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

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will propose to build 250 condominiumas at East Long and East Gay streets in a layou designed toevoke Chicago's Lincolhn Park or New York's Murray Hill venerable The company expects to deliverf its conceptual plans Nov. 21 to the city's Downtownh Commission. "It's a much different produc t than what's been built in the downtown byanybodg else," said company President Jeff Indeed, the proposal calls for garden- and townhouse-styld condos to be densely developed along several city blocks. "Everyone kind of jumpsd up and down andthinks it's wonderfuk that (projects are) going up," Edwards said.
"Ij frankly think we shouled be going outbecause there's so much vacangt land downtown." , an affiliate of the has spent nearly $7.8 million since March acquiring about 60 percent of the projecyt site. It paid an additional $350,00 0 in September for a property alongh the northern edge of Long Stree t that will serve as a constructiohstaging area. The company still needss to get about 10 percenft ofthe site, or less than an acre, undedr contract before its and Multicon Construction divisionds can start working on the development, Edwardds said. The developer plans to builcd the condos over four to six with the first buildings schedulerd to opennext fall.
"We have the luxur y to react to the marketplace basesdon what's accepted," Edwards said. "We laid out the whole projectt butthat doesn't mean we can't vary on it." If approved, the projecy would mark the largest condo projec t undertaken downtown since the city launched its urban housiny development initiative in 2002. Real estater consultant Ken Danter said he expectsz the project will attract a different buyetr from those drawn tothe office-to-condo conversion projects that have dominated the downtown housing "It broadens the market considerabluy to where more people in the suburbs will feel comfortablde moving into that kind of environment," said the presidenf of "(It) creates that village-like feel you get in Germanj Village or the Shorf North.
" Edwards plans to begin sellinb one-bedroom garden condos in the $120,000 range. A three-bedroo m townhouse of 2,600 square feet would head into the Danter saidthose prices, at or beloew $200 a square foot, widensa the downtown market, where some recenrt housing has crept into the $250-a-square-fooyt price range. "We've been encouraging peopld for a long time to come in at a broaderpriced point," Danter said.
The project'sd eastern edge would sit inside theDiscover District, which has landed a few housingt projects in recent years, including 88 apartments plannedf for the former Seneca hotel building at South Granyt Avenue and East Broad Street and the 44-unitt Terraces on Grant soutnh of Town Street. The lack of developmentt in that section of downtown surpriseas the president of the Discovergy DistrictDevelopment Corp. because of the nearbu cultural andeducational institutions. "jI would think those developing any sort of downtowh housing would see that as a saidChuck Wickert, a senior vice president.
Wickerrt said Columbus State Community College and the have begun expanding westward toward North Fourth Street to fill in some of the expanss of parking lots near where Edwards plansato build. "Eventually, it's all going to get connected," he Edwards looked at two other sites befored choosing EastGay Street. "u figured if we were going to work on a projecglike this, we needed it to be of a size to creatwe a neighborhood," he said. "There aren'ft all that many locationx where you can tie up this amoun tof ground.
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