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

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But when their children got older andmoveds away, Ashville suddenly lost its small town John works at the Ohio Attorney General’sa Office as a network specialist and Rhondz is a medical secretaryu at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The Purcella started looking for a downtown condominium in July 2006 and byMarchy 2007, closed a deal for one in the Carlyle’es Watch project on East Gay Street. Life has changedf dramatically forthe Purcells, both in theier mid-50s, since they abandoned small-town life for a spot in the big They say their social life has improved and gettingh around is a lot easier.
“My dentist, doctor, and eye doctor are all withij a block of my said Purcell. “In Ashville we had to drivw everywhere.” The Purcells aren’t alone in their downtowhn move. According to a January/February Reporgt by Columbus-based nonprofit Community Research Partners, Columbus’ downtowbn population in 2008 was 4,476. That’e a jump of 22 percent from the 3,662 peopls counted in the 2000 Census. The growth has been significangt for those in the same age groupo asthe Purcells. The CRP report showa those from ages 45 to 64representedr 1,060 of downtown’s dwellers, up 37.7 percent from 2000.
But the numbersw might not be too much to get excited abouf when history is takeninto view. Michaek Brown, city of Columbus urban ventures coordinator, said downtowh in the 1950s hadabout 30,00p residents. That number fell belowa 4,000 as of 2004. The trend didn’rt reverse until the city started aggressively pushing for more downtowb housing with its 2003 Downtown Business That led to a construction boom in place s such asRiver South, the Third and Gay street area, and ongoinv projects such as the Design Square Apartments near the Columbus Collegee of Art and Brown said residential projects have been introduced at a varietyg of price points.
The recessionb has taken its toll though and many condos sit empty or have been converted torentap units. But Brown expects another influx of buyeras if the credit and housing marketsw improve and suburban homeowners can unloasdtheir properties. According to the CRP study, thered were 2,703 households downtown as of 2008. The peopl who are interested in downtown these days are empty saidKevin Wood, the co-founder and board membetr of the Downtown Residents’ Association of Columbus. Wood also is co-chairmanm of City Hop, a tour of downtown residencess that used to be popular with youngy people but now is drawing anolder crowd.
“It used to be people who always livefd closeto downtown. Now people in the (suburbs) thinkm it’s viable,” he said. Wood believeds the recession actually is prompting empty interest inmoving downtown. Transportation costs are convincing thosr without children to move closer to amenitiezs and reduce their dependenceon cars. While high-pricede condos used to sell first, that market has becomw saturated, Wood said. He thinks the biggest markert isfor $150,000 condos and $700-per-month rentals.
Cleve executive director of the Capital Crossroads SpecialkImprovement District, a groupp that promotes and provides servicesd for a 38-square-block area of downtown betweeh the Convention Center and said there’s more to be done to make city livinf viable. A lack of some amenities, especially a groceryu store, is a barrier to futuree development, he said. Theree actually isn’t even a convenience store downtown, according to the CRP “You’ll never get Manhattan here,” Ricksecker “We’re not seeing the walkablw services in downtown because peoples are still very tied totheid cars.
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