A coffeehouse. A brewpub. A "wellness collective" with a yoga studio. A book publisher. Urban farms.

Are we on North High Street? In Clintonville?

Not even close.

These are the businesses planned for Parsons Avenue, on Columbus' South Side. For years, the city, community leaders and entrepreneurs have pushed to rebuild and rejuvenate the 2-mile Parsons Avenue commercial strip between Livingston Avenue on the north and Route 104 on the south.

The growth of Nationwide Children's Hospital on its main campus and along Livingston Avenue has spurred spinoff businesses such as the Crest Gastropub on Parsons, plus other restaurants and a gym.

The city's John R. Maloney South Side Health and Wellness Center and senior housing anchor the southern end of the strip.

Now, things are happening in between. Parsons Avenue, long home to used-car dealers and fast-food restaurants, is attracting a different kind of development. Fuel comes from the relatively low cost of buildings and from growing neighborhoods such as Merion Village and Schumacher Place that are attracting people with disposable income.

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"I think it's finally hit the tipping point, and we've got good momentum now," said Sarah Roell, who runs the wellness collective that moved to Parsons in May.

Here are some of the new projects:

• Two Dollar Radio plans to open a coffeehouse, bar and book-publishing and film-production offices in a vacant building at 1124 Parsons.

• Movements of Qi, Roell's wellness collective, includes an acupuncturist, therapeutic massage therapy and yoga at 535 E. Whittier St., at the intersection with Parsons.

• An old Columbus firehouse at 1716 Parsons could be redeveloped into a brewpub or distillery.

• The Triple L Bar at 1203 Parsons, the scene of a holdup and shooting in 2010, would be converted into offices.



• There's a plan to convert shipping containers into office space at Parsons and Welch avenues.

• The East Public project at 677-691 Parsons will house offices, a brewpub, and Comune, described as a "nonpretentious" vegetarian restaurant.

"It was a natural fit. It was important for us to be in a neighborhood with authenticity," said Brook Maikut, the restaurant's owner.

Comune is his first foray into the restaurant business, and he said he's betting on the right neighborhood.

"There's a lot of activity going on down there," Maikut said. "A lot of millennials are buying houses now and moving to South Side because that's where affordable real estate is."

That includes Two Dollar Radio's Eric Obenauf, who is sold enough on the area that he and his wife, Eliza Wood-Obenauf, are moving from Clintonville to the Southern Orchards neighborhood near Parsons.

The building on Parsons where they plan to open their business dates to 1925 and was a library years ago, he said. In the works are after-school and summer programs for kids, including storytelling workshops.

"There is some mystical thing hanging in the air," he said of the building's high ceilings and history.

There's nothing mystical about the continuing development of Merion Village, said Bob Leighty, who leads the Parsons Avenue Merchants Association: The price is right, and people are moving in.

"It's ready," Leighty said.

The wellness collective occupies space that had been vacant for a long time, said Roell, who moved the business from South 4th Street in Merion Village and opened on Parsons on May 15. The space was once part of an antiques store and was connected to a tattoo studio. Years ago, it was a five-and-dime store, she said.

Roell has lived in Merion Village for 10 years and said the growing clientele in that area doesn't hurt. "The South Side is underserved with wellness options," she said.

Allison Willford, the president of the Merion Village Civic Association, said people are being drawn back into the city.

"When we're in the city, we want to stay in the city," said Willford, who commutes to her video-editing job at Hondros College in Westerville. "There needs to be things for us to do there."

Developer Jay Cheplowitz, who bought the firehouse for $155,000 in 2016, might be bringing a bar, restaurant, brewery, winery or distillery there sooner than he anticipated.

"My intention was to wait a few years to see how things developed, five or 10 years down the road," Cheplowitz said. But development in the area moved so fast that he believes he'll attract a tenant sooner rather than later.

Other developments along Parsons involve food, including a farmers market and a building that will house 12 aeroponic towers, each 8 feet tall, where teens and young adults can grow vegetables indoors to sell at farmers markets and local restaurants.

That is part of Ohio State University's Urban GEMS (Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability) Program. "We're just teaching kids how to grow their own food," project coordinator Tiffany Groce said.

All this is going on as developer Jeff May builds his 163-apartment project just west of Parsons. The Barrett Middle School project in Merion Village has 125 new residences from apartments to houses.

"I know there's a lot going on," Roell said. "It's going to get better and better along Parsons."

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mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik