The document provides an overview of recent real estate, development, industrial, retail, and office news in central Ohio from January 2012. It discusses topics such as Sears receiving tax breaks to remain in the area, various commercial real estate sales and developments, expanding companies, and new restaurants and retailers opening locations. It also mentions community involvement by the local Colliers International office in supporting a homeless families foundation.

1. Knowledge That Sells
January 2012
General News Development
• Sears Holding Corp. will remain in the Chicago area, after Illinois Governor • State Representative Nan Baker is pushing for passage of House Bill
Pat Quinn signed a tax-break package that will save Sears about $125 million 18, which would offer grants to expanding companies that move into
over the next 15 years. buildings empty more than a year and create jobs in the process. The
bill cleared the House in December and was heard by the Senate’s
• Germain Amphitheater was purchased by Polaris Centers of Commerce for Ways and Means and Economics Development Committee
$5.5 million and $1 million in taxes, consulting fees and other costs, from
Live Nation Inc. The 91-acre parcel was sold in 1993 for $4.15 million. • 4300 Cemetery Road in Hilliard is under contract for sale from First
Industrial Realty Trust to Continental Realty Construction for $5 million.
• The most recent data on mass-layoffs (a single employer who lays off The development site is estimated to have 360,000 square feet of
more than 50 employees) signalled trouble for some Ohio companies. 66 buildable space. In 1997 the property sold for $7.4 million.
employers laid off 6,017 workers in November, compared to 2,616 workers in
October from 29 employers. • The site of the Benchmark Retail Center will soon become home to 108
apartments. Zettler Properties secured a $8.97 million construction
• Home sales in Columbus rose in October 2011 compared to October 2010 by loan in December and will begin pouring concrete in February with the
8.6 percent with 1,719 single-family units. first units being completed in September.
• There were 13,233 foreclosures in Ohio in October. This is up 1 percent from • A Nationwide Realty Investors Ltd. affiliate purchased 7.3 acres at 834
September and 14 percent better than October 2009. West Third Avenue for $6.6 million. The firm now owns 15 acres in
which to expand the Grandview yard project. The acreage lies between
• The technology business incubator TechColumbus awarded grants recently EdgeHill Road Third Avenue and CSX Corp. tracks to the west.
to “fully vet their ideas and prove their viability to themselves, to first
customers and to early investors. Seven central Ohio companies were
awarded TechGenesis grants totaling $350,000:
Industrial
> Acceptd LLC of Columbus, which has developed a Web-based
pre-screening tool designed to streamline the admissions process for • A 2011 report by the Boston Consulting Group found production costs
fine-arts colleges and programs. in China and the U.S. are converging because Chinese wages and the
value of its currency are rising, making it more expensive to import
> Cell Gull Ltd. of Columbus, which has developed a first-of-its-kind goods and parts back to America.
mobile-technology application, DEELS, that helps retail advertising.
• Superior Logistics Ltd. has expanded outside of Chicago by leasing a
> DNA Concepts LLC of Bexley, which develops software that uses sound, 20,000-square-foot building at Rickenbacker International Airport.
graphics and 3-D objects to enhance consumer experiences.
• Double-stacked Norfolk Southern Corp. trains have begun moving
> Facio Inc. of New Albany, which develops software to help companies between Columbus and Cincinnati. The Heartland Corridor project
better assess and utilize their employees. focused on making way for stacked container trains between Columbus
and Norfolk, Virginia. The project cost $6.1 million. The State of Ohio
> Inmobly Inc. of Columbus, a spinoff from Ohio State University, which is received $3.6 million in federal grants that helped pay for the project.
commercializing a mobile content-distribution technology.
• The city of Dublin is considering incentives to try to keep more
> Moncaí LLC of New Albany, which is developing a way for companies to than 450 existing jobs and create more than 50 new ones. Pacer
rapidly install web applications without buying and managing the International Inc. is being courted by New York and Illinois for a
underlying hardware and software. possible move. Under a proposed agreement Pacer would receive a 10
percent credit on its withholding for reaching certain hiring milestones.
> Ripple Mobile LLC of Dublin, which is creating location-based mobile The Ohio Tax Credit Authority in December approved a seven-year,
technology for businesses and consumers. 45 percent tax credit for Pacer to consolidate 50 jobs at the Dublin
headquarters.

2. Office
paying a heavy entry fee. House Bill 243 passed both the Ohio House
of Representatives and Ohio Senate with unanimous support and was
signed into law by Gov. John Kasich in late December. It is scheduled
to take effect March 22.
