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Tim Fulton 00:07
Welcome to the confluence cast presented by Columbus underground. We are a weekly Columbus centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I’m your host, Tim Fulton. This week, as we close out 2023 and prepare to start a new year, whatever it may bring, we are looking back on the highlights lowlights and trends that shaped our calendar year. To that end, Walker Evans Susan posts and I spent some time discussing the most impactful, interesting and buzzworthy local stories of the past year. And listen in for an announcement or two. During the episode, you get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at the confluence cast.com. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here with Walker Evans, the co founder and editor of Columbus underground and Columbus underground and Metro printer Associate Editor Susan post. How are you guys? Good, how are you? Good. We are here talking about we’re rounding up the year basically in news and trends, not necessarily the best read stories, but just sort of the things that had an impact this year.
Walker Evans 01:21
Yeah, yeah, we kind of start to go back to the the year at the end of every year, kind of kind of looking back. And these are the big trends that jumped out at us.
Tim Fulton 01:28
God bless analytics. Yeah. Talk us through First of all, the North graveyard, all the stories that happen there. I will point people back to the original episode that we did with Jesse on. But sort of how is that developed over time?
Walker Evans 01:43
Well, the original version was that he approached us and said, Hey, I want to write about this. And we kind of thought, sure, knock yourself out. Like if somebody reads it. That’s great. But this sounds like more. It’s something he was going to do for him more than anyone else. And to our surprise, it was very well,
Susan Post 02:00
very, very well read. Yeah. I think there have been 10 articles now. And there’s about to be an 11th. Yeah. And Jesse has just done a phenomenal job of coming at it from a lot of different angles and talking to a lot of stakeholders involved in the project. You know, from the archaeologists to the North Market to local Columbus ghost connoisseur, Bucky cut. Right. So it’s been really fascinating to read them as they come in. Yeah.
Walker Evans 02:25
And I think it speaks to the, you know, sometimes I think we do take for granted that people do like learning more about the history of the city. And there’s a lot of history there. And he’s been really kind of delving into that, you know, sort of category. So it’s been great to see
Tim Fulton 02:38
fair to say that there’s a book coming out of this. It sounds I wouldn’t be surprised. Yeah. I think we can save sort of how’s that licensing agreement work for the future? It’s work for hire after all, yeah. Next up on our list, the peninsula and phase one is done after a decade of planning and there’s more to come.
Walker Evans 02:59
Yeah, so the the Scioto peninsula, which you know, if you want to go way way back, I mean, you can trace it back to the origins of the Franklinton flood wall, which was decided needed to be built like in the 60s or 70s. So it goes back a very long time. But development had been at a moratorium for the majority of Franklinton that got approved the city and county decided we have all this land right there all around cosign let’s do something with it. So a lot of those planning efforts really got underway in like 2012 2013 and phase one open this year. So we’ve seen this rash of new development kind of boom boom boom throughout the summer, the the hotel the June tow opened the different bars and stuff inside of that the office building the apartments, so yeah, I know Susan’s been to quite a few the opening
Susan Post 03:44
and there’s several times yeah, and the detail you’ve got, you know, three different kinds of food and beverage options. You have the little West Tavern on the ground floor ma Dean’s the coffee shop and then we have yet another rooftop bar with brass. I got good views for red, white, and boom. Oh, yeah, for sure. Um, so yeah, it’s exciting to see that filling in. And there’s definitely more planned over the next couple of years that should be coming in over there. Like pins and outs, there’ll be Okay, moving their downtown location over there and backfilling the current space with a new concept. So eagerly awaiting to hear more on that. Yeah.
