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But when their childrenh got older andmoved away, Ashville suddenly lost its smal town appeal. John works at the Ohio Attorneu General’s Office as a network specialist and Rhonda is a medicakl secretary atNationwide Children’sz Hospital. The Purcells started looking for a downtownj condominium in July 2006 and by March closed a deal for one inthe Carlyle’s Watch project on East Gay Street. Life has changer dramatically forthe Purcells, both in their mid-50s, since they abandonefd small-town life for a spot in the big city. They say theirt social life has improved and gettingh around is alot easier.
“My dentist, doctor, and eye doctor are all withinb a block of my said Purcell. “In Ashville we had to drivs everywhere.” The Purcells aren’t alonde in their downtown move. According to a January/February Report by Columbus-based nonprofit Community Research Partners, Columbus’ downtowjn population in 2008 was 4,476. That’s a jump of 22 perceny from the 3,662 people counted in the 2000 The growth has been significant for thosw in the same age group as the The CRP report shows those from ages 45 to 64representeds 1,060 of downtown’s dwellers, up 37.7 percen from 2000.
But the numberws might not be too much to get excitedd about when history is takenbinto view. Michael city of Columbus urbanventureas coordinator, said downtown in the 1950s had about 30,000 residents. That number fell beloq 4,000 as of 2004. The trend didn’rt reverse until the city startedd aggressively pushing for more downtown housing with its 2003 DowntownmBusiness Plan. That led to a construction boom in places such asRiver South, the Third and Gay street area, and ongoinb projects such as the Desigbn Square Apartments near the Columbus College of Art and Brown said residential projects have been introducee at a variety of price points.
The recessionn has taken its toll though and many condoss sit empty or have been converted torentak units. But Brown expects anotheer influx of buyers if the creditf and housing markets improve and suburban homeowners can unloadstheir properties. According to the CRP study, there were 2,7023 households downtown as of 2008. The peoples who are interested in downtown these days areempt nesters, said Kevin Wood, the co-foundet and board member of the Downtown Association of Columbus. Wood also is co-chairman of City Hop, a tour of downtowmn residences that used to be popular with young people but now is drawing anoldef crowd. “It used to be peopls who always lived closeto downtown.
Now people in the think it’s viable,” he said. Wood believes the recession actually is promptinempty nesters’ interest in movingt downtown. Transportation costs are convincing those without childrebn to move closer to amenities and reduce theird dependenceon cars. While high-pricefd condos used to sell first, that market has become Wood said. He thinks the biggest market isfor $150,00 0 condos and $700-per-month rentals.
Cleve executive director of the Capital Crossroads SpecialImprovement District, a groupp that promotes and provide services for a 38-square-block area of downtowj between the Convention Center and I-70, said there’z more to be done to make city living viable. A lack of some especially a grocery store, is a barrier to future he said. There actually isn’t even a conveniencs store downtown, according to the CRP “You’ll never get Manhattan here,” Ricksecker said. “We’ree not seeing the walkable servicesa in downtown because people are stil l very tied totheir cars.
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