June 25th, 2008 categories: Condos & Lofts, Downtown
The Hartman Lofts Phase II is still ready for sales and move ins. Phase One sold out pretty easily. I’ve always liked this project, much like Buggyworks, for the authenticity of the building, the exposed brick, huge windows, exposed beams and the value for the location.
Some would-be buyers don’t like the location of Hartman Lofts-at the corner of 4th and Main-but think how walkable it is if you work downtown or in the Brewery District, Courthouse, Grant Hospital, etc.
This month Hartman Lofts will cover:
- Principal & Interest (up to 3 months)
- Condo Fees (up to 3 months)
- Closing Costs (up to $1,500)
- Moving Expenses (up to $1,000)
of interest: Just in time for City Hop - April and May ‘08 Downtown Columbus Condo Sales
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June 13th, 2008 categories: Downtown, For Home Buyers, For Home Sellers, Market Updates, Short North
I did a bit of a hop myself this morning, seeing condos from the Renaissance, to Rich Street Walk, to Lofts at 106 to a Dakota top floor unit, to a Buggyworks phase one resale to (finally I got to see) 8 on the Square. This picture is from an 8 on the Square 11th floor guest bed balcony looking North Down High St toward the Short North.
This unit has 2 full beds, great updates and 2.5 baths and, at 2503 sf, takes up the entire 11th floor. Great views from two balconies at the corner of Broad and High looking West down Broad, South down High and over the Ohio Statehouse and North toward Nationwide and the Short North.
Anyway, they all had something going for them and it was fun getting into all of them this morning. Not too much going on downtown though, it’s been pretty quiet lately. Only 9 units have sold in the last two months, 7 of them last month, including 3 Miranova-s and a smattering of City View, Ohio Lofts, Hartman Lofts, Connextions, Waterford and one of my favorite values downtown so far this year, an 1870 sf 2 bed, 2.5 bath & 2 car garage Washington Avenue condo for $179,000.
Not everyone reports sales though, I hear North Bank is just over 40% sold, and Phase 2 at Buggyworks, Firestone lofts, is also doing very well.
Many folks say they want to move downtown and not wait for another year before their space is ready but haven’t been happy with what was available. If you haven’t looked in a year for a move-in ready space, consider looking again. Look at Neighborhood Launch or Ibiza if you aren’t in a hurry and you’re considering moving to the short North or downtown to a condo.
There are 12 units in contract including 2 Terraces, 2 340s S. High Streets and that unbelievable 115 West Vine St — essentially an 8700 sf warehouse home with 4 car garage, indoor pool, 4 beds and 7.5 baths and an elevator that is zoned commercial that is currently at $2,199,000.
This afternoon there are 169 units on the market downtown in the Columbus MLS. They range from a $127,000 14th floor 1 bedroom at Waterford Tower to the $1,035,323 8 on the square unit I saw today to four units at Miranova ranging from $1,075,000 to $1,400,000.
Get your City-Hop Tickets by 5:00 today to get the discount.
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May 5th, 2008 categories: Downtown, For Home Buyers, Olde Towne East
Rooting Out the Rotten Tomatoes
Workers separate tomatoes at the sprawling Central de Abastos market in Mexico City on June 10
Gregory Bull / AP
So how much damage can a few rotten tomatoes really do? The tomato-linked salmonella outbreak announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 3 has claimed 228 victims in 23 states over 58 days (and counting). It has put 25 people in the hospital and may have had a role in hastening the death of a cancer patient. And then there’s the flurry of panic as many of the tomatoes that American consumers take for granted every day suddenly disappear — from McDonald’s hamburgers; from the salsa at Chipotle Mexican Grill; from Burger King, Taco Bell and Sonic; and from the grocery shelves at Kroger, Wal-Mart and Target. Didn’t we just go through this with bagged spinach? With peanut butter? With pet food?