Walker Evans 04:15
And it’s really nice, too. It’s funny, you hear people say things like, this feels like Bridge Park. And it’s like, well, that what you’re saying is Bridge Park feels like a city. Yeah, is what you’re saying. Because what what’s being built there is actually like City Development sort of stuff. But it’s, you know, narrow roadways, kind of tighter areas more pedestrian centric. It’s built right up against the park by cosines. So it, it feels like really new and exciting over there. And also, I should say, too, with the hotel, there’s a couple of small retail bays in there that have not come online yet, too. So even in this first phase, they’re not even done rolling out what will be happening in those buildings. Yeah,
Susan Post 04:49
great. Yeah, I think it’s gonna be exciting how it kind of bleeds into Franklinton too, and all the development that’s going on at gravity, and
Walker Evans 04:56
then the dora is also part of what’s coming soon as well because that will compass that area as well. So you’ll be able to sip a beverage and stroll around and all
Tim Fulton 05:04
through downtown apparently. Oh, yeah. And, frankly, all over the place across the bridge, not all
Walker Evans 05:09
of downtown, not like Discovery District. A lot of that guy is not in there. But okay,
Tim Fulton 05:13
yeah. Up next on the list something a little bit less positive that we hoped would be East market. For those that aren’t familiar, I think that there are folks that are not talked through what sort of the intention of East Margaret was and what, what has happened with that project over time?
Susan Post 05:33
I wouldn’t say it’s not positive, I would just say anytime you’re trying to, you know, build a brand new large scale thing like that you’re gonna have some ups and downs, and especially when you’re working with food based businesses, that’s a really tough industry to begin with. So, you know, it’s, it’s, they’ve certainly had some vendor turnover and things like that. But, you know, I think it just takes time to build things like like that up. But to answer your initial question, East market isn’t dissimilar from something like north market where you’ve got a large space that has a number of stalls and different vendors inside. Second floor has some seating area, there’s also a couple of kind of in house bars also. So yeah, so like I said, they have had some turnover, but they have a whole new slate of vendors that are coming in that I think is going to put them at capacity. And you know, in talking with Aubrey Stephens, the leasing manager, where they’re, they’re making a conscious effort to kind of round things out, they’re adding like a healthy food concept, there’s burgers and wings, now, there’s just sandwich spot that’s coming in. So I think they are trying to make sure this new wave is maybe a little more accessible for the neighborhood and you know, has some more healthy options and just kind of round things out a little better. So I’m excited to see, you know, kind of what the new year brings for that space as the newer vendors start coming online. So I’m hopeful and I mean, you’ve got some other great restaurants that are surrounding it, you have CVC beer hall, local Cantina. So maybe it hasn’t been the smoothest year for that. But I still think it’s a great, you know, addition to the neighborhood of taking these buildings that were vacant. And now there’s something new and exciting there. So things just gonna take time.
Tim Fulton 07:08
And do you attribute that, at least some of it to putting things in there, or folks going in there that like don’t necessarily fit with the neighborhood? And that wasn’t the best or just not? What What was the problem?
Susan Post 07:22
I don’t know, if there’s like a specific problem. I mean, I do think it’s a little bit of a destination, you know, you know, kind of have to make a conscious effort to go there. But you seem like you’re gonna add some more to that. Add some
Walker Evans 07:35
thoughts. Yeah. I mean, I served on the board of directors at the North Market for six years. Yeah. So I’m very well, in tune with the, you know, there’s a discrepancy between what people say they want and what they actually support. So everyone says we want grocery grocery grocery, produce me counters, and then what people end up buying is prepared food, right? And, you know, there’s this romantic idea of like, oh, an urban downtown a city market should be the same thing that it was in 1887. Right. And the reality is that you go into your average Kroger, Giant Eagle Whole Foods, they’ve leaned more prepared food over the past 20 years, because that’s where customer trends have gone. And that’s where the margin is. Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. And so I think there’s a discrepancy between what people say they want out of a market and what they actually will get, because at the end of the day, you know, it’s really tough to make money on produce, especially as a small operator, you’re never quite, you’re never going to sell apples cheaper than what Kroger can, right.
Tim Fulton 08:35
So at the end of the day, folks speak with their dollars. Exactly. Yeah.
