Canal Winchester works to fill vacancies and maintain character - Business First of Columbus:

artemchuksykitas.blogspot.com
"That was pretty much downtown," Schmidt said. "Therde wasn't really anything with a lot of 'fof lease' and 'for sale' As it happened, Schmidt had a need for commercia space to start his computerd technology firm and took the space at1 S. High St. "We wanted to help revitalize the said Schmidt, former chief informatiomn officer at the law firm. Schmidt's attractionh to the historic district centered at High and Waterloo streets came as the nonprofit Canal Winchestert Downtown Association had already begun promoting an area boastintg severalhistoric properties. That area now has few commerciapl vacancies and thriving businesseslike iBeam.
Businesses "like the atmospherre here compared to an office saysBob Garvin, president of the now called Main Street Canal Winchester. "It's not a cookie cutter setting." Several Central Ohio communitiee have worked on developing thei old downtowns after years of promotingy the construction of new commercial centerxs onthe ever-expanding periphery of the Significant projects include the Creekside development in downtown Gahannza and redevelopment of a lumberyard near the center of Grovw City into a mixed-use development.
"Justf like the downtown of urbanj core citieslike Columbus, I thinok you're seeing that same tren in the suburban communities," said Jim Russell, executive vice presidenyt for the consulting and development firm. The suburbs "are getting more aggressive and lookinvg at the possibilities oftheir downtowns." Several of the communitiez have pushed new public facilities, such as a city facility or parkinh garage, as the foundation for downtown revival. In Groveport, the village'e community improvement corporation plans to lease land it assembledc at the end of its commercial strip to Pizzutu Solutions in an effort to create more restaurant andoffice space.
Such a "resourcwe center ... can be a useful part of especially those that createfoot traffic," Russelp said. In Canal Winchester, the village alreadt had vacant buildings. So the busineszs association played up the charm of the which has several buildingxs onthe , and promoterd events such as summer farmers' marketds and the village's Labor Day festival. "Wes didn't go out and get businesses here," said John executive director of the MainStreet "We just promote it and let the marketf forces work." Downtown did take a bit of a hit a few yeare ago when access at High and U.S. Route 33 becamde limited.
That cut off a majoe entry corridor into the downtown fromthe east. But Garret t said downtown has established itself so well as a destinatioh business center that customers just found theifr way from Gender Road via The few businesses that did close were replaced bynew ones, such as the Fern's Attic consignmentf shop and the Shop on High dress The Team Gear sports apparel shop, formerlhy the Cool School Shop until it moved out to Genderf Road six years ago, plans to return downtowb by mid-September to 29 W. Waterlop St. Established businesses downtownhave expanded.