Because the FDA’s tomato-recall recommendation is so specific — including only three types, grown in certain regions during a certain time — and because many national chains pulled their tomato stock within days of the announcement, most of the infected samples have likely been removed. But the outbreak remains ongoing; its source has not yet been determined, and the government is investigating new cases every day. It may be a few more weeks before the delicious staple fruit is given the all-clear.
Taking tomatoes off shelves and menus may contain the outbreak, but it doesn’t explain it. On May 22, the New Mexico Health Department notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it knew of seven people recently infected with Salmonella Saintpaul, an unusual strand of the bacteria that accounted for only 400 of the 1.4 million cases of salmonella infection reported last year. And it was precisely because occurrences of the Saintpaul strand are so rare that the report caught the CDC’s attention. When Texas and a few other states reported cases of people being infected by bacteria with the same “genetic fingerprint,” a multistate search for Salmonella Saintpaul was launched. While the CDC tracked reported illnesses, the FDA interviewed victims to find out what they had eaten (and where). The common answer was tomatoes.
There have been 13 outbreaks of salmonella in tomatoes since 1990, which puts the fruit on the list of high-risk foods that are prone to infection. But unlike the bagged spinach from the 2006 E. Coli scare, the tomatoes don’t come with a traceable bar code. “When you’re dealing with tomatoes, it is much, much more complex,” explains Dr. David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods. The FDA’s great tomato hunt has an ever-expanding list of suspects. A salmonella victim can point to the supermarket (or restaurant) that sold the offending fruit, but that store probably sources its tomatoes from several suppliers, each of which uses several distributors — and distributors buy from any number of growers.
“Each set of questions just multiplies into a fan of information that has to be sorted through to understand where the links cross over,” says Acheson. Although the FDA has managed to rule out some regions — northern Florida is safe because its tomatoes weren’t ready for harvest at the time of the outbreak — it will be some time until the true source is found. “We’re not quite there yet,” says Acheson, “but we’re getting very close.” But Dr. Ian Williams, chief of the CDC’s OutbreakNet team, warns that the source may never be found due to the fruit’s short shelf life. “You don’t expect to find an infected tomato sitting on someone’s counter 10 days after the outbreak,” says Williams.
Still, the lag time between the initial outbreak and the government’s reaction is startling: the first Salmonella Saintpaul victim fell ill on April 16, but the FDA didn’t announce the tomato link until June 3. Williams says part of the problem identifying salmonella outbreaks is that a lot of victims don’t see the symptoms — diarrhea, fever, vomiting — as sufficiently severe to warrant a visit to the doctor, and so they go undiagnosed. “There may be a delay in reporting outbreaks because people do not have a stool specimen tested,” he says. Officials have not yet identified an infected tomato, and because of the fruit’s short shelf life, they probably never will.
The FDA unveiled a tomato-safety initiative in 2007 that sought to identify causes of salmonella infection, but Acheson admits that studying preventive techniques doesn’t help the FDA deal with outbreaks. The FDA has no plans to change the initiative in the face of the recent outbreak.
Even if the FDA can pinpoint the source of the outbreak, it’s hard for consumers to know where their tomatoes are grown. Certain imported foods are required to carry country-of-origin labels, but that doesn’t apply to domestic produce. “I’m not aware of any tomato outbreak that was not domestic,” says Acheson. There is no such thing as a mandatory state-of-origin label for food, and federal authorities have yet to create such a law. “Saying ‘product of the U.S.’ isn’t necessarily going to confer safety,” he says. So much for reassurance.
Vi ste jeben.
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May 2nd, 2008 categories: Columbus News, Downtown
Rooting Out the Rotten Tomatoes
Workers separate tomatoes at the sprawling Central de Abastos market in Mexico City on June 10
Gregory Bull / AP
So how much damage can a few rotten tomatoes really do? The tomato-linked salmonella outbreak announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 3 has claimed 228 victims in 23 states over 58 days (and counting). It has put 25 people in the hospital and may have had a role in hastening the death of a cancer patient. And then there’s the flurry of panic as many of the tomatoes that American consumers take for granted every day suddenly disappear — from McDonald’s hamburgers; from the salsa at Chipotle Mexican Grill; from Burger King, Taco Bell and Sonic; and from the grocery shelves at Kroger, Wal-Mart and Target. Didn’t we just go through this with bagged spinach? With peanut butter? With pet food?