Walker Evans 08:38
So I don’t think it’s, it’s been negative. I know, there’s been some turnover. And so you’re always gonna have you know, people on line, you know, complaining about stuff. But the I think it’s really become a neighborhood asset with the opening this year of CBC and local cantina and kind of rounding out, you know, the sort of the pedestrian areas that footprint Yeah, at leisure club, and then the co working next year. So,
Susan Post 09:01
I mean, there are a couple of vendors in the market that have expanded within the market since they’ve been there, like COSO, open little cat, and then also the taste of grease and Morocco street food. They’re involved in the new burger spot. So I mean, you know, bearded Baker has expanded several times since they’ve been in there. So yeah, so some of them seem to be doing really well. Okay,
Tim Fulton 09:23
yeah. Next on the list, and again, we’re in no particular order, but 10th anniversaries for Columbus. Yes. Round of applause. Certainly for Susan post. 10 years here, Brent Warren. Also,
Walker Evans 09:36
Marian Bowers Abbott, our food critic, and hope Madden, our movie critic both came on 10 years ago. I say this every once in a while. I don’t think a lot of people know but they both came to us from the other paper. Oh, so the other paper closed 10 years ago, January of 2013. Being that long. Yeah. And they basically the very next week, they just transitioned over and continued working with us.
Tim Fulton 09:57
Okay, yeah, there you go. Yeah. Some big Well, Susan, first of all, congrats. I think I did.
Susan Post 10:03
Yeah, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years, it’s gone very fast. But it’s been great. It’s been a lot of fun. And I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of stuff over 10 years, and I really enjoy it. So it’s been a, it’s been a good time to get to, you know, work around all of these other great folks that have been around for a long time. So it’s cool to get to work with people that are really passionate and knowledgeable about what they’re writing about. So
Tim Fulton 10:25
yeah, and a little bit more into sort of the business of Columbus underground. We have here on the list, tick tock. We’re on tic tac. Yes. How’s that? Whether we
Walker Evans 10:37
want to be or not? Well, we’ve had a Tiktok account for a couple of years, like, anytime any new platform launches, you know, the first thing you do is get in there and claim your username right, somebody else does, which is why we have a treat social account, just to have our name on there, so nobody else has it.
Tim Fulton 10:51
Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I didn’t know that. Yeah,
Walker Evans 10:54
I don’t think we have any followers. Don’t post anything on there. But okay. Just so no one else takes our name and posts bad things. Yeah. But yeah, so we never really use tick tock much. We had a great video editing intern this summer. Shout out to Cory, for all of his help with that. But we started posting some videos on there seeing what people engage with and what turned out to be really popular with these silly Long Last but not completely gone. Food destinations with our friend Jesse Yost, friend of the show. And yeah, so the couple of big ones we’ve done collectively 2.5 million views. Okay, yeah, that’s nothing to sneeze at. No, no. Yeah, I call that viral like on a local or you know, level but the Ponderosa visit was very well dressed was so bad now. There’s only there’s only one left in central Ohio on South High Street. So we went down there we went to the York steakhouse on on the west side. That was very well watch. We went to racks down in Lancaster. There’s only a handful of racks left. Yeah, we went to Arthur teachers. There’s only two of those left. That’s just outside of Akron Cuyahoga Falls. Okay. Not quite as well viewed and more recent. But we went to Quiznos. There’s only two Quiznos left in the entire state. Okay. There used to be like 30 in central Ohio. Yeah, yeah. There’s a Quiznos on every corner. There’s one on the cap. Do you remember that? Yes, they’re really short north. Yeah. Yeah, there was a Quiznos. And I think a Cold Stone Creamery.
Susan Post 12:24
I feel like or maybe that wasn’t the gateway. Yeah. Okay. But anyway,
Walker Evans 12:30
there’s only two Quiznos left in Ohio. And we went to one and people are people have feelings about these things. Yeah.
Tim Fulton 12:34
Well, that’s a testament to engagement rate. Yeah. And like, you don’t necessarily know how things are gonna turn out. I will take this opportunity to give a little plug that the confluence cast is now on YouTube. Yes. So it’s available. We were just having a discussion beforehand about like, hey, audio listeners seemed a little soft right now. But like, the video views are way up. Yeah. So you basically sort of put content wherever you think folks are going to be, and sometimes you don’t know.
Walker Evans 13:04
Yeah, right. Yeah. And sometimes it takes that like, 62nd, YouTube short to get someone’s attention and then realize, like, Oh, this is a podcast, and I can get it on iTunes. And so, or Apple, I guess iTunes isn’t really a thing anymore. I still call it iTunes, just like Twitter and x. But yeah, so you never know how you get people’s attention. Yeah. Soccer man.
