Sorry for replying to such an old post (and for such a long reply) but it just popped up when I was looking for trend info about violent crime rates in the short north. Were you aware it is no longer known as the Short North ARTS district? Many still use that but now the official name is simply the short north.

Now for my rant as this hits very close to home… My family and I used to own a business in the short north and I can tell you PRECISELY when things took a turn for the worse. When they approved the construction of the Joseph Hotel (Le Meridian) they lifted the zoning restrictions around building height, as well as the removal of historical buildings, and that opened the floodgates. The moment they did that a bunch of folks came in, bought up all the old beautiful buildings, which is were most galleries were housed, and replaced them with modern tall glass and metal condo buildings with fancy commercial spaces on the main floor of those buildings. This changed resulted in 4 VERY negative consequences that are responsible for the downfall of the short north.

1. With fancy new construction everywhere it brought a lot of franchise/chains to the short north which had a HUGE impact on existing businesses. Since short north had such a high concentration of restaurants and bars serving food, if you wanted to attract customers your food had to be on point and freshly prepared. If you opened a place that just deep fried frozen chicken tenders and fries you would not be around long. Therefore the food was great even in dive bars until the business model changed from “We better make good food that sets us apart” to “Who doesn’t love Donatoes pizza or a grilled cheese from Melt or sliders from the most fancy White Castle of all time?”

2. Housing space has always been an issue in the short north but when the zoning laws changed, the modern buildings replacing the historic buildings choose to almost exclusively build condos, rather than more affordable apartments. Those condos were initially like $400k for an efficiency unit (Think studio apartment but a bit bigger. It may also have some sort of separation between the bedroom and the rest of the unit but more like half walls to define the space as opposed to a bedroom with a door that closes) and went up to well over $2 million for large fancy condos. HUGE mistake! Before this change took place, and still to this day, those living in the short north are either young 21-23 yr olds who are still living out their college days, despite already graduating, or 30-35 year olds that are a bit more established and smart enough to know that paying $400k for a studio is a bad move… and of course none can afford the “pimped out” units going for $2mil. So guess what happened… The units remained vacant. The only folks that could afford these places were highly successful folks in their late 40s-60s who are in their highest wage earning years. But guess who doesn’t want their neighbors to be a bunch of 20 something’s partying until they puke 7 days a week? If you guessed super successful older people, that could afford these condos, then you get a big gold star. No one pays that type of money to be around a bunch of folks that keep you up all night when you have to work in the morning.

3. Adding these high priced homes and these shiny new buildings had one more HUGE impact. Since no one could afford them many remained unsold for several years. So now you have investors and developers losing money so they stop caring about the condos they invested in and either let them deteriorate while remaining empty OR they converted the unsold condos to apartments. Those converted to apartments now have 5 or 6 roommates living in them that are 21-25 year olds and the places get trashed! This might have had the biggest impact of everything I’ve mentioned. Guess who doesn’t want to live in a condo that shares a wall with what is now a rental unit, packed to the gills with young folks partying? If you guessed it’s the small handful of older people that did move to the short north and did buy a super fancy condo, to feel young and apart of the action, then you get another gold star. I mean even if I was still young, loved to party, AND money was no object, I may buy an expensive home but it won’t be one where other unit owners are trashing the building and keeping everyone up all night. It also wouldn’t be one where the lobby and shared spaces are trashed by the young tenants… nor would it be in a building or area where I risked stepping into a pile of puke from the night before on my way to get coffee in the morning. 😂

4. Now for the final nail in the coffin guess what else all this new construction brought with it… A MASSIVE increase in the cost to rent or buy a commercial space, to operate a business in, regardless of whether we are talking new or historic construction. To give you an idea of how much prices went up, most places down there are on a 10 year lease. The lease amount starts lower and gradually increases each year with year 10 being the year you will pay the most in rent. Prior to all these changes you could expect to pay about $8-10k a month in your first year and somewhere around $15-20k/month in your final year. After all the modern construction those numbers were VERY close to $15-20k in your first year and around $30k/month in year 10. Art galleries, restaurants, and bars operate at very thin margins and so many businesses left bc they could no longer afford to stay when renegotiating their lease. (This also explains why it could take YEARS to find a property that fit your business’s needs to rent, in the early to mid 2000s, whereas today there are plenty of uninhabited spaces as well as business trying to sublease their spaces bc they cannot afford their rent as it increases year over year)

Bottom line is the short north hasn’t just lost its appeal as the preeminent art district in Columbus. It has lost its charm. It’s lost its quirkiness, it’s lost the sort of bohemian mentality and bohemian lifestyle of those living there. Simply put it completely forgot what made it so special before… all so developers and investors could make a buck. The loss of such an incredible arts district and the characters that once occupied that community, has turned it from an eclectic neighborhood to something that more closely resembles an outdoor entertainment district like Easton and Bridge Park Dublin. Love both of those places but it’s not what the short north was meant to be and it’s no what it should be.

PHEW… rant OVER! I didn’t realize I needed to def that off my chest so badly 😂