bravo Cucina Italiana is expanding on its home turf.  On Feb. 9, Columbus-based Bravo Brio Restaurant Group is scheduled to open its first Bravo restaurant in central Ohio since 1995, at 1803 Olentangy River Rd. in the Lennox Town Center.

 

The new Bravo is the chain's largest.  At 9,500 square feet, it has seating for 249 in its two-story interior, as well as room for 70 more on the first-floor patio and outdoor terrace on the second floor.  The new Bravo also has a private dining room that can seat 80. 

 

Transforming the former Baja Sol Cantina into the new Bravo took eight months of extensive renovation.  "We had to completely gut the inside and rebuild it," spokeswoman Danielle Terreri said.  The design, by Columbus-based Meleca Architecture, is similar to that of Bravo restaurants that recently opened in other markets.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2011/02/01/new-bravo-is-biggest.html?sid=101

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  • 4 months later...

Abandoned Columbus industrial plant gets grant for Lennox-area apartment conversion

Business First - by Brian R. Ball

Date: Thursday, June 30, 2011, 11:31am EDT

 

The site of a former industrial magnet manufacturing facility on Kinnear Road will receive a $2.34 million Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund grant through the Ohio Department of Development.

 

The Clean Ohio Council approved the grant during its Wednesday meeting to prompt the cleanup and redevelopment of the 2.4-acre site at 811 Kinnear Road.

 

An affiliate of Columbus developer Klingbeil Capital Management LLC plans to use the grant to acquire and prepare the abandoned industrial site for construction of 120 market-rate apartments that will be close to the Lennox Town Center and Ohio State University.

 

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2011/06/30/abandoned-columbus-industrial-plant.html

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An update to the apartment project/brownfield cleanup from the previous story:

 

Lennox apartment project gets bigger before it gets started

Business First - by Brian R. Ball

Date: Friday, August 12, 2011, 6:00am EDT

 

Klingbeil Capital Management LLC is expanding an apartment development project near Lennox Town Center in Columbus even before it begins making way for construction.  The developer originally planned to build a mix of 120 one- and two-bedroom apartments on 2.4 acres off Kinnear Road, but has an agreement to buy an adjoining 2.5 acres so it can expand the complex to about 190 apartments.

 

The additional site, a parking lot from a neighboring office building, will give Klingbeil room to build a 94-apartment first phase while it works to remove contaminants from the original development ground – site of a former industrial magnet plant.  That remediation work may take more than a year, said Klingbeil Chief Operating Officer Jim Schrim.

 

In the meantime, the company will build one-bedroom apartments targeting what Schrim called the “eds and meds” market of graduate students at Ohio State University and young workers at OSU Medical Center, Battelle and neighboring technology companies.  The first phase of Klingbeil’s $15 million project should be completed by April, Schrim said.  The second phase will have about 100 apartments, including 20 with two bedrooms.

 

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2011/08/12/lennox-area-apartment-project-gets.html

 

ROP-Klingbeil-Kinnear-II.jpg?v=1

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Kinnear is definitely "Going through Changes" as Sabbath would say. For those not familiar with the area, it's a two lane road that has a bunch of '60s warehouses, union halls and laboratories. There's no sidewalks, but a lot of people walk through to get to their apartments on the other side of the area. But now, urban-friendly apartments with sidewalks and little setback are popping up. So it'll go, setback '60s warehouse, setback OSU lab, urban apartments, setback union hall if you're passing through.

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Not sure if Kinnear is one of the areas that might benefit from more pedestrian-friendly development rules that will be enforced on the unincorporated townships scattered among the cities in Franklin County.  But regardless, it's about time for these townships to have more urban-type development standards if they want to do more urban-type development.  More detail about the new township design standards at the link.

 

County tightens township rules

By Robert Vitale, The Columbus Dispatch

Sunday August 14, 2011 - 9:24 AM

 

Townships will look more like the cities that surround them under stricter development rules that will govern commercial property in unincorporated areas of Franklin County.  The new rules, to take effect in September, will govern how close buildings must be to the roads they face, how many parking spaces are required and where they must be located, and what types of signs can be placed out front.

 

Commercial property will have to include sidewalks, landscaping, windows and bicycle parking.  Big-box stores aren’t banned, but they won’t be able to look like stone fortresses.  Franklin County Planning Administrator Lee Brown said the changes are designed to keep townships’ development in line with the more pedestrian-friendly urban and suburban corridors they share.

 

READ MORE: http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/14/county-tightens-township-rules.html

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  • 3 months later...

University Plaza Hotel and Conference Center north of the OSU campus at 3110 Olentangy River Road is in line for a big renovation.  The 38-year old hotel will be getting a total gut renovation with new mechanical systems and elevators, expanded guest rooms and a new exterior.  Meeting spaces will be also expanded as will lobby space.  The renovations will reduce the overall number of rooms from 243 to 230.

 

The renovation is expected to begin in May, 2012 and be closed for 10 months, until an expected reopening in March 2013.

 

Below are two articles about the project.  One from the Columbus Dispatch and the other from Columbus Business First.  Also below is a photo of the existing hotel and a rendering of hotel exterior after renovation.

 

Dispatch: Renovation set for University Plaza - Hotel will become full-service Marriott after $25 million upgrade; completion set for 2013

 

Business First: University Plaza getting $30M renovation to become Marriott

 

ROP-University-Plaza.jpg?v=1

ROP-University-Plaza-Inn-Marriott-elevations-2.jpg?v=1

 

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Looks like it will actually be up against the sidewalk. It's too bad so much of Olentangy consists of ugly car-oriented development and as far as I know there is no overlay to urbanize this stretch which would look interesting with how the streets curves back and forth.