Tim Fulton 13:24
Do you want to talk about so we were talking also about your social media philosophy? And how like, it takes a lot of time to post this stuff. Right. Yeah. And you have sort of made the decision. And I think this will be revealing a bit that Columbus underground, while it will retain its username is not going to be posing on Twitter that much.
Walker Evans 13:42
Yeah, yeah, we’ve been kind of going back and forth with it all year. One, it’s gotten to be a really bad place under Elon Musk, partly because of his leadership decisions, and partly because of the things that he says himself on there. But also, the engagement is down the amount of traffic it drives her website is down, it’s you know, and it has been on that trajectory even before him. So it’s really become a time sink that we don’t really see a lot of value. And well,
Tim Fulton 14:09
in other news outlets, specifically NPR have pointed out like we didn’t lose any traffic or write it. It was minimal. Yeah. So up next Walker, you’ve been diving deep into sort of like shopping malls and retail specifically and the rise and fall of the salon Westland. Can we talk through that a little bit? Sure.
Walker Evans 14:29
Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, again, there’s a great podcast interview with Doug moats about Eastland, which that kind of kicked the news off because that closed right at the tail end of 2022. So there was a lot of discussion about what’s going to happen next with Eastland. The city’s still trying to figure that out. That’ll probably move faster than Westland, because Eastland was located within the city of Columbus, whereas Westland was located in Franklin Township. So they’ve never had really the money, the budget, the political push, maybe to get that site, demolished, redevelop. well
Tim Fulton 15:00
taken care of. Yeah.
Walker Evans 15:01
But they did acquire funding from the state of Ohio. So demolition. I think it’s begun. I haven’t driven out there in a minute. I’m not sure. So the big question I had, you know, the beginning of the year was, well, that makes Tuttle now our oldest mall, and it’s only 26 years old, but it’s starting to kind of falter. And so we’ve done some more investigating into that. And that’s been a very well read ongoing story throughout the course of the year. Yeah.
Susan Post 15:24
And just before the we started, this podcast, found out a couple more stories are closing within Tuttle, so yeah, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve been there, which I guess kind of.
Walker Evans 15:37
Yeah, yeah. But I think a lot of people don’t even realize too, that the owner, the most recent owner, Simon walked away from the mall, basically just said it was in receivership. Yeah. Yeah. So it was. And that was maybe like April of 2020, if I’m remembering correctly. So at the start of the pandemic, they just kind of walked away from it. So it’s been court, you know, controlled, controlled, you know, without an owner for the past three years, and there was a court appointed management company, just kind of keeping the lights on. So they’re not really it doesn’t seem like they’re actively recruiting new tenants. They’re just sort of like, barely sweeping the floors. And isn’t good recently. Yeah. So they’ve did finally find an owner after almost three years of not having an owner. And I don’t think they’re mobile operators, the three ownership companies, they’re more just like financial ownership arrangement. So it’s private equity. Yeah. So
Tim Fulton 16:33
I rolled my eyes at it. Yeah. I
Walker Evans 16:38
mean, I don’t know much about them. But generally speaking, that doesn’t bode well for the future of something that needs dedicated mall ownership and management.
Tim Fulton 16:47
Yeah. And I’m curious, I guess this is a good opportunity to bring it up. Like we don’t, folks don’t tend to comment a whole lot anymore, right, like they do on Facebook and stuff like that. But frankly, they do on YouTube. I’m discovering, but we don’t. And the things that like at least the podcast, I will readily admit, the eight of the top 10 podcasts are about development. Yeah. And it’s always like, oh, I want to know, and, and I don’t have a good sense. And maybe you do about why that is about why like, a local celebrity done good. Or an artist or, frankly, even just like a business or history does well, but but not as well. Yeah. Why you think development stories kind of pop off like that? I
Walker Evans 17:38
mean, I think they represent, like massive changes in the city, you know? For better or worse, I mean, some people see it in there, like gentrification traffic affordability, you know, and some people see it as like, oh, this decrepit, you know, land or building our area is, is being reborn. And that’s exciting. So
Susan Post 17:59
I think they knew is going up, and you want to know what it is? Yeah. Curious. Yeah. You know, or
Tim Fulton 18:03
do you see? And so this is a yes. And that. It basically helps people feel like they’re in the know, like, Oh, I know what’s going in there. Or I know what’s, what’s happening there. Yeah, I know where the latest sheets will be. Not that you guys do that kind of reporting. Yeah. But that kind of reporting does exist. Yeah.
