Columbo Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 More from https://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-april-2020-we1 New apartments are going up next to the Main Library as seen from the Topiary Park: Another view of the new apartments going up next to the Main Library with The Residences at Topiary Park in the background along Library Park Drive: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 More from https://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-april-2020-we1 One block west of the Main Library apartments and The Residences at Topiary Park - the 224-unit mixed-use Xander on State apartment building near Grant Medical Center is nearing completion: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted April 29, 2020 Author Share Posted April 29, 2020 Franklin County voters approved the bond issue for Columbus State Community College that will raise $300 million for capital improvements to campus facilities. It passed with 60 percent of the vote: https://www.nbc4i.com/news/your-local-election-hq/columbus-state-bond-issue-21-passes/ https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200429/voters-approve-inaugural-bond-issue-for-columbus-state-community-college 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCrites Posted April 29, 2020 Share Posted April 29, 2020 I voted for this. It is important to support our urban community colleges especially as the big city major universities get flooded with applicants and become more selective due to increased disinterest in rural schools. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColDayMan Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 Pizzuti Breaks Ground on Phase 3 of Library Park Development The Discovery District neighborhood has been buzzing with new construction over the past several months, making room for nearly 2,000 new residents in the near future. The next project to break ground is the third phase of the “Library Park” development, a joint venture between The Pizzuti Companies and Capital University. While phases one and two each feature multiple buildings, phase three is comprised of a single six-story building containing 145 apartments, structured parking and 3,500 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space. The building will replace an existing Capital University Law School surface lot at the northeast intersection of Grant Avenue and Oak Street. More below: https://www.columbusunderground.com/pizzuti-breaks-ground-on-phase-3-of-library-park-development-we1 & https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/05/13/pizzuti-pushes-on-with-downtown-development.html 6 "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 On 4/11/2020 at 2:08 PM, Columbo said: CU ventures outdoors to take photos of our on-going construction projects so you won't have to: #stayinsideohio https://www.columbusunderground.com/construction-roundup-april-2020-we1 A panoramic view of The Residences at Topiary Park: A closer view of The Residences at Topiary Park: These are currently on fire, have been burning for some time, and have been heavily damaged. Seen at WCMH website. Probably related to the riots and all. SMH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Watching this fire live(WCMH) as it heavily damages this development is just sickening. It looks like most of the top of the building is burning. I would not be surprised if they did not target this, as these under construction developments are so prone to burn given they are stick built and have no working fire protection/suppression systems-just like the 5 floor building near the 13th precinct in Minneapolis was targeted and burnt completely to the ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTCL11 Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 (edited) Good news is they were under construction and not occupied. I'll take that any day. Edited May 31, 2020 by DTCL11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbussoccer Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 This is absolutely disgusting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyrokai Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 Yikes. Welp........do they rebuild or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 58 minutes ago, Zyrokai said: Yikes. Welp........do they rebuild or not? I'd be shocked if it wasn't rebuilt. Insurance should recoup most if not all of the costs. For some context, a very similar overnight fire happened to a nearly complete 4-story Terraces on Vahalla apartment building in Clintonville in December 2008 - see this post at https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/5242-columbus-the-terraces-on-walhalla/?tab=comments#comment-282208. That fire was attributed to homeless breaking into the building. In that case the fire was more severe due to on-site fuel tanks exploding and it burned completely to the ground(!) But a little over a year later, the 4-story building was rebuilt and accepting residents: https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/562-columbus-clintonville-developments-and-news/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-395458 I think the question with the Topiary Park townhouses is whether enough remains to rebuild as is, or if they'll need to demo it back to the foundation and rebuild. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 5 hours ago, DTCL11 said: Good news is they were under construction and not occupied. I'll take that any day. The fact that they were under construction and unoccupied is likely why they were targeted. The(likely white just out to destroy)people who did this knew that the building would have no working fire detection/suppression systems while under construction. This is why the 5 story 190 unit apartment building in Minneapolis that was under construction burned to the ground and was a huge inferno, while the Target nearby was looted and also set on fire, but the fire was put out by the sprinkler system so while the building was looted and had some smoke and water damage, it did not turn into an inferno. Whomever did this knew what they were doing and targeted this building because it was under construction. And I doubt it was was of the many people who were out reasonably protesting police violence and brutality towards POC and other racial societal inequities. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 1 hour ago, Columbo said: I'd be shocked if it wasn't rebuilt. Insurance should recoup most if not all of the costs. For some context, a very similar overnight fire happened to a nearly complete 4-story Terraces on Vahalla apartment building in Clintonville in December 2008 - see this post at https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/5242-columbus-the-terraces-on-walhalla/?tab=comments#comment-282208. That fire was attributed to homeless breaking into the building. In that case the fire was more severe due to on-site fuel tanks exploding and it burned completely to the ground(!) But a little over a year later, the 4-story building was rebuilt and accepting residents: https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/562-columbus-clintonville-developments-and-news/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-395458 I think the question with the Topiary Park townhouses is whether enough remains to rebuild as is, or if they'll need to demo it back to the foundation and rebuild. I agree they will likely rebuild for the reasons you mentioned-it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind and see this as just a temporary setback. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColDayMan Posted May 31, 2020 Share Posted May 31, 2020 "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted May 31, 2020 Author Share Posted May 31, 2020 You might need a subscription to view this - but the Dispatch has an amazing 28-image slideshow of the Residences at Topiary Park fire at the link below: https://www.dispatch.com/photogallery/OH/20200531/PHOTOGALLERY/531009992/PH/1 At that link, the Dispatch reported this: "According to neighbors, a small fire started around 2:30 a.m., but the bigger blaze took over the roof sometime after 6 a.m." If you can't view the full slideshow at the link, here are four of the best images: Dispatch caption: "A photo taken from a drone shows the roof and several floors collapsed at the nearly-completed Residences at Topiary Park apartment building Downtown on Sunday May 31, 2020." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColDayMan Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 Encova assessing after fire guts new Topiary Park complex The company said it is still assessing the damage to the building and it's too early to comment on what the future will hold for the property. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/06/01/encova-assessing-after-fire-guts-new-topiary-compl.html 1 "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted June 1, 2020 Share Posted June 1, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, ColDayMan said: Encova assessing after fire guts new Topiary Park complex The company said it is still assessing the damage to the building and it's too early to comment on what the future will hold for the property. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/06/01/encova-assessing-after-fire-guts-new-topiary-compl.html They have to have insurance for this damage, right? I don't see why they would not move ahead otherwise given the prime location and the acquisition of the property and having all of the infrastructure in place. They just may need to demo and then restart the building of it. It looks like the foundation work and everything would still be intact as most of the damage appears to be to the upper levels of the building. And it was coming along so nicely. *sigh*. I am just going to hope for the best here. *Plus isn't this just part of a master plan for the area by Motorists?(er...Encova-It will always be the Motorist's building just like it will always be the Sears Tower!). They already have a stake in owning all of those surface lots. Edited June 1, 2020 by Toddguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyrokai Posted June 2, 2020 Share Posted June 2, 2020 ^^^ I certainly hope they continue and either repair or rebuild. It was seriously so nice and is very depressing to see ruined like this. I would definitely think they have insurance, though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted June 3, 2020 Author Share Posted June 3, 2020 https://www.thisweeknews.com/news/20200603/man-arrested-in-arson-fire-near-topiary-park Columbus Fire charged a man with aggravated arson for intentionally setting fire to a nearly finished apartment building near Topiary Park early Sunday. Fire officials said the arson fire does not appear to be related to the protests and vandalism that occurred over the weekend. Derrick D. Lee, 30, whose address is listed as the streets of Columbus, will appear in Franklin County Municipal Court on Thursday. “At this time, it is not believed that this $25 million fire was related to the civil unrest that took place in the same area hours earlier,” Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said in a statement. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightNectar Posted June 3, 2020 Share Posted June 3, 2020 This is tough. So tough to see -- what took so long to get to this point, gone in the matter of hours. I also hope they find the ability to rebuild. The master plan for the area is so needed and once the masonry work was completed, it looked great. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted June 5, 2020 Author Share Posted June 5, 2020 https://www.columbusunderground.com/fire-damage-extensive-at-topiary-park-apartments-bw1 CU has some photos of the Topiary Park damage after the smoke cleared at the above link. In assessing the fire damage, its obvious that the entire roof is gone. Its also obvious that much of the top 4th floor suffered extensive damage. However, its not clear how damage there is on the lower three floors. Obviously there will be water damage. But whether that translates to structural damage is another question. If there isn't a ton of structural damage on the lower floors, they might be able to save the outside walls and rebuild as needed on the interior. However, if there is extensive structural damage in the lower floors, they might conclude its better/safer to just demo back to the foundations and rebuild again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 (edited) The Cleveland Ave. streetscape is coming together nicely. Edited June 12, 2020 by Pablo 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200616/columbus-state-removing-christopher-columbus-statue https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/06/16/columbus-state-to-remove-christopher-colum.html The statue of Christopher Columbus that has been on display at Columbus State Community College is coming down. The college announced the action and said the removal would happen within two weeks. The statue will be eventually replaced with a new art installation. The Christopher Columbus statue was created by Alfred Solani in 1959, was first installed in Illinois, and was moved to CSCC's campus in 1988. Once removed it will be placed in storage. