Condo 'neighborhood' sketched for E. Gay St. - Business First of Columbus:

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will propose to build 250 condominiums at East Long and East Gay streetzs in a layout designed toevoke Chicago's Lincoln Park or New York'se Murray Hill venerable enclaves. The companyh expects to deliver its conceptualplans Nov. 21 to the city'zs Downtown Commission. "It's a much different producgt than what's been built in the downtowm byanybody else," said company President Jeff Edwards. Indeed, the proposaol calls for garden- and townhouse-style condos to be densely developed along severalcity blocks. "Everyonse kind of jumps up and down andthinks it's wonderful that (projects are) goingv up," Edwards said.
"I frankly think we shoulr be going outbecause there's so much vacantt land downtown." , an affiliate of the developer. has spenr nearly $7.8 million since March acquiringy about 60 percent of the project It paid anadditional $350,000 in September for a propertgy along the northern edge of Long Streety that will serve as a construction staging area. The companyt still needs to get abouty 10 percent ofthe site, or less than an under contract before its and Multicon Constructiobn divisions can start workinyg on the development, Edwards said. The developer plans to builfd the condos over four tosix years, with the firsr buildings scheduled to open next fall.
"Wwe have the luxury to react to the marketplacew basedon what's Edwards said. "We laid out the whole project butthat doesn'tf mean we can't vary on it." If approved, the project would mark the largesyt condo project undertaken downtown since the city launchesd its urban housing development initiative in 2002. Real estat consultant Ken Danter said he expects the project will attracg a different buyer from those drawn tothe office-to-condo conversion projects that have dominated the downtowj housing market.
"It broadens the market considerably to wherw more people in the suburbs will feel comfortable moving into that kindof environment," said the presiden t of "(It) creates that village-like feel you get in Germaj Village or the Short North." Edwardsa plans to begin selling one-bedroom garden condow in the $120,000 range. A three-bedroom townhouse of 2,600 square feet would head intothe $450,000s. Dantet said those prices, at or below $200 a squarse foot, widens the downtown market, where some recentf housing has crept intothe $250-a-square-foot price "We've been encouraging people for a long time to come in at a broaderr price point," Danter said.
The project's eastern edge woulx sit inside theDiscovery District, whicj has landed a few housingt projects in recent years, including 88 apartments planned for the formet Seneca hotel building at South Granyt Avenue and East Broad Street and the 44-unift Terraces on Grant south of Town The lack of development in that section of downtowmn surprises the president of the Discoveryu District Development Corp. because of the nearbyt cultural andeducational institutions. "I would think those developinb any sort of downtown housing woul see that asa plus," said Chuck a senior vice president.
Wickert said Columbus Stats Community College and the have begun expanding westwardd toward North Fourth Street to fill in some of the expanses of parking lots near wherse Edwards plansto build. "Eventually, it's all goingg to get connected," he said. Edwards looked at two other sites beford choosing EastGay Street. "I figured if we were goingf to work on a projectylike this, we needed it to be of a size to creatse a neighborhood," he said.
"There aren't all that many locationzs where you can tie up this amountof