Because the FDA’s tomato-recall recommendation is so specific — including only three types, grown in certain regions during a certain time — and because many national chains pulled their tomato stock within days of the announcement, most of the infected samples have likely been removed. But the outbreak remains ongoing; its source has not yet been determined, and the government is investigating new cases every day. It may be a few more weeks before the delicious staple fruit is given the all-clear.
Taking tomatoes off shelves and menus may contain the outbreak, but it doesn’t explain it. On May 22, the New Mexico Health Department notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it knew of seven people recently infected with Salmonella Saintpaul, an unusual strand of the bacteria that accounted for only 400 of the 1.4 million cases of salmonella infection reported last year. And it was precisely because occurrences of the Saintpaul strand are so rare that the report caught the CDC’s attention. When Texas and a few other states reported cases of people being infected by bacteria with the same “genetic fingerprint,” a multistate search for Salmonella Saintpaul was launched. While the CDC tracked reported illnesses, the FDA interviewed victims to find out what they had eaten (and where). The common answer was tomatoes.
There have been 13 outbreaks of salmonella in tomatoes since 1990, which puts the fruit on the list of high-risk foods that are prone to infection. But unlike the bagged spinach from the 2006 E. Coli scare, the tomatoes don’t come with a traceable bar code. “When you’re dealing with tomatoes, it is much, much more complex,” explains Dr. David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods. The FDA’s great tomato hunt has an ever-expanding list of suspects. A salmonella victim can point to the supermarket (or restaurant) that sold the offending fruit, but that store probably sources its tomatoes from several suppliers, each of which uses several distributors — and distributors buy from any number of growers.
“Each set of questions just multiplies into a fan of information that has to be sorted through to understand where the links cross over,” says Acheson. Although the FDA has managed to rule out some regions — northern Florida is safe because its tomatoes weren’t ready for harvest at the time of the outbreak — it will be some time until the true source is found. “We’re not quite there yet,” says Acheson, “but we’re getting very close.” But Dr. Ian Williams, chief of the CDC’s OutbreakNet team, warns that the source may never be found due to the fruit’s short shelf life. “You don’t expect to find an infected tomato sitting on someone’s counter 10 days after the outbreak,” says Williams.
Still, the lag time between the initial outbreak and the government’s reaction is startling: the first Salmonella Saintpaul victim fell ill on April 16, but the FDA didn’t announce the tomato link until June 3. Williams says part of the problem identifying salmonella outbreaks is that a lot of victims don’t see the symptoms — diarrhea, fever, vomiting — as sufficiently severe to warrant a visit to the doctor, and so they go undiagnosed. “There may be a delay in reporting outbreaks because people do not have a stool specimen tested,” he says. Officials have not yet identified an infected tomato, and because of the fruit’s short shelf life, they probably never will.
The FDA unveiled a tomato-safety initiative in 2007 that sought to identify causes of salmonella infection, but Acheson admits that studying preventive techniques doesn’t help the FDA deal with outbreaks. The FDA has no plans to change the initiative in the face of the recent outbreak.
Even if the FDA can pinpoint the source of the outbreak, it’s hard for consumers to know where their tomatoes are grown. Certain imported foods are required to carry country-of-origin labels, but that doesn’t apply to domestic produce. “I’m not aware of any tomato outbreak that was not domestic,” says Acheson. There is no such thing as a mandatory state-of-origin label for food, and federal authorities have yet to create such a law. “Saying ‘product of the U.S.’ isn’t necessarily going to confer safety,” he says. So much for reassurance.
Vi ste jeben.
