ADVERTISEMENT

    Edwards Submits Plan for High Street Between Gay and Long

    Edwards Companies appears to be moving forward with their plans to build on the surface parking lot at the northwest corner of West Gay and North High streets downtown. This time, though, the plan encompasses the whole block, stretching north to West Long Street. An Edwards affiliate, the Eclipse Real Estate Group, has submitted plans to the Downtown Commission for a six-story building containing 164 apartments, three levels of parking, and about 25,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    The submitted renderings and site plan show two third-floor courtyard spaces – one with a pool – that would serve to break up the High Street facade of the building. The portion of the building closest to Long Street would only by two stories, but drawings show the potential for four floors to be added to that section in the future.

    Edwards, which declined to comment on the project, is in the process of renovating the Citizens Building at 51 North High, across Gay Street from the proposed building. Plans submitted to the city for that building show an entrance to a tunnel in the basement, which would allow residents of the restored building to access the new parking garage across the street.

    Marc Conte of Capital Crossroads SID said that given the feedback they’ve heard about the lack of clustered retail space downtown, the potential upside of this project is huge.

    “If we can get retail space on that entire block, that’s critical to making retail happen downtown,” he said. “We’d have clustered retail space on both sides from Broad to Long, and even beyond with the Atlas Building and Deli Boys and Subway to the north.”

    In terms of the height of the project, Conte added, “purely from a design perspective – given that its downtown, and given the width of High at that point – that block could support a ten story structure…but that doesn’t mean that will work with the developer’s program, so that’s obviously up to them to decide.”

    The commission will weigh in on the new proposal at their July 28 meeting. The document that guides the commission in reviewing new projects (which was updated in 2013), calls for a minimum height of five stories for new buildings fronting High Street. There is no maximum height; the guidelines state that the “tallest buildings in the downtown should be focused on the High Street and Broad Street corridors.”

    The 2010 Downtown Strategic Plan, meanwhile, recommended that new buildings in the “primary urban core” be eight stories or more, with “ten-plus stories acceptable and additional height encouraged where appropriate.”

    For ongoing discussion and updates on this project, CLICK HERE to visit our Messageboard.

    edwards-02

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Subscribe

    More to Explore:

    CCAD Wants to Uncover Historic Building, Fill in Parking Lot

    The Columbus College of Art & Design has submitted...

    Intel Gets More Federal Funding for Ohio Production Plants

    Nearly $20 billion in federal grants and loans is on its way to Intel to support work on semiconductor fabs in Ohio and around the country. The funding is part of the CHIPS Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. Ohio’s New Albany-area Intel facility currently under construction stands to benefit substantially.

    French Bistro Slated for Prominent Downtown Corner

    Another new restaurant is coming to the corner of...

    Updated: Madison County Solar Farm Would Be One of the Largest in U.S.

    UPDATE (3/21/24): The Ohio Power Siting Board voted seven...
    Brent Warren
    Brent Warrenhttps://columbusunderground.com/author/brent-warren
    Brent Warren is a staff reporter for Columbus Underground covering urban development, transportation, city planning, neighborhoods, and other related topics. He grew up in Grandview Heights, lives in the University District and studied City and Regional Planning at OSU.
    ADVERTISEMENT