• Vision Service Plan acquitted their Eastern Operations Center at 3400
Morse Crossing, from Farbman Group, for $6.1 Million. The 50,000
• Zauber Brewing Co., at 1300 Norton Avenue, is nearing completion
square foot building was constructed in 1997 for VSP. Vision Service Plan,
of its pilot brewery, after which the company will be on tap at a few
Headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California, viewed this as a strategic
select locations around the city. Zauber is the newest in a surge of
purchase, and as an opportunity to secure control of critical operational asset.
startup breweries around the area, including Four String Brewing
Co., which is a block away, and others in Reynoldsburg, Lancaster,
• A new business model for medical practitioners may affect the composition of
Buckeye Lake and Marengo.
medical leasing. HealthSpot Inc., the recent brainchild of CEO Steve Cashman,
leases kiosks to clinics and pharmacies. The kiosks give patients convenient
• The Clarmont’s doors have been shuttered after 65 years of service.
access to a medical appointment while requiring a do-it-yourself element
No word on what is next for the site at 684 South High Street.
as they operate stethoscopes and thermometers while talking to doctors on
videoconference. A 20-minute visit to a HealthSpot Inc. kiosk will cost about
Sources: Ohio Department of Development, Business First, The Columbus
$60 and can net patients a diagnosis and prescription right away.
Dispatch, The Daily Reporter, Middletown Journal, This Week Daily
Newspapers, Wall Street Journal, ColumbusUnderground.com and Costar.
• ASK Chemicals is being courted by other central Ohio municipalities. The
deal under consideration would give ASK 12 percent payment if it hits annual
withholding targets of more than $106,000 a year from 2012 to 2016. It would
also lease a new space in Dublin as well as create four new jobs, paying an
average of $85,000.
The 9-by-5-foot kiosks will allow regional and independent pharmacies to COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
complete with the in-store clinics of national chains, meaning this could affect
the retail market as well. In Columbus, the
• OhioHealth Corp. is planning its next health campus in Pickerington. The
office participated
firm has submitted an application with Pickerington to rezone 70 acres at in the Homeless
northwest corner of Refugee Road and Route 256 for office and institutional
use, including conditional approval for a future hospital. Families Foundation’s
“Holiday Store” drive.
Retail Employees shopped
for toys with company funds to donate as children’s holiday
• Columbus-based Bravo Brio Restaurant Group Inc. is renovating its first-ever
gifts. Parents residing at the Homeless Families Foundation’s
Brio at Easton, enclosing both the large patio and a small patio near the
entrance. The move will add an additional extra 2,000 square feet of space to shelter are able to choose the toys best suited for their children.
the 8,500 square feet of dining inside.
In 2010, the Homeless Families Foundation provided shelter for
• Powell Crossing Shopping Center at 4131 State Route 750 was sold by Powell 217 homeless families while the families prepared to acquire
Sawmill LLC to Cooper Commerical for $7.3 million, approximately $150 per
square foot. The 48,750 square foot facility is a 94-percent occupied strip/ permanent housing.
unanchored property.
• Corazon Club & Spa has been sold to a Michigan investment group at a drastic
discount more than three years after its developer shuttered the $24 million
resort-style fitness center in Dublin. The 58,000-square-foot, three-story “Knowledge That Sells” is a monthly publication compiled and
complex went up near the upscale Tartan and Muirfield neighborhoods. researched by the marketing and research team at Colliers
• Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened its eleventh restaurant in the Columbus International in Ohio. For more information, or to be added to the
region at 8607 Columbus Pike in Lewis Center. The Tampa, Fla.-based subscriber list, please contact Leslie Hobbs, Director of Marketing
franchisee TCH Restaurant Group Inc. arrived in the area three years ago and
| Ohio, at leslie.hobbs@colliers.com.
has plans to open five to 10 more restaurants.
• Medina-based Inferno Gourmet Burger Bar will open at 10503 Blacklick
Eastern Road in Pickerington, which had formerly housed Graffiti Burger.
• The 8,000-square-foot space at Nationwide and Marconi Boulevard, next to
BD’s Mongolian Grill will get its first tenant when Brazilian-style steakhouse
Rodizio Grill opens its 300-person restaurant. Another Brazilian-style
restaurant, the Dallas-based Texas de Brazil, plans to open at Easton this year
as well. COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL
Greater Columbus Region
• Kroger Inc. is in the process of selling 3700 Fishinger Road in Hilliard. The
8800 Lyra Drive, Suite 150
95,000-square-foot strip/grocery property currently houses Lifestyle Family
Fitness, Starbucks, Movie Tavern and Chipotle. The property was last sold in Columbus, OH 43240
2005 for $6.0 million. phone 614 410 5600
fax 614 436 9700
• Ohio brewing laws have loosened to allow for more breweries to open without
www.colliers.com