North Market Redevelopment: City Announces Potential Developer Suitors

A veritable cornucopia of big name developers are eyeballin’ the North Market and have submitted plans to redevelop the parking lot and potentially, the entire building.

In September, the city announced plans to redevelop and asked for proposals, these are the companies that answered the call according to a list released by the city on Tuesday:

Wood Cos./Schiff Capital Group
Casto
Kaufman Development
Lifestyle Communities Ltd.
Nationwide Realty Investors Ltd.
Flaherty & Collins, based in Indianapolis
Pizzuti Cos.

No word on what their proposals are, what they entail or how long they could take but regardless, The North Market wants involved telling Bizjournals that if it doesn’t make sense for the market, “we won’t do a deal.”

Demolition is also a possibility but thankfully, that is unlikely according to Columbus Development Director Steve Schoeny.

If you hadn’t had enough of the redevelopment, construction or demolition of beloved Columbus haunts and hangouts, the city is looking for proposals to change the very foundation of the North Market.

“The City of Columbus, Ohio is seeking proposals from development teams pursuing the opportunity to redevelop the surface parking lot of the site adjacent to the North Market.”

The entire 30,000 square foot building and 130 space parking lot are included in the redevelopment area. So while the initial plan is to fix a cramped, and poorly laid out parking lot — it could potentially turn into a major revamp of the entire North Market.

“Whatever can enhance the market, the experience of patrons and our vendors — we’re a fan of.” Marissa Luther, Director of Marketing & Development said.

This is all right and good and the city is taking steps not to fix what ain’t broke — with a vow to review proposals that seek to, “enhance the North Market and surrounding North Market Historic District, provide opportunities to augment and expand the North Market’s services and operations, and create a sustainable, long-term structure to ensure the financial viability of the North Market in perpetuity.” The city said in a press release.

The city also laid out the timeline for the entire project with an expected announcement for February 3rd, 2017. See the entire schedule below:

Events and Timeline:

1.            Issue Phase I of RFP (October 24)
2.            Public Information meeting (November 3)
3.            Bidders Conference (November 9)
4.            Final questions submitted via Vendor Services portal (November 11)
5.            Phase I RFP submittal deadline (November 21)
6.            Development Team interviews (November 28-December 2)
7.            Issue Phase II RFP (December 9)
8.            Phase II RFP submittal deadline (January 27, 2017)
9.            Announcement (February 3, 2017)

For those interested in the Public Information Meeting — they’re looking to solicit ideas from local residents. That is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Nov. 3 at the Thompson Community Center, 1189 Dennison Ave.

So what do you want to see fixed about the North Market? We wouldn’t mind an extra aisle, or two…or three for more vendors — hell, a space where some more non-food vendors could occupy would be great.

[su_button url=”http://vendors.columbus.gov/sites/public/VendorPortal/Enterprise%20Portal/default.aspx?&WDPK=initial&WMI=VendProfileDefault&redirected=1&WCMP=COLS&WMI=VendProfileDefault” target=”blank” background=”#d41d50″ size=”4″ text_shadow=”0px 0px 0px #000000″]For more information and to submit your questions to the city, click here.[/su_button]

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