Walker Evans 18:21
And I’ve kind of boiled this down to some extent, like when we look analytically at our best read stories on Columbus underground, its development and food. Okay. And but we do spend a lot of time writing about, you know, the arts, and, you know, local theater and civics and stuff. But at the end of the day, human beings need to live full, they should live in a house and consume food. Yep. You don’t have to buy a piece of art every day. You don’t have to go see the ballet every day. You don’t have to, you know, like all of that sort of stuff kind of falls by the wayside. But the things that are kind of like human essentials rise to the top. Well,
Tim Fulton 18:55
I think that’s an argument for more food podcasts. So there we go. Yeah, yeah. Let’s do another run video. We
Walker Evans 19:01
can do it. Yeah.
Tim Fulton 19:03
Up next. The elections we did. We interviewed every city council candidate. We interviewed the two mayoral candidates that were on the ballot. We put them all out over the course of four weeks. And it was a lot. Yeah.
Walker Evans 19:17
And you say we but you did 90% of the work. Yeah. Fair. I’m just giving you
Tim Fulton 19:24
it was a goal. And I and we got it done. It was I would like to think of it as my art project for the
Walker Evans 19:28
year. Yeah, I’m not sure if any other media Allentown did that extensive of a job covering the elections.
Tim Fulton 19:36
I don’t think I mean, the dispatch certainly did their thing. And they did their their questionnaire or at least put it out there. But no, I mean, that was kind of a trip, right? Like every single one of them. And yeah, I had to send a couple follow up emails, sure. But every single one of them came in, sat down right here and gave us gave us their time and so props them thanks to them. For doing that, certainly, and it helped sort of relaunch the confluence casts here. And that those were the first episodes that were on YouTube. So it’s good. Glad we did it.
Walker Evans 20:09
It was a fun process. Glad
Tim Fulton 20:10
we did it. Up next on the list I have here just planning in general. So this is basically maybe structural planning. This is link us which we just did an episode about Amtrak zone in Vision Zero, rapid five. All of that, you know, everything seems to be moving forward. Yeah.
Walker Evans 20:32
I don’t think I even had on the list here. The Downtown Development Plan update from 2022 was oh, yeah, yeah. So I mean, lots of it’s very, like nerdy technical stuff. But like, highly, highly important. And yeah, it was cool to see updates, like all year long on all this stuff,
Susan Post 20:46
a lot of future shaping things.
Tim Fulton 20:49
As someone who follows this stuff pretty closely, obviously, we can talk to Brent more about Oh, sure. Like, he’s the real Yeah,
Walker Evans 20:58
he’s the real deal. Follow up episode just with Brad. Yeah. How it least
Tim Fulton 21:02
in your perspective. And, Susan, I want you to weigh in here too. Is it being? Is it? First of all, I know, I think I know the answer to this is enough being done. And two is the work that’s being done being done? Well.
Walker Evans 21:14
I think it depends upon which plan we’re talking about. Okay. Yeah. Cuz they’re different groups. And they all they all overlap. You know, they all have to interconnect. I think there’s a lot of really good, important stuff being done with link us. I think everyone seems very positive that we will hear some positive news about Amtrak. I mean, we can plan all day long day now. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, maybe even after, you know, before this podcast comes out. But that relies upon the federal government to get back to us on that. So that some of that’s out of our control. I think there have been a couple missed opportunities with this. Not zoning, vision, zero, okay. It’s supposed to be about reducing pedestrian deaths, there are a couple instances of where we’re tearing down buildings to widen roads, so traffic and continue to go fast. And I think that runs very alternating series counter with that. Yeah. And I think to some degree, it’s the left hand right hand doesn’t know what each other’s doing across like city departments and stuff. So I think they have to continue to work to rein some of that end, to really make a difference. And then we zone in, you know, it’s kind of divided into this two part, you know, a phase one and phase two. Personally, speaking, purely personally speaking, I think it should be going faster, I think we should just have one phase and get it all done right away, okay. I understand why we’re doing it that way. But it’s one of those like, it’s going to become a problem really quick, like housing is already becoming unaffordable, it’s going to get worse if we don’t move fast, and I’d love to see us move faster.
