Columbus, Grandview, Nationwide announce jobs, jobs, jobs

 

 

By Felix Hoover

For Your News Columbus

 

 

Business leaders from Nationwide joined with elected officials from Columbus and Grandview Heights to declare a win-win-win for job growth and other developments in the neighboring municipalities.

 

The officials who gathered in a parking lot at 851 W. Third Ave. announced that Nationwide Insurance is moving 1,400 Downtown and that infrastructure improvements are being made to make the Grandview Yard more accessible.

 

With the 1,400 jobs that are to shift Downtown by the end of 2011, Nationwide will have nearly 9,000 employees in the heart of Columbus.

 

“Today’s announcement is another example of Nationwide’s historic commitment to Downtown and to all of Columbus,“ Mayor Michael B. Coleman said.

 

Part of the agreement calls for Columbus to create a Tax Increment Finance District, which will support the Grandview Yard project of Nationwide Realty Investors.

 

Consolidating operations Downtown will create leadership syngery within Nationwide, said Steve Rasmusen, chief executive officer of Nationwide.

 

State Rep.Ted Celeste said he has played a part in gaining state grants to help with the development of the area.

 

Grandview Yard will include residential, commercial and retail operations, and will rival the Arena District in scope and space, said Brian Ellis, president of Nationwide Realty Investors.

 

Grandview Mayor Ray DeGraw said that a study 13 years ago noted a shifting away from the heavy industrial warehouse use in that area and sparked a vision for redevelopment that is coming to fruition.

 

Development in the Grandview area meshes with Ohio State University, medical facilities, Battelle and other technology entities in the Route 315 corridor.

 

What is happening in and around the area “rivals what is happening in any large city,” DeGraw said.

 

He talked about another developer, who years earlier said, “The opportunities here are as scary as they are exciting.”

 

DeGraw said, "Let me tell you today it became a lot less scary and a lot more exciting due to the partnerships we have here today.”