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  • 1 month later...

That section of Olentangy is aging poorly, so this hotel project is good news.

 

Well not really. The infrastructure has aged poorly but the area has become a new hot spot for hotels.  Olentangy has received a new hilton garden inn, holiday inn mid rise, now this marriot, and a marriot springhill suites just further south. Kind of a lot of hotel development in just a few short years.  Also retail in the area is healthy as are rentals and housing. 

 

The area simply needs sidewalks, new street lights etc.

 

There was an article a two years ago talking about a study to add sidewalks/bikepaths.  Where did this go?

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  • 1 month later...

An update to the apartment project/brownfield cleanup from the previous story:

 

Lennox apartment project gets bigger before it gets started

Business First - by Brian R. Ball

Date: Friday, August 12, 2011, 6:00am EDT

 

Klingbeil Capital Management LLC is expanding an apartment development project near Lennox Town Center in Columbus even before it begins making way for construction.  The developer originally planned to build a mix of 120 one- and two-bedroom apartments on 2.4 acres off Kinnear Road, but has an agreement to buy an adjoining 2.5 acres so it can expand the complex to about 190 apartments.

 

The additional site, a parking lot from a neighboring office building, will give Klingbeil room to build a 94-apartment first phase while it works to remove contaminants from the original development ground site of a former industrial magnet plant.  That remediation work may take more than a year, said Klingbeil Chief Operating Officer Jim Schrim.

 

In the meantime, the company will build one-bedroom apartments targeting what Schrim called the eds and meds market of graduate students at Ohio State University and young workers at OSU Medical Center, Battelle and neighboring technology companies.  The first phase of Klingbeils $15 million project should be completed by April, Schrim said.  The second phase will have about 100 apartments, including 20 with two bedrooms.

 

READ MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2011/08/12/lennox-area-apartment-project-gets.html

 

ROP-Klingbeil-Kinnear-II.jpg?v=1

Construction is pretty far along for the first phase of a 190 unit apartment development near Lennox Town Center.  The project now has a name, Lennox Flats, and a facebook page, LENNOX FLATS - FACEBOOK PAGE.

 

Here are some construction progress photos of Lennox Flats.  This one is from the twitter feed of MyUrbanhood from January 6, 2012:

 

AigHapVCAAE_LUk.jpg

 

 

And this is a photo from January 29, 2012 by Columbus Underground:

lennox-apartments.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

An update about Phase One of the Lennox Flats apartment development from Columbus Underground.  Good write-up and construction photos at the link below:

 

Lennox Flats Finishing Phase One of New Apartment Development

By: Walker Evans, Columbus Underground

Published on April 18, 2012 - 6:00 am

 

As you drive past The Ohio State University on 315, there’s a pretty good chance you’re eyeing the ongoing construction of the new 17-story hospital tower going up at the OSU Medical Center.  But if you look off the highway in the opposite direction, you’ll see additional construction work also taking place on the other side of the AMC Lennox Movie Theatre.  That project is the first phase of the Lennox Flats apartment development, which is being constructed by locally-based Klingbeil Capital Management.  Once completed, phase one will include 92 one-bedroom units while phase two will add another 102 units that include a mix of one and two bedrooms.

(. . .)

Phase one of The Lennox Flats will be ready for residents to start moving in on June 1st, with completion of the phase by July 15th.  The development of Phase two will begin construction in the near future with an expected completion within the next nine to 12 months.  More information can be found online at www.lennoxflats.com.

 

READ MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/lennox-flats-finishing-phase-one-of-new-apartment-development

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Klingbeil Capital leases out first Lennox Flats apartments

Business First by Brian R. Ball, Staff reporter

Date: Friday, July 13, 2012, 6:00am EDT

 

Columbus developer Klingbeil Capital Management LLC has leased out all 48 Lennox Flats apartments off Kinnear Road, delivered as of July 1.  Another 20 units in the first phase of development will be delivered by August 1 and the last 24 units by Sept. 1.

 

Klingbeil Capital Vice President Jim Schrim III said the lion’s share of tenants so far have matched the targeted market of young professionals and graduate students.  But the property also has attracted several adults in their 50s and older.  Schrim said the last 102-unit phase is set for a May 2013 completion.

 

MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/print-edition/2012/07/13/klingbeil-capital-leases-out-first.html

 


Below is a photo of one of the finished buildings from the Lennox Flats facebook page.

 

575776_464803683547467_1902878375_n.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

As reported earlier by Business First, Lennox Flats first phase of 92 units has 48 completed and leased - with 20 more completed at the beginning of this month and 24 to be completed at the end of this month.  The 102-unit second phase of Lennox Flats has broken ground with a scheduled completion date of May 2013.

 

In a construction update from late July, Columbus Underground has photos from both phases of the 194-unit Lennox Flats project.  From Construction Roundup — July 2012, Columbus Underground has a photo from part of the completed Lennox Flats phase one and a photo from Lennox Flats phase two under construction:

 

construction-july-22.jpg

 

construction-july-23.jpg

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its ok and good infill, but that last green double in the construction pics above is pretty badazz. i wish there was more of this modern dense style around and in other big and medium ohio cities instead of that dull so-called traditional brown stuff.

 

and great news about the south campus kroger too, that was always scubby.

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  • 1 month later...

its ok and good infill, but that last green double in the construction pics above is pretty badazz. i wish there was more of this modern dense style around and in other big and medium ohio cities instead of that dull so-called traditional brown stuff.

 

I'm pretty sure the green color is not the final exterior. It's insulation or some other material. All of this development has looked green like that at one point, and gets covered up with the final brown exterior.

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