As promised, here are the scanned renderings I picked up at RiverFest (click for larger)…
After a little googling, I also found a few more on the seemingly new website…
Scioto Audubon Metro Park = Under Construction
I rode my bike past the site this weekend to lay my own eyes on it…
I also swung by the Metro Parks booth at RiverFest and asked a few more questions about the rest of the development. Here are my mental notes:
- The idea of a 6 hole golf course is still being kicked around, but won’t be done for awhile since the impound lot relocation will take a few more years. The thought is that it will be a “green” golf course, which sounded silly until I was told that golf courses put a big strain on the environment (fertilizer, pesticides, water consumption, deforestation, etc…). Could be a fun twist.
- Fun Fact: The Audubon Center is largely funded by a donation from Grange Insurance. The CEO of Grange Insurance is named “Urban”.
- You can buy an engraved brick paver for the new Audubon Center for $250.
- I’ve also got some nice renderings in a brochure that I’ll scan in and post up in the next couple days.
Stop Commuting Redux
This image is nothing more than a fond memory right now…
It’s actually the image I used in a May 2007 post entitled, “Stop Commuting…Buy a House Worth $74k More!“. We all know that gas is closing in on the $4 mark one year later, and it makes you wonder what those bright red letters will say in May 2009.
The point of this post isn’t to try to project the future price of gas, or fondly recollect on the good ole’ days of the past. Rather, it’s to revisit the economics of moving closer to work, ditching your car, and living a more compact lifestyle.
Last year, we used a tool available on the St. Louis Metro website to calculate the actual cost of commuting. Luckily, they’ve still got it posted on the site, so it’s as easy as plugging in some new values and converting the cost savings into a mortgage payment. Results below the fold…
Continue reading ‘Stop Commuting Redux’
Mommy, why is there a hole in our city?
I can practically hear a child asking that question after looking at this picture.
Right now, that hole is owned by a fairly unmotivated group of investors. And why should they be motivated? It turns out that it’s profitable to own a hole in the center of the city. Who knew?
Using some rough numbers, those 200 parking spaces at $6/day bring in over $300k/year. The auditors website says that the lots pay about $125k/yr in taxes. Not a bad year’s work, eh?
Based on a 2006 article from Business First, the owners openly admit that they’re unmotivated…
RiverSouth is Under Construction
Lots of action happening on the South side of Downtown lately. Here’s the photo tour…
The new Franklin County Courthouse construction is in full swing. Foundations are being poured in a HUGE hole.
Streetcar Financing Meeting
Dear Readers,
It is now time to turn your interests into action.
All you have to do is show up this Thursday to learn about how our city is proposing to pay for our starter streecar line. If you’re the least bit interested in this first step towards improved transit in Central Ohio, come out and show your support!
Really…that’s all.
Columbus Streetcar Working Group
Thursday, March 27
6-8 pm
90 W. Broad St.
Second Floor
City Council Chambers
It’s downtown Columbus, so parking is cheap and plentiful. The lot directly North of City Hall is free for you to use.
More info HERE.
North Bank Fortress
I really try to be positive about downtown developments on this site. My theory is, why would someone want to read endless rants? I certainly don’t, and tend to stay away from sites that do.
Why do I mention this? Well I’m actually going to ignore that principle for one post here.
Sorry.
The reason being, a couple weeks back, Mrs. CapCitySavvy and I had the chance to check out the North Bank Condos Fortress during one of their open houses and really wanted to love the project. We just couldn’t.
On paper, it certainly seemed to have some great prerequisites…
Great views? Check.
Unique floorplans? Check.
Density? Check.
Close proximity to urban greenspace? Check.
Adds vibrancy to the surrounding neighborhood? Meh…that’s where the project loses me.
This Blog Endorses…?
With the big primary right around the corner, I thought it might be a good time to break down the major candidates’ perspectives on cities. Why not? It’s the major focus of this blog, and if you’re reading here, you’re probably interested in how the next president might help improve (or erode) our urban centers.
To avoid controversy, I’m going to rely heavily on quotes pulled directly from the candidates websites. I’m purposefully ignoring issues like education, immigration, and crime, because everybody’s got a plan, but I’m a lousy judge of which one will help cities more. That’s not saying those issues don’t have serious impacts on urban areas, it’s just saying that I’m not a teacher or police officer.
I’m also not going to waste my time with Gov. Huckabee, since Sen. McCain essentially has the Republican race locked up.
While we’re on McCain, let’s just analyze his views first.
Like a Good Neighbor…Grange is There
So maybe that’s a different insurance company’s catchphrase, but it fits Grange in this instance. In expanding their headquarters to add hundreds of jobs, they also found themselves needing more parking capacity. What they did next was nothing short of miraculous given the trends in Columbus over the last 50 years.
They acquired the land adjacent to their building for parking, and had they followed trends from other downtown employers, they would have created a single-use structure that effectively killed all street level activity. Thankfully, they decided to go a different route and integrate a mixed-use parking garage into the existing neighborhood.
Pedestrians rejoice!
Here’s a rendering looking Northeast from the corner of Front and Sycamore…
There’s another rendering and a construction photo below the fold…
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
So I’m officially back from my extended Cap City Savvy hiatus. Now that we’ve got XING Columbus up and humming along, I feel ready to tackle the challenge of aggregating content for that blog, and creating fresh content in this space. I’ve got a few cool things lined up, and beyond that, I’ll just wing it.
I’ve got a couple motivations for firing this site back up. The first, was my step into the juvination machine at the 2012 citizen summit. It was one of those moments where I was able to realize that I’m not just a lone voice shouting into the wind, but was one of many Columbus-ites who are ready to address the challenges facing the city. You really had to be there to feel the energy of the crowd that was 1,600 deep.
The second motivation, is that I got a new bag.
Trivial?
perhaps.
But it’s a damn cool bag.
In fact, one of the reasons I got into blogging in the first place is that I thought it would be a good marriage of my photography side and my Columbus fanboy side. That said, I kept getting frustrated when I saw something that I wanted to share, but didn’t have my camera on hand to snap a few shots. This new custom camera bag from Columbus’ own Seagull Bags, should help out in that regard…
So there you have it. All it took was a little pep rally, and a bag.
