Developer wants to build 6.5-story apartment-hotel building in University District

Developers plan to build a $24-million, 6.5-story building with apartments and hotel units on the former Patrick J.'s site at 2711 N. High St., yet another project that would transform the fabric of the North High Street corridor in Columbus' University District near Clintonville.

Manav Singh, president of property owner Stark Capital Ventures LLC and Sintel Hotels, said the 65 one- and two-bedroom apartments would cater to young professionals and graduate medical students at Ohio State University, with 10 1/2-foot ceilings and high-end appliances, while the 15 upscale boutique hotel rooms would be aimed at visitors to the university and Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center.

"No short cuts," he said.

Singh said the building would have 7,000 square feet of retail space that could have a restaurant.

And with a site of only 1.2 acres, "You have to go up," he said.

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The proposal will be going before the University Impact District Review Board at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Michael B. Coleman Government Center, 111 N. Front St., Room 204.

Stark Capital Ventures paid $1.95 million earlier this year for the site and an adjacent property that was home to a White Castle. Singh's company also owns and operates the Holiday Inn and Suites and Staybridge Suites hotels on Olentangy River Road near campus.

Sam Rosenthal, principal and CEO for Columbus-based Schooley Caldwell, which designed the building, said the site is close to campus and Clintonville, a chance to create what he called "an opportunity lacking in the neighborhood."

"It's not student housing. Not single-family homes. Something in between," he said.

"We want to make sure we get support," Rosenthal said. "We need to get approvals. Obviously the sooner the better."

John Raphael, the twice-convicted former Columbus lobbyist, once owned the property at 2711 N. High St. He owned and operated Patrick J's before closing the bar and restaurant in 2016, and selling it to Dublin-based Borror Properties for $600,000. Raphael bought the property in 1996 for $275,000.

Borror was never able to develop the site as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Singh said.

The development isn't the only high-rise planned for the North High Street corridor in the University District, a stretch that has seen many new projects in recent years.

One of the latest: a 15-story apartment building at 2160 and 2180-2194 N. High St., situated at the northeast corner of High and East Lane Avenue near Ohio State University. The University Area Commission's zoning committee will be reviewing the plan on Sept. 6.

The developer, Landmark Properties of Athens, Georgia., is seeking a Columbus City Council zoning variance to build the structure a maximum height of 168 feet, which would replace the CVS pharmacy at the corner.

Jill Tangeman, the local zoning lawyer representing the developer, said the building will step down to 35 feet toward East Norwich Avenue.

Tangeman said she doesn't know what the project would cost or the number of apartment and beds.

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"We know we're going to need a variance for the height at the corner to make what we proposed work," she said. The University District plan sets a maximum height of 72 feet — about seven stories — at that corner.

Joe Motil, a local activist, said he plans on being at the Sept. 6 meeting; the full commission is scheduled to take it up at its Sept. 21 meeting.

Motil is a Clintonville resident and area commissioner, but years ago used to live on East Oakland Avenue in the University District. To Motil, High Street north of Lane Avenue has always been a transitional point between campus and the Old North Columbus neighborhood.

"It's important to maintain that streetcar-era feel to it," he said. "You're entering into a neighborhood with more homeownership."

Motil said he thinks density on North High Street is important.

"But to what extent?' he said. "I think there's plenty of housing in the area for student living."

Motil wants buildings along North High Street to remain shorter despite the pressures to go up. He believes seven stories is too tall.

"I think the residents of Clintonville, the University District, they don’t want to see six- and five- story buildings built along High Street," he said.

"I like quirkiness, the smaller-scale buildings in that part of Clintonville."

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Company plans to build 6.5-story apartment building near Clintonville