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April 29th, 2008 categories: Columbus News, Downtown
Rooting Out the Rotten Tomatoes
Workers separate tomatoes at the sprawling Central de Abastos market in Mexico City on June 10
Gregory Bull / AP
So how much damage can a few rotten tomatoes really do? The tomato-linked salmonella outbreak announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 3 has claimed 228 victims in 23 states over 58 days (and counting). It has put 25 people in the hospital and may have had a role in hastening the death of a cancer patient. And then there’s the flurry of panic as many of the tomatoes that American consumers take for granted every day suddenly disappear — from McDonald’s hamburgers; from the salsa at Chipotle Mexican Grill; from Burger King, Taco Bell and Sonic; and from the grocery shelves at Kroger, Wal-Mart and Target. Didn’t we just go through this with bagged spinach? With peanut butter? With pet food?
Because the FDA’s tomato-recall recommendation is so specific — including only three types, grown in certain regions during a certain time — and because many national chains pulled their tomato stock within days of the announcement, most of the infected samples have likely been removed. But the outbreak remains ongoing; its source has not yet been determined, and the government is investigating new cases every day. It may be a few more weeks before the delicious staple fruit is given the all-clear.
Taking tomatoes off shelves and menus may contain the outbreak, but it doesn’t explain it. On May 22, the New Mexico Health Department notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it knew of seven people recently infected with Salmonella Saintpaul, an unusual strand of the bacteria that accounted for only 400 of the 1.4 million cases of salmonella infection reported last year. And it was precisely because occurrences of the Saintpaul strand are so rare that the report caught the CDC’s attention. When Texas and a few other states reported cases of people being infected by bacteria with the same “genetic fingerprint,” a multistate search for Salmonella Saintpaul was launched. While the CDC tracked reported illnesses, the FDA interviewed victims to find out what they had eaten (and where). The common answer was tomatoes.
There have been 13 outbreaks of salmonella in tomatoes since 1990, which puts the fruit on the list of high-risk foods that are prone to infection. But unlike the bagged spinach from the 2006 E. Coli scare, the tomatoes don’t come with a traceable bar code. “When you’re dealing with tomatoes, it is much, much more complex,” explains Dr. David Acheson, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods. The FDA’s great tomato hunt has an ever-expanding list of suspects. A salmonella victim can point to the supermarket (or restaurant) that sold the offending fruit, but that store probably sources its tomatoes from several suppliers, each of which uses several distributors — and distributors buy from any number of growers.
“Each set of questions just multiplies into a fan of information that has to be sorted through to understand where the links cross over,” says Acheson. Although the FDA has managed to rule out some regions — northern Florida is safe because its tomatoes weren’t ready for harvest at the time of the outbreak — it will be some time until the true source is found. “We’re not quite there yet,” says Acheson, “but we’re getting very close.” But Dr. Ian Williams, chief of the CDC’s OutbreakNet team, warns that the source may never be found due to the fruit’s short shelf life. “You don’t expect to find an infected tomato sitting on someone’s counter 10 days after the outbreak,” says Williams.
Still, the lag time between the initial outbreak and the government’s reaction is startling: the first Salmonella Saintpaul victim fell ill on April 16, but the FDA didn’t announce the tomato link until June 3. Williams says part of the problem identifying salmonella outbreaks is that a lot of victims don’t see the symptoms — diarrhea, fever, vomiting — as sufficiently severe to warrant a visit to the doctor, and so they go undiagnosed. “There may be a delay in reporting outbreaks because people do not have a stool specimen tested,” he says. Officials have not yet identified an infected tomato, and because of the fruit’s short shelf life, they probably never will.
The FDA unveiled a tomato-safety initiative in 2007 that sought to identify causes of salmonella infection, but Acheson admits that studying preventive techniques doesn’t help the FDA deal with outbreaks. The FDA has no plans to change the initiative in the face of the recent outbreak.
