Zoning restrictions threaten Easton’s plans to grow upward
Easton Town Center is challenging zoning codes that could put a lid on its long-term plans.
The shopping center sought zoning approval this week for a 20-story hotel on a parking lot at 3871 Stelzer Road, at the northwest corner of Stelzer and Easton Way, next to the Barnes & Noble bookstore.
Easton officials say they have no definitive plans to put a high-rise on the site, but want approval to build far above the 60-foot height restrictions currently in the area’s zoning code.
The Columbus Board of Zoning Adjustment granted the request Tuesday in a case that could have far-reaching implications for Easton’s development.
Easton’s developers, including L Brands founder Leslie H. Wexner, expect Easton’s retail additions to wind down after its current “Urban District” expansion is finished near Morse Road.
Instead of retail, developers hope Easton’s future will be dominated by highrise offices, condominiums, hotels and apartments.
“The next round of development will be 20- or 40-story buildings, a combination of office and residential, condos, or complete mixed-use buildings with a hotel, residential and commercial,” Wexner told the Dispatch last summer.
“Easton will become denser and more vertical. We see it as more of an urban neighborhood, not a suburban shopping center.”
Easton officials said they see the zoning request as a prelude to going vertical elsewhere in the center.
“As we continue to develop the hospitality plan at Easton, this request will provide us with flexibility to build greater density similar to the Easton expansion area that debuted at the end of 2019,” Easton officials said in an email this week.
The highest point at Easton is the cupola on top of the Columbus Hilton, according to Easton.
The application Easton submitted in October contained conceptual renderings of a hotel. But there was nothing specific submitted.
Elwood Rayford, who leads the Northeast Area Commission, said he knew nothing of the application.
However, “We don’t have any opposition to the height.”
Jeff Brown, Easton’s zoning attorney, could not be reached for comment.