Suburban-style fast food restaurants are a dying breed on High Street near The Ohio State University. The Wendy’s at 18th Avenue has been rebuilt as the nearly-completed View on High project, and Campus Partners announced last summer that the Wendy’s at 9th Avenue would be next to go. The Robert Weiler Company plans to continue that trend with a new development that would replace the Taco Bell near the South Campus Gateway with a new multi-story building.

“It’s all still very preliminary — nothing is finalized and we haven’t come up with exterior elevations or materials — but our plan is to redevelop the site with a multi-story building,” said Skip Weiler, owner of The Robert Weiler Company. “We’re still meeting with all people to make sure that we’re on the right track.”

Weiler said that the building would meet new neighborhood design guidelines that push for urban density on High Street through the University District. The building would be approximately 70 feet tall — roughly six stories — comprised of underground or rear-facing parking, first floor retail and apartment units above.

“We’re still working on those details, but the ground floor would definitely include a new Taco Bell with no drive-through and an additional 5,000 to 7,000 square feet of retail,” said Weiler. “This is the trend all over the country, to do density with retail and create a work-live environment where people who don’t have a car can walk to work or walk to school.”

Weiler said that he expects to have a more formalized plan in place within the next 45 to 60 days to present to the University Area Review Board and if approved anticipates a Summer 2017 construction completion date.

“We’ve been looking at opportunities like this up and down High Street for years,” he added. “We like this area and would like to do more student-and-retail type projects.”

The Robert Weiler Company doesn’t appear to be alone in this sentiment. Next door to the Taco Bell, Buckeye Real Estate is redeveloping two historic buildings, and Edwards Communities will be redeveloping the land across High Street with a large-scale mix of retail, residential and parking structures.

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