| Weinland Park mainly developed in the early 20th century as a street car suburb fueled by jobs in several factories, such as Columbus Coated Fabrics and the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company (now a large redevelopment site). Like many inner city American neighborhoods, Weinland Park experienced decline starting in the 60s and was plagued by drug problems in the 1980s. Fortunately with its location between the Short North and OSU, reinvestment and development eventually came starting in the mid-2000s with the Gateway South Development and affordable single family construction. Now quality homes easily sell in the 300Ks and new construction is fetching prices around 1/2 Million. High street has also seen many quality urban in-fill projects replacing auto centric uses and 1 story commercial. Pretty soon the entire High Street corridor will be filled in. The once rough 5th Ave is also seeing significant mixed-use renovations and new construction. Main urban deficiencies in Weinland Park include limited economic and generation diversity thanks to its large student population, limited park amenities, a lack of quality walkable schools, and lingering blight issues. But many other these deficiencies will be alleviated as the neighborhood continues to improve. What will become more of a lasting issue is the district’s high home sales prices. |
URBAN STRENGTHS:
| * Good Density at around 12K residents per square mile. * Very convenient access to Downtown via all modes of transportation. * Great racial diversity. * Large supply of rental housing priced modestly. Much of it is geared towards students. * For sale market has increased drastically in the past 5 years. Right now its a healthy mix of modest homes selling in the 200s, and larger new or updated homes selling btwn 300K-500K. I can see the neighborhood gentrifying rapidly however. * Solid but not spectacular architecture. The highlights being the historic rowhouse courts and quality SF in-fill throughout the neighborhood and mixed-use in-fill along High St, especially at South Gateway. * Excellent current ADA infrastructure and good sidewalk infrastructure throughout. * Much of High Streets recent parking lots and auto centric uses have been developed into quality urban infill. The Streetscape on High also received an infrastructure overhaul. * Solid cultural amenities including a good array of restaurants, bars, breweries & cafes. Also some art galleries, a community theater, cineplex, and convenient access to OSU’s and the Short North’s cultural amenities. * Neighborhood retail amenities include a supermarket, several drug stores, public library, post office, a Barnes & Nobles, and some retail & boutiques. |
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
| * Lots of students living here which greatly reduces Weinland Park’s economic and generational diversity. * Weinland Park is nice providing good amenities, but limited park space outside of this. South Gateway has some nice plaza space. * Crime and blight were major issues for Weinland Park for many years, but both have dropped precipitously in the past decade. * Schools are pretty limited but the neighborhood does hosts Weinland Elementary, along with a private middle school and a couple small specialty schools nearby. |
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 