Susan Post 22:41
And then, you know, as someone that’s not as well versed in this stuff, I you know, I would say I see a lot of planning, and I’m excited to see more action in the coming years. And I feel like a lot of people forget that all of this stuff takes a lot of time and a lot of planning and a lot of money. And it’s not just going to happen overnight. And you know, can certainly get like, frustrated waiting for it, but excited to see how some of these bigger things come together in the long run.
Walker Evans 23:05
Yeah. A great example of that is that the Downtown Development Plan, summer of 2022, when this stuff was announced, a lot of that has to do with just updating infrastructure. And so a good example of that is turning more one way streets into two way streets, which we’ve done some of you know, Gay Street right down below is great, right? Which was like 17 years ago, we did that. Fast forward a full year to summer of 2023. And the city says, Okay, the first one we’re going to do is this chunk of Front Street, from broad to Hickory and a piece of Marconi. Okay, because there’s a couple of blocks where like, it’s one way for just a few blocks is two ways on both sides. There’s really no reason it needs to be one way. So they announced this is where we’re gonna
Tim Fulton 23:43
enter three or four lanes already. Right. Exactly. Yeah.
Walker Evans 23:48
We’re almost in December, and it still hasn’t happened yet. Yeah. So like, is the first thing going to be done in 2024? From the 2022 plan? Does it really take two years to like, turn three blocks of a street from two a to one, it feels like it’s going at a snail’s pace. And so I think people feel this frustration sometimes. Absolutely.
Tim Fulton 24:06
Yeah. Pivoting a lot. Yes. You identified very early in the year, and you were sort of like getting in my ear about it. And I was like, Yeah, sure. Talking about comedy. Yeah. And like, you were like, I think what I heard, and I don’t think this is what you said is what I heard. It’s actually really good. Yeah. And I was like, okay, cool. And like you encouraged me to come out to some shows, and you’ve put gotten a couple folks to come out to a couple of shows, and a lot more coverage on Columbus underground. And I feel like in addition to see you, I am hearing a lot more about comedy and sort of, I guess what’s, why the focus? And is there something actually different or are we just realizing now that it’s burgeoning?
Walker Evans 24:58
I think there’s a couple Below things that are different. I think there’s sort of the pent up demand. You know, people spend a lot of time locked in or the pandemic. People want to get out and do things again. So there’s that the social media platforms trending toward short form video has been kind of a godsend for comedians who can post like 32nd One minute clips, it’s it’s great for stand up to be elevated onto those spaces in a way that it wasn’t before. And that’s Tik Tok Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, Facebook stories, you know, all of that stuff. But also, you know, the level that you know, groups like the attic opening, hashtag just open their space, which is improv but they also do some stand up events that don’t tell group that runs those events in the city, like really knocking out of the park, that there’s there is a little bit of a local, you know, anomaly going on as well. And all these things are sort of starting to gel in a way that I just think it’s really cool to see.
Tim Fulton 25:59
And do you happen to have plans for next year for how like you want to insert yourself or Columbus underground into that scene?
Walker Evans 26:10
I mean, there’ll be like, prior authorization in January, we’ll be announcing some stuff. Oh, I guess this could be a little tidbit for those listening. Yeah, podcast. Yeah. So Columbus underground does some event production. Yeah, we do. Our largest event is the Columbus Coffee Festival, which we just did our eighth year 8500 people in attendance every two days. So it’s become a pretty big thing. And so we were always thinking about what is Columbus missing? You know, we don’t want to just do another beer festival because there’s plenty of those. So I mean, Comedy Festival seems like a good idea. And so we’re talking with everyone from you know, the funny bone at Easton to the addicts don’t tell to the improv groups shadowbox Nast about what that will look like for next year. See more details to come. But yeah, we really just want to like put our arms around everyone and get everyone on board and make sure everyone gets gets uplifted. Good.
Tim Fulton 27:06
Next up on our list, Cameron Mitchell and the stuff that’s that that organization has been doing, Susan, if you want to speak to what’s busy, yeah, but yeah, busier Yeah.
