Ahead Of The Curve
CASTO stands out from the crowd with two new urban developments.
Dan Marcec

Mayor Michael Coleman describes CASTO’s Broad & High project in Columbus, Ohio, as “the center of the universe.”

In its hometown of Columbus, Ohio, CASTO is reinvigorating the downtown commercial market with a unique project unprecedented in the area. At the intersection of Broad and High — the “center of the universe,” according to Mayor of Columbus Michael Coleman, referring to its place at the heart of downtown — the company is revitalizing a small site into a 77,000-square-foot mixed-use project including retail, residential and office space. On paper, this may appear to be a run-of-the-mill urban redevelopment, but the company has employed some unique techniques to make Broad & High — which the project is called — one of a kind. 

“When we completed a merger with R.J. Solove [in 1999], the company already had acquired several buildings on this site in hopes of building a high rise, which was a hot trend at the time,” says Bill Riat, partner at CASTO. “The office market wasn’t very strong when we started, and at the same time, there has been a trend here in Columbus to build more housing; naturally, then, we opted for a mixed-use project.”

One of the high-rises, a 16-story building constructed in 1906, had been in operation for 100 years, yet it was dilapidated and considered a fire hazard. That building was gutted and is being converted to a New York-style luxury condominium called 8 on the Square, named for its location on Capital Square. The 24 condominiums — which encompass either a full or a half floor — range in price from approximately $250,000 to $1.2 million, with most running in the $750,000 to $1 million area. Overall, the construction cost of Broad & High is $22 million, with groundbreaking occurring in fall of 2006 and completion expected this fall.

“Other than preserving the structure of the high-rise, we tore down the rest, but created replicas in their place,” says Riat. “There is a big historic movement here in Columbus, and we wanted to keep in line with that.” The other parcels on the site included several four-story buildings on High Street, which will include ground-floor retail and office space on the second, third and fourth stories — the first four stories of the high-rise will also break down in this manner. 

CASTO’s Broad & High Project in downtown Columbus.

Because the site is small, and the intersection is so heavily traveled, one of the defining aspects of Broad & High’s development is the series of obstacles CASTO had to overcome in revitalizing the area. Many of the buildings were collapsing, and the floors did not align with the structures that were remaining. Further, without a creative parking solution, there was simply no room on the premises to allow for an onsite garage — a typical demand of condominium development — in addition to accommodations for office tenants and retail shoppers. In response, the developers built a garage that could hold 16 cars on one level, but were able to employ an elaborate system that tripled the occupancy.

The city of Columbus was instrumental in seeing that Broad & High came through in the end, due to its prominent location. “We very much wanted to see the project developed, and we provided several incentives — infrastructure work, tax incentives, all kinds of things — because it was so important to our city,” says Mayor Coleman. “The community revolves around what happens at Broad & High, so we’re proud to be a part of revitalizing a place with a lot of historical significance.”

Broad & High incorporates $2.5 million in digital signage around the building.

The most unique aspect of Broad & High, however, is the inclusion of advertising signage on its exterior, akin to Times Square in New York City, something that has never been conceived in Columbus. “Traditionally, this corner always has had a lot of signage as the prime advertising location in the city,” says Riat. “We came up with a unique way to incorporate $2.5 million worth of digital signage around the lower part of the building, for which we worked closely with the city to gain approval. They allowed the new and better signage, and it’s really going to brighten up the downtown area.”

The idea for digital signage has been well received by major advertisers, who will split time on a large, cone-shaped plasma screen, in addition to maintaining a fixed icon on the building. Four or five companies already have agreed to buy space, and eventually eight companies will share equal time on the digital screen.

In addition to brightening up the busiest intersection in downtown Columbus, the advertising has been a unique and unexpected way to cover cost issues for CASTO. With the rising prices of construction and development, many companies are looking for new ways to manage cost, and this idea has been beneficial for all the players involved. 

One Hundred Central features approximately 60,000 square feet of retail, an 11-story tower with 95 condominiums and a 659-space parking garage.

Turning southward, Casto Lifestyle Properties — a retail division of CASTO that focuses on mixed-use lifestyle center development in Florida — recently completed One Hundred Central, a 500,000-square-foot urban redevelopment project in downtown Sarasota, Florida, through a private-public partnership with the city of Sarasota. Encompassing an entire city block, bounded to the east by Lemon Street, to the west by Central Avenue, and to the north and south by First and Second avenues, One Hundred Central is situated on 3 acres, featuring approximately 60,000 square feet of retail, an 11-story tower with 95 condominiums and a 659-space parking garage. Beame Architectural Partnership designed the project, and Kraft Construction Company was general contractor.

Encompassing an entire city block, One Hundred Central is a 500,000-square-foot urban redevelopment project in downtown Sarasota, Florida, that Casto Lifestyle Properties created through a private-public partnership with the city of Sarasota.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of One Hundred Central is its anchor, a 36,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market. Andreas Duany led the consulting team that designed a master plan for the redevelopment of downtown Sarasota several years ago, and he pinpointed the development of a grocery store as the cornerstone to economic development in the area.

“Whole Foods’ presence has spurred development in the area, and on top of that, the partnership we created resulted in a significant tax revenue return on what we put into the project,” says Jane Robinson, director of planning and redevelopment for the city of Sarasota.

Other than Whole Foods’ location in a downtown area, which is non-traditional by itself, this particular store has the distinction of being the first LEED-certified grocery store in the United States, earning the LEED Silver classification. “Green” aspects of