A five-story mixed-use building has been proposed for a key block of East Livingston Avenue, across from the expanding Nationwide Children’s Hospital campus.
The project would require the demolition of several buildings between Ninth Street and Washington Avenue, including the former home of Shane’s Gourmet Catering, an Enterprise Rent-a-Car location, and the building that once held the Art Outside the Lines studio.
The proposal calls for a 163-unit building with ground floor retail and a 179-space, internal parking garage. A council variance has been submitted to the city since the building is taller and offers fewer parking spaces than allowed by the current commercial zoning. Also included in the variance are provisions to allow for the building to be closer to the street, and to allow residential uses on the ground floor (townhomes on the first floor are proposed for the Washington Avenue side of the building).
The new building would extend over what is now Dutch Alley, allowing cars and pedestrians to pass through underneath.
Schiff Capital Group and Northstar Realty LLC are the developers behind the project, which is a revision of an earlier proposal that Northstar first brought to the neighborhood in 2018.
Michael Schiff, President and CEO of Schiff Capital Group, said that the two companies have worked together in the past, but not ever on such a large, mixed-use project.
“The key to that location is the fact that Children’s is growing so much, and now has about 14,000 employees,” he said. “Those people need places to live and places to shop, so hopefully that’s what we’re providing.”
“Our goal is also to donate some units to the hospital, for needy families that come to town and can’t afford places to stay,” Schiff added, although the details of such an arrangement have yet to be worked out. “We’re talking to Children’s and we’re going to figure it out, so we can give back to that great organization…we’re excited to be able to do that.”
Neighbors and other interested parties will get a chance to hear about the proposal and provide initial feedback at a meeting scheduled for Saturday, January 8, at 11 a.m. at the Barrack Community Center. The Schumacher Place Civic Association and the Columbus Southside Area Commission will both eventually hold votes on the project, although the timing of those votes has not been set.
Northstar Realty, whose offices are located just down the street from the project site, is best known for developing retail centers throughout Central Ohio, but also built the five-story Home2 Suites building at 412 E. Main St.
Schiff Capital Group has been one of the busier developers in urban Columbus over the last ten years. Current projects include the redevelopment of the Copious building on South High Street in the Brewery District, and a renovation and new-build project on Rich Street Downtown.
Schiff said that work is on schedule to wrap up on the Rich Street project – now called Discovery Park Place – in March. He added that the 30-story Harmony Tower proposal “is still on our drawing board, something we hope to get to,” but acknowledged that, “with today’s uncertainty, it’s a little tougher…but it’s our goal to have [Harmony Tower] or something else amazing built on that lot.”
For more information on the upcoming meeting about the Livingston proposal, see the Schumacher Place Civic Association website.