the urban news for the week ending Sunday, June 8, 2008
I have never been much of an advocate of an approach to downtown retail as core element of a sustainable recipe for sustaining downtown revitalization. After all, that was the concept behind the creation and development of City Center mall so many years ago. My research into the Columbus Dispatch archives from years ago, before the mall was even complete, dredged up quotes that saw City Center as the element that would not only spur on additional retail development, but would also lead to office and residential development. City Center and retail was the prime ingredient for downtown's success. Or so it wast thought. Last week however, a new bend on how to develop downtown retail was released and, in my opinion, it's a right-sized approach and the only one which currently has the potential to establish any sort of lasting foothold.
Paul Bonneville  
 This is starting to feel like a telethon, Marvin Hamlisch said to laughter and some tears during last night's season finale -- and perhaps ultimate finale -- for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.
City Council members voted tonight to create a 21-member panel that will examine city policies and seek long-term funding solutions for local arts groups that often find themselves on shaky ground.
It has new hours, a new location and is one day shorter than in previous years, but it offers the community the chance to discover Columbus' Discovery District, NBC 4's Ellie Merritt reported.
...Three years later, COSI has entered much calmer waters: Attendance and revenue have rebounded, museum officials are touting new exhibits and corporate alliances, and the science center has reopened seven days a week during the summer.
When Nationwide Arena opened in 2000, people not only came to see the Blue Jackets (the team releases 250 $10 tickets two hours before each game), but they began to spend more and more time -- and money -- in the once-gritty Short North district near the arena.
Finance Director Joel S. Taylor has projected that overtime could top $19.1 million by year's end, $7.8 million more than budgeted in 2007 and $4.7 million more than Coleman and council members set aside for 2008.
Experience Columbus, the group charged with bringing the world to town, is asking city and county leaders for a funding boost. The convention and visitors bureau has a good case to make.
Hoping to give a marketing boost to nonprofit agencies that build and rehabilitate housing, the city of Columbus and a national nonprofit have created a one-stop shop Web site designed to market inner-city homes to current and potential Columbus residents.
Downtown Columbus' long-vacant Seneca Hotel will open its doors this summer after a $19 million renovation.
The Edwards Companies released plans for the next residential building at Neighborhood Launch.
The market, which is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays through Oct. 31, also will feature 34 merchants selling nonfood items.
Despite the demise of Columbus City Center, the potential for retail Downtown is strong, according to a new study released today by a Downtown property-owners' group.
What's the most untapped retail market in Columbus? A report released today at the kick off of the 2008 Pearl Market season by Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District details how Downtown is under spending its potential by $110 million.
That's why Ricksecker said Capital Crossroads is hoping to work with interested owners.
A Columbus retail analyst says as City Center empties the city's downtown is now a wide open field for retailers. The new study estimates untapped buying potential of nearly $300,000,000.
The Columbus area ranks near the top of a nationwide list for its per-capita carbon emissions, according to a study released this week.
The Franklin Park Conservatory will break ground today on a community-garden "campus" -- the second major project in the first phase of the venue's $75 million expansion plan.
The Columbus Division of Police is fighting criticism of its overtime budgets and is launching some criticisms of its own.
The financially lethal cocktail of risky high-rate mortgages and naive borrowers has taken a toll in many neighborhoods across central Ohio. A wave of foreclosures during recent years has pushed property values downward for the first time in decades, a Dispatch analysis found.
Residents in neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures shouldn't expect appraisers to factor in those fire-sale prices when they set tax values.
Unless homeowners challenge their bills, falling real-estate prices won't mean lower property taxes in Franklin County for at least three years.
The housing market's ascent in the early part of the decade coincided with a surge in risky subprime mortgages, which made homeowners of people who otherwise would have been locked out because of poor credit or forced to settle for a cheaper house. But thousands of these homeowners have lost their houses, driving down values.
Franklin County Auditor Joe Testa has ordered no increase in residential values for the 2008 appraisal update.
Franklin County residents won't see an automatic rise in real estate taxes for the next three tax years, and county Auditor Joseph Testa's reasoning behind the freeze shouldn't be surprising.
Columbus and its suburbs don't have the bombed-out look of some Rust Belt cities. The large number of people employed by government and Ohio State University has traditionally sheltered the city from economic downturns, although less so recently.
United is leaving their 85-year-old building because of proposed hotel development, Weber says. The Pizzuti Group is reportedly going to build a block-long, mixed-use development that will include a 160-room hotelââ¬Â¦
A spokesman for Governor Strickland says the governor is very concerned about reports that 6,000 jobs would be lost in Wilmington under a DHL plan.
DHL's plan to hire United Parcel Service as its air-cargo carrier in the United States would cause the loss of about 6,000 of ABX Air's 7,000 jobs at Wilmington as the operator of DHL's air freight hub there, ABX Air President John Graber said yesterday.
Ohio educators say more of this year's class of high-achieving high-school seniors are heading to colleges and universities out of state.
The announcement that nearly 11-thousand jobs could disappear at two large Ohio employers, GM and ABX, has sent shockwaves through western Ohio and beyond.
The move likely will cost at least 2,400 Dayton-area jobs and affect other companies in Ohio, home to about 130 suppliers to the Moraine plant.
...DHL's main North American sorting center is operated in Wilmington under a contract with cargo carrier ABX Air, which generates most of its revenue from work for DHL. Without a DHL-ABX accord, the state could see the direct loss of 8,200 jobsââ¬Â¦
In the "Borrowed Time" series, which begins today, we examine how things have progressed during the past three years and try to estimate when this crisis may subside.
Over on ColumbusUnderground, someone posted today about how google transit maps now features information on COTA routes in Columbusââ¬Â¦
Dublin is central Ohio's gathering place when the Memorial Tournament is in town, but the city is hoping a new project will encourage people to visit more frequentlyââ¬Â¦
4th St. is closed between 4th Ave. and 6th Ave. on Columbusâââ‰â¢ north side as a water main break has closed the street. The street has buckled due to the pressure of the waterââ¬Â¦
|
