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May 29, 2008 |
| Festivities and Nature Collide in the Franklin Park Neighborhood |
| Wow! It has been a long time since I’ve blogged. It has been crazy busy here on the Near East Side of Columbus, with all the projects moving forward and such. We’re working hard on Franklin Park Condominiums – the architects are preparing final construction documents, we did some digging on the site to do final design on building foundations, we are preparing to relocate a utility line, etc. Last week we opened Phase One of a small shopping center on East Main Street, featuring a Save-A-Lot grocery store (America’s fifth largest grocery chain) and a Simply Fashion women’s clothing store. We're also moving forward with our rehab of an apartment building at Oak & Sherman, about six blocks west of Franklin Park Condominiums -- windows are going in this weekend and we expect to have a sales unit done before July (which is right around the corner). I’m writing this blog now in the afterglow of a wonderful Asian Festival last weekend. It was great to see all the people coming in to the park – those of us who live in the neighborhood love opening up our city gem for others. You see people driving slowly looking at all the grand houses along the park ... you watch them as they enjoy being out in the park … and you appreciate the place that you call “home” that much more. (You also appreciate your street parking pass during the event.) Earlier this spring, we got to enjoy Les Chapeaux dans le Jardin (“Hat Day”) – a fundraiser for the Franklin Park Conservatory. In a couple weeks, it will be time for Juneteenth – another citywide cultural celebration in Franklin Park. There will be weddings at the park all summer long, and the Franklin Park Conservatory will soon begin the next phase of its $20M renovation and upgrade, with work beginning on the headquarters of the American Community Gardening Association and the installation of new gardens along Franklin Park South (between Fairwood and Rhoads). Speaking of the Conservatory’s renovations ... you’ve got to see their plan for lighting the Palm Room – it will be a spectacular nighttime light show – one of just a handful in the world. The Antiques and Gardens Fair happens as the weather starts to cool in September, and then another series of events that I look forward to: cross-country track meets on Saturday mornings in the park, different walks of all kinds of causes, etc. This lifestyle around the park is without parallel in Columbus. What have I missed blogging about over the past couple months? How about our 20-inch snowfall? The park was simply beautiful – while everyone else in the City was shut-in, we called up some neighbors and met at the sledding hill for an hour of sledding, then back for hot chocolate. Later in the day (after the nap – hey, walking through that heavy snow is hard work, and I’m not as young as I used to be!), my wife and I walked to Alum Creek to see how the creek held up to a record snowfall. Need I say it? -- absolutely gorgeous. Then there was the time a couple weeks later that we went on a family walk, saw a flash of white in the underbrush, then watched spellbound as five deer emerged from the trees and frolicked back and forth across clearings, up the hill, and down to the water for the next half hour. Come join our family and our neighbors, living the Franklin Park lifestyle. Make no mistake: the condos are calling your name. |
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POSTED BY Jon Beard AT 02:41 PM |
