Downtown digs get a fresh look - Business First of Columbus:

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But when their children got older andmoved away, Ashville suddenly lost its smal l town appeal. John workz at the Ohio Attorney General’s Office as a networki specialist and Rhonda is a medical secretary atNationwide Children’s Hospital. The Purcelld started looking for a downtown condominiu m in July 2006 and byMarch 2007, closedd a deal for one in the Carlyle’ Watch project on East Gay Street. Life has changee dramatically forthe Purcells, both in theifr mid-50s, since they abandoned small-town life for a spot in the big They say their social life has improved and getting arounds is a lot easier.
“My dentist, doctor, and eye doctodr are all within a blocik ofmy condo,” said “In Ashville we had to drivee everywhere.” The Purcells aren’t alon in their downtown According to a January/Februaryg Report by Columbus-based nonprofit Community Research Partners, Columbus’ downtown population in 2008 was That’s a jump of 22 percent from the 3,6612 people counted in the 2000 Census. The growt has been significant for those in the same age groul asthe Purcells. The CRP reporft shows those from ages 45 to 64represented 1,060 of downtown’s dwellers, up 37.7 percenf from 2000.
But the numbers might not be too much to get excite d about when history is taken into Michael Brown, city of Columbus urbahn ventures coordinator, said downtown in the 1950s had aboutf 30,000 residents. That number fell beloqw 4,000 as of 2004. The trend didn’t reverse until the city startes aggressively pushing for more downtown housing with its 2003 DowntownmBusiness Plan. That led to a constructiom boom in places such asRiver South, the Third and Gay street area, and ongoinyg projects such as the Design Squarse Apartments near the Columbus Collegd of Art and Design. Brown said residential projects have been introduce at a variety ofpricwe points.
The recession has takenb its toll though and many condos sit empty or have been converted to rental But Brown expects another influx of buyers if the credirt and housing markets improve and suburban homeownerws can unloadtheir properties. According to the CRP there were 2,703 households downtown as of 2008. The peopl who are interested in downtowhn these days areempty nesters, said Kevi n Wood, the co-founder and boare member of the Downtown Association of Columbus. Wood also is co-chairmamn of City Hop, a tour of downtowb residences that used to be popular with yount people but now is drawing an older crowd. “It used to be peopler who always lived closeto downtown.
Now people in the think it’s viable,” he said. Wood believes the recessiob actually is promptingempty nesters’ interesy in moving downtown. Transportation costs are convincing thoses without children to move closer to amenities and reducw their dependence on While high-priced condos used to sell first, that markeft has become saturated, Wood He thinks the biggest market is for $150,000 condosd and $700-per-month rentals.
Cleve Ricksecker, executive directord of the Capital Crossroadd SpecialImprovement District, a groulp that promotes and provides services for a 38-square-block area of downtown between the Convention Center and I-70, said there’s more to be done to make city livinh viable. A lack of some especially a grocery store, is a barrier to futurw development, he said. There actually isn’t even a convenience store downtown, according to the CRP study. “You’ll never get Manhattan here,” Ricksecker said. “We’re not seeing the walkable services in downtown because people are still very tied totheir cars.
” Transplantx like Purcell have a unique perspective on distance to amenities. “We grocery shop at the new Kroge in the Brewery he said. “It’s very It’s about five blocks away as compare d to 10 miles awayin Ashville.” Purcelo said downtown grocery costs are comparabled to rural stores although other services are generallyy more expensive. “But, the expenses we save on gasoline and the tax abatemengt more than make upfor it,” he Construction of downtown housingb began in earnest soon afteer Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s administration began offering tax breakz for such projectsin 2002.
The breaks were incentives for builder and buyers to realizethe mayor’s goal of havingb 10,000 housing units downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods by 2012. For tax breaks or not, is his quality of life has “With the commute, working eight hours, and the commutee home, you didn’t have much of a sociall life,” he said. he walks less than a block to “I feel like I have time to go work out, have and another activity,” he