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthShore647 Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Pizzuti's Library Park Phase 2 Apartment Building (Sat. 7-11-20) The Library Park Development Phase 3 from Grant Ave. In the background you can see the new build phase 2 to the left and Phase 1 (the Grant-Oak Apartments renovation) to the right. Phase 3 from in front of the Phase 1/Grant-Oak Apartments. For the Grant-Oak Apartments renovation they painted the four remaining buildings blue. These along with The Pierce (the new red apartment building in the background above) are adding some nice color to the district. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ck Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 8 minutes ago, NorthShore647 said: For the Grant-Oak Apartments renovation they painted the four remaining buildings blue. These along with The Pierce (the new red apartment building in the background above) are adding some nice color to the district. Agreed! In the late spring, summer, and early fall Columbus looks decent with the trees adding vibrancy. In the winter, ugh! Bleakness takes over. Adding some vibrancy with buildings will go a long way in helping that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyrokai Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 On 6/1/2020 at 3:26 PM, ColDayMan said: Encova assessing after fire guts new Topiary Park complex The company said it is still assessing the damage to the building and it's too early to comment on what the future will hold for the property. More below: https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/06/01/encova-assessing-after-fire-guts-new-topiary-compl.html Do we yet know what's the final assessment of this damage? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthShore647 Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Topiary Park Fire Aftermath (Sat. 7-11-20) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbussoccer Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, NorthShore647 said: Topiary Park Fire Aftermath (Sat. 7-11-20) This still makes me so mad 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpcc88 Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 1 hour ago, cbussoccer said: This still makes me so mad Has to be a total loss right? Buildings these days unfortunately aren't really made to survive something as dramatic as that fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightNectar Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Knowing that under that brick is simple plywood -- total loss is my guess. Cant remember -- was there any form of concrete podium to this? if so, it would be relatively quick to get back to this phase once the old materials are cleared from the site down to just the podium. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbussoccer Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 46 minutes ago, NightNectar said: Cant remember -- was there any form of concrete podium to this? I think there was.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.justin Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 47 minutes ago, NightNectar said: Knowing that under that brick is simple plywood -- total loss is my guess. Cant remember -- was there any form of concrete podium to this? if so, it would be relatively quick to get back to this phase once the old materials are cleared from the site down to just the podium. There's an underground garage but I think the concrete for that only came up to ground level. There was also a concrete block exterior wall on the first floor. I think everything else is wood. From one of CU's updates: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyrokai Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Ugh. I just want to know what they're going to try to do with this. I hope they rebuild it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpcc88 Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Yea that’s a total loss then, not just for the fire but the water as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMHOhio Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Really love all the development happening around the library and Topiary Park. I'm a huge fan of Grant-Oak Apartments new blue hue. The I hope the momentum continues, especially with the tragic loss of the Topiary Park complex. It is incredibly sad such a beautiful building was destroyed like this, but looking forward to better things to come for the neighborhood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 (edited) The Cleveland Ave. streetscape is wrapping up. Edited July 15, 2020 by Pablo 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebleprls22 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) Glad that they're investing in granite curbs like in other parts of the city and OSU. Such a phenomenal long-term savings (and it looks great) Edited July 16, 2020 by jebleprls22 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 ^Granite curbs are the downtown streetscape standard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColDayMan Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Renovation and New-Build Planned for Rich Street Site A plan to build a 30-unit apartment building behind two historic structures on East Rich Street is working its way through the approval process. Schiff Capital Group has proposed renovating the two original buildings, which are located at 530 E. Rich St. and were built around 1900, according to the Franklin County Auditor’s site. A connector between the two houses would be removed, and a brick and cinderblock rear addition would be demolished to make room for the five-story apartment building. The apartments in the new building would sit atop a 30-space, first-floor parking garage that would be accessed from Walnut Street. More below: https://www.columbusunderground.com/renovation-and-new-build-planned-for-rich-street-site-bw1 & https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/07/28/new-residential-development-pitched-in-southeast-d.html 7 "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCrites Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 I hope the old houses turn out more appealing than that. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageLife Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Yeah, hopefully a better color pallet is what the commission is having them come back with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, GCrites80s said: I hope the old houses turn out more appealing than that. The last thing we need is more beige. Those houses could have some cool and distinctive color choices to liven the whole thing up. They need to take a look at parts of Victorian Village, etc. Overall I LOVE the idea of keeping the houses and infilling behind them. I guess it could be called the "Pavey way"? *I am so in support of more color after that 9 story red building(can't remember the name of it)turned out so much better than I thought it would. Ironically if anything it is the lower non-red portion of that building that is less than desirable. Edited July 22, 2020 by Toddguy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonoh81 Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 12 hours ago, GCrites80s said: I hope the old houses turn out more appealing than that. It would look much better if the original brick was just exposed rather than painted again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GCrites Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 Is that easy to do? I know there are various medias available for media blasting from sand to crushed walnut shells to dry ice but these days it seems like nobody does that and instead just paints brick grey regardless if it was painted before or made it 150 years before someone insisted on making it greyscale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toddguy Posted July 23, 2020 Share Posted July 23, 2020 (edited) 26 minutes ago, jonoh81 said: It would look much better if the original brick was just exposed rather than painted again. Yeah that would be optimal-maybe with some colorful trim or accents? I did not realize until I looked at the pic again just how completely white the buildings are-they look like naked albino buildings-just everything is covered in white paint. They look like ghosts of buildings or something. They actually look a bit creepy to me now. Edited July 23, 2020 by Toddguy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthShore647 Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Xander on State (Sat. 7-25-20) Home 2 Suites by Hilton on Main (finished a few years ago) 3 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMHOhio Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, NorthShore647 said: Xander on State (Sat. 7-25-20) Thanks very much for posting this. Really love the above 2 photos - State St. hasn't looked that good in a long time! Hoping the parking lot fill-ins continue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NightNectar Posted July 28, 2020 Share Posted July 28, 2020 20 hours ago, NorthShore647 said: Xander on State (Sat. 7-25-20) Home 2 Suites by Hilton on Main (finished a few years ago) Xander looks really good. The masonry at street level is well done and the color scheme is unmatched by any other recent podium-style development downtown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Columbo Posted August 1, 2020 Author Share Posted August 1, 2020 On 7/22/2020 at 9:11 AM, ColDayMan said: Renovation and New-Build Planned for Rich Street Site A plan to build a 30-unit apartment building behind two historic structures on East Rich Street is working its way through the approval process. Schiff Capital Group has proposed renovating the two original buildings, which are located at 530 E. Rich St. and were built around 1900, according to the Franklin County Auditor’s site. A connector between the two houses would be removed, and a brick and cinderblock rear addition would be demolished to make room for the five-story apartment building. The apartments in the new building would sit atop a 30-space, first-floor parking garage that would be accessed from Walnut Street. More below: https://www.columbusunderground.com/renovation-and-new-build-planned-for-rich-street-site-bw1 & https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/07/28/new-residential-development-pitched-in-southeast-d.html In relation to this Rich Street proposal, I just posted a photo update to the 'Treetops at German Village' project thread in the Completed Projects section: https://forum.urbanohio.com/topic/586-columbus-treetops-at-german-village/?tab=comments#comment-973925 That project - completed 13 years ago - is similar to this proposal. Very similar concept - renovating two front street facing historic houses plus constructing a new larger residential building behind - at a different location. I remembered that project and thought it would be interesting to be able to compare those finished project images with this proposal. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColDayMan Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Three Columbus Projects Get Historic Tax Credits Market Mohawk Center Total Project Cost: $8,506,900 Total Tax Credit: $842,267 Address: 250 E. Town St., Columbus, 43215 Constructed 50 years ago as part of Columbus’ effort at urban renewal, the Market-Mohawk Center is a four-story office building that will be converted to mixed-use office and residential spaces. Six apartments will be developed on the first floor with office spaces in the remainder of the building. More below: https://www.columbusunderground.com/three-columbus-projects-get-historic-tax-credits-bw1 1 "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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