Susan Post 27:16
So um, Gary Mitchell open to new restaurants in central Ohio this year. Valentin is out at Bridge Park, which to me is kind of like a cross between Martellus and Martini. And then Trento in German village, which is definitely kind of swinging for the fences a little more upscale. So those open pretty close to each other. And then they have two more restaurants announced for Central Ohio, there’s butcher and Rose, which is going to go in the Preston center downtown. So it’s going to be a steakhouse looking like it’s going to be pretty impressive. They’ve done a ton of work on that building.
Tim Fulton 27:52
I’m sorry, what is the President’s center?
Walker Evans 27:54
So the PNC Plaza? Ah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Susan Post 27:58
It’s gonna be, I think, some sort of glass enclosure situation. And then they’re also working on a Mediterranean concept at Easton. And there’s been a little bit of to do about this, okay, because the building permits listed as Del Mar. Okay. And they haven’t confirmed that that’s what it’s going to be. But the Del Mar in Florida is more Mediterranean, okay, than the one we have here. The one we have here.
Tim Fulton 28:24
So someone may rebrand or it may just be a whole new concept for Columbus.
Susan Post 28:29
Yeah. So we’ll see. So more on the horizon. There you
Tim Fulton 28:33
go. And then last, at least on our on our looking back list, demolition and preservation, some building saved some buildings loss. Maybe this is our In Memoriam sort of section of the episode. Yeah,
Walker Evans 28:49
I mean, there are some some things like the ice house building downtown in the in the in the warehouse district, we lost a warehouse in the warehouse district, which a lot of people were pretty bummed to learn that building was coming down. But I think it put some attention back into what it takes to save some of those types of properties. Brent has played a great role in kind of helping to shine a light whenever anything is even like a whiff of demolition is starting to happen. A great example of that is the Ohio State University Hospital System announced they were going to tear down the Harrison Henderson house. I was wondering, Harrison house, the Henderson house over there on Taylor Avenue. Yeah, historic, you know, especially within, you know, black owned business community, this historic property. And Brent wrote about, hey, they’re considering this and everyone got pretty irate. And then he said, maybe we won’t tear that down. Maybe we’ll do something else good because they have a lot of land over there. They don’t have to tear that building down. Right. So some like proactive journalism in that realm has played a nice role in the kind of the next thing I mentioned earlier this year, but I want to dedicate some more time to it is the original spaghetti warehouse. Last building, which is collapsing on itself, and if nobody takes any action, it’s also probably going to be demolished. Yeah. And that’s a pretty significant building in Franklinton. That could be saved and restored. So it’s a never ending battle. But I think more and more people are paying attention to that sort of stuff. Wrapping
Tim Fulton 30:16
things up today, what are you looking for, in addition to whatever the comedy festival sort of turns out to look like? What are you looking forward to in 2024?
Walker Evans 30:27
I mean, we have some other events, you know, kind of changing, growing, you know, that sort of stuff. So that’s, that’s, that’s on top of mind on the horizon. We’ve been in the process of interviewing to hire some new freelancers. Great. Yeah. And a big sort of categorical push behind that is local music coverage. Yeah, I know, we sat down and talked about this a while back. So we want to really kick the year off with kind of focusing on that in a sort of a new way, and really shining a spotlight back on that creative part of the community. Good.
Tim Fulton 30:59
Yeah. And I will say, for at least for the confluence cast part, want to first of all, maintain the consistency that we’ve had. That’s success breeds success in that realm. And also step it up a little bit in terms of you know, we’ve thankfully, you let me use this conference room every Thursday afternoon. But have more folks come in that folks are interested in hearing about, like, the goal has always been to elevate people and ideas and happenings that people may not know about, but also there’s nothing wrong with letting them hear from the folks they want to hear from? Sure. Yeah, yeah. So as always, if folks have ideas, they’re welcome to email or comment or reach out. So cool. Yeah. Great. Thank you guys for your time. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Thanks, Jim. Thank you for listening to the confluence cast presented by Columbus underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at the confluence cast.com. Please rate subscribe, share this episode of The confluence cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite reporter. If you’re interested in sponsoring the confluence cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info at the confluence casts.com Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson, our producers Phillip Cogley, I’m your host, Tim Fulton. Have a Happy New Year.
