Crawford Hoying is bringing a proposal to the Downtown Commission this month for the Swan Cleaners site at the corner of South High and West Cherry streets. Under the plan, the existing three-story brick building would be demolished and replaced with an 11-story mixed-use apartment building.

“With the High and Cherry location we are excited to bring our perspective on urban development to downtown Columbus,” said Crawford Hoying Principal Brent Crawford. “This is one of the few remaining sites in the River South neighborhood and we know our residents will take advantage of the recent public improvements within the area.”

The site is adjacent to Lifestyles Communities’ Beatty Building – which is under construction but has progressed slowly since first being announced in 2013 – and across the street from the completed 250 High building.

The proposed building would have 120 apartment units, first-floor retail and a roof-top terrace. Significantly, a below-grade parking garage accessible from Wall Street is only slated to hold 22 cars. A specialized bike-storage area on the first floor is designed to hold 60 bikes.

Allison Srail of Crawford Hoying explained that, based on the walkability and quickly-increasing density of the River South neighborhood, they are comfortable with offering fewer parking spaces. Borror Properties recently made a similar determination, taking away a floor of parking in favor of more apartment units in their new building at the corner of Main and Front streets.

Not all developers are on the same page when it comes to parking, though – the initial proposal for the 25-story Millenial Tower called for a 600-space parking garage. Because there are no parking minimums downtown, it’s up to individual developers to determine the demand for parking in new projects.

The Downtown Commission will give the High and Cherry proposal a conceptual review at their September 20th meeting. More detailed renderings of the project are expected in the near future.

“We didn’t have time to complete them prior to the submittal to the city and our client really wanted to get it submitted this month,” stated Michael Bongiorno, Director and Design with DesignGroup.