Even if the FDA can pinpoint the source of the outbreak, it’s hard for consumers to know where their tomatoes are grown. Certain imported foods are required to carry country-of-origin labels, but that doesn’t apply to domestic produce. “I’m not aware of any tomato outbreak that was not domestic,” says Acheson. There is no such thing as a mandatory state-of-origin label for food, and federal authorities have yet to create such a law. “Saying ‘product of the U.S.’ isn’t necessarily going to confer safety,” he says. So much for reassurance.
Vi ste jeben.
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March 21st, 2008 categories: Downtown
Let’s go Modeling.
The local chapter of the Building Industry Association is back with the Let’s Go Modeling campaign in an effort to jumpstart the sleeping downtown Columbus Condo market.
You may know the BIA from Condo Quest, the Parade of Homes or the Showcase of Remodeled Homes. Go Modeling is a collaborative effort to make finding your downtown home easy. After you’ve found it, give me a call and we’ll discuss making downtown your backyard.
Every Sunday through June 15, each of these ten participating properties will be open from 1pm – 4pm. Take advantage of this convenient way to view multiple properties in one day, and know that if you missed one – or want to come back – they’ll be open again, same time, same place, the following week.
Go Modeling. And find your downtown intersection.
Participating Properties
Related: Downtown Columbus Condos - February Update - For Sale-Sold
Downtown Columbus Condos - the 2007 by the numbers look
Find out more about Downtown Columbus
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March 16th, 2008 categories: Downtown, Real Estate News
The first couple months of the year, I have been paying much more attention to commercial real estate than I had been. Part of this was my involvement in a potential move by a local arts organization to a downtown Columbus location but that has yet to materialize and probably won’t for some time. I’ve also taken a keen interest in small office locations throughout midtown. I’ve had would-be clients like photographers and attorneys moving to town call about live-work possibilities and others interested in warehouses in which they could put a new business. I always really enjoy these type of outside-the-residential-box searches.
The public at large sees buildings for sale all the time but they rarely find out what they’re worth. Part of that is because Columbus commercial real estate is marketed to commercial realtors and not advertised to the general public to the extent that residential real estate is. So, because I know you’re curious, here are some buildings that are currently on the market [disclaimer-these are listed with other realtors-these are not my listings and I am not advertising them]. If you’re from out of town, you would probably be surprised by the relative affordability of Midtown Columbus Commercial Property.
17 Brickel St
$1,500,000
7500 sf
East Broad Street
$675,000
8730 sf
456 East Cherry
Dowtown
6,733 sf
$470,000
81 south fifth street
downtown
15,000 sf
$650,000
800 E Broad St
5865 sf
$620,000
64 East Broad
10,250
$1,400,000
1120 North High
8,000 sf
$750,000
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March 4th, 2008 categories: Downtown
I had to check three times to make sure, but every time I found ONE condo that sold last month in downtown Columbus. Yeah, the market is a little slow.
The honor belongs to a 1700 sf 21st floor Miranova Corner Condo with three walls of glass, nice finishes and fantastic views. The 2 bed, 2 bath unit sold for $429,000, after about 6 months on the market, though it sold for $469,000 18 months ago.
Note to all would-be downtown Columbus Condo Buyers —– Try to stay put for awhile.
You may recall that in January, 7 of the remaining CityView at 3rd two bedrooms sold and three additional downtown condo units did as well.
Those ten homes averaged about $220/sf, not too far from the kind of numbers that have been selling downtown.
As of today, there are 174 units on the MLS listed as active listing with an average list price of $367,200 or $236/sf.
Things have been picking up lately though and there are also 25 downtown Columbus Condos in contract and of those, the 19 condos in Firm Contract average about $270/sf, though they won’t retain that average after they’ve closed. Many of these won’t close for a while yet though because they’re not yet ready for occupancy.
Also of Interest: Downtown Columbus Condos - the 2007 by the numbers look
When does Your Downtown Columbus Condo Tax Abatement Begin?
Is the Downtown Columbus Condo Market a Ticking Timebomb?
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Let’s go Modeling.