Cap City Savvy

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…

If I have a criticism, it’s that they have a skywalk over future retail shops. Seems a little counterintuitive to isolate pedestrians from the action below. Still, the positives of this development outweigh this negative.

And here’s a construction pic from a couple weeks back…

It roughly matches up with the first rendering. You can also see the former Salvation Army building in the background which is in the process of being converted into condos…also courtesy of Grange.