Harris: Vacancies high, but city projects on the horizon
Worthington economic development manager Jeffry Harris discusses the potential for redevelopment of the Wilson Bridge corridor during the annual Groundhog Day breakfast at Brookside Country Club on Feb. 2. Buy This Photo
With a commercial vacancy rate of nearly 14 percent, Worthington has not bounced back from the recession.
But Jeffry Harris, Worthington’s economic development manager, said several “generational developments” are on the horizon.
“Worthington is a community with a great deal of momentum,” he said at the Groundhog Day business forecast breakfast on Feb. 2.
More than 120 people filled the dining room at Brookside Country Club for the annual event put on by the Worthington Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Shops at Worthington Place are the keystone of Worthington’s redevelopment, Harris said.
Other major projects coming in the next few years are the United Methodist Children’s Home (UMCH) site, the old Mettler-Toledo building, the old James Tavern, and the BP gas station in downtown Worthington.
The Wilson Bridge corridor redevelopment plan is moving along, with the ongoing redevelopment of the mall and plans to build a recreation path from the Olentangy Parklands to the mall.
The corridor plan envisions East and West Wilson Bridge Road developing with a combination of uses over the next 20 years.
The UMCH property represents a major opportunity, Harris said.
The 38 acres on North High Street, across from the Worthington Municipal Building, are for sale for $8 million to $10 million. City leaders have been meeting to decide what kind of redevelopment should be encouraged.
“This is going to be fantastic if we can partner up with the right people,” Harris said.
The Mettler-Toledo and the James Tavern sites have both been vacant for a decade, and need to be redeveloped soon. The old restaurant was recently demolished. It could be replaced with a building of five stories, Harris said.
Though small, the recently vacated BP station on High Street at East New England Avenue could be transformed into a place of pride for the city, he said.
Developers have talked to the city about what could be done on the site, but nothing is certain at this point, he said.
Harris said Worthington’s commercial vacancy rate started to increase in 2009, and now stands at 13.7 percent.
That is third among comparable communities, such as Dublin, Gahanna, Grandview Heights, Hilliard, Lewis Center, New Albany, Powell, Upper Arlington and Westerville, he said.
The highest rate is 20.7 percent in Grandview Heights, he said, but that figure is artificially high because of the vacant space at the recently constructed Grandview Yard.
Harris said the second-highest vacancy rate in 2011 was in Gahanna, at 16 percent. Hilliard was close to Worthington at 13.6 percent.
The lowest vacancy rates last year were in New Albany, at 4.6 percent; Westerville, 6.5 percent; and Lewis Center, 7 percent.
In Worthington, both High Street and Wilson Bridge Road have vacancy rates of just less than 20 percent. On Huntley Road, vacancies ran about 13 percent last year.
Worthington has challenges because it is completely built out, meaning businesses have no place to expand, he said.
Most of the city’s office buildings were constructed in the 1970s, so they aren’t as modern and do not have the amenities of office space in other communities, Harris said.
In fact, Worthington is the only comparable central Ohio community that has no Class A office space, which is considered the most desirable type of space.
Approximately 30 percent of Worthington’s office space is Class B. The rest is Class C.
It follows that Worthington’s per-square-foot lease rate is among the lowest of the comparable communities.
At $7.36 a square foot, it is the second-cheapest, next to Lewis Center, at $7. The third-highest is Hilliard, at $10.80 per square foot.
The most expensive office space is in Grandview Heights, at $16.50, followed by New Albany at $13.54, and Upper Arlington, $12.20.
