Columbus, Ohio USA
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Development Planned for Former School Site
Retail and housing between W. 5th and W. 6th avenues

by Margaret Marten
March/April 2019 Issue

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The old Fifth Avenue Elementary School, at 210 W. 5th Ave., was built in 1886 and torn down in 1976. At one point, the tower, considered a hazard, was removed. The existing building, contemporary in style, faces Forsythe Avenue. It will be razed to make way for the Vision Development project.

The site of the former Fifth Avenue Alternative Elementary School, where Groove U, the music career college recently operated for five years before moving in 2017, is scheduled for development in a few months after receiving approval from the city in January.

The property lies in Dennison Place on the north side of West 5th Avenue between Forsythe Avenue and Highland Street. The builder, Vision Development of Columbus, is prepared to purchase the three acres for $4.5 million from the Columbus City Schools.

The current ‘70s-era school building will be torn down, and the site, which consists of almost an entire city block, will contain housing and retail. The parcel facing 5th Avenue will consist of a five-story building for retail and apartments with one level of parking.

Behind the retail building up to the existing homes facing West 6th Avenue, between Forsythe and Highland, will be 44 condominiums in 12 buildings. Designed as flats and townhouses, they will have enclosed garages.

“I would have preferred it to stay a park, but that’s not an option,” said Pearson “Pete” McWane, who moved into the neighborhood in 1973 and published The Neighborhood Busybody newsletter for 27 years. McWane and neighbor Florence Osborn campaigned successfully in 1976 to gather funds for a community park and playground on the school property when the original school was torn down.

McWane said his main concern is that the parking for the mixed-use retail building may not be enough to serve employees, customers, and tenants. “They should have at least two levels of parking in the big building,” said McWane. “It’s not something you can retrofit very easily.”

The question is not whether a garage is built, but whether there are enough spaces in the garage for customers and employees and enough public spots to support the extra cars that developments bring to the area.

“What the buildings look like, well we’ll see,” said McWane. “By and large, they’ve made reasonably good architectural standard in the infill for Victorian Village. We haven’t done so well up here.”

Susan Keeny of the University Area Commission said the Vision renderings had some nice details and appeared more traditional in style. “It’s surrounded by a lot of historic properties,” she said. “The renderings look like they have a lot of nice character that complements the older houses.”

The developers plan to start construction this summer and could be open for business by the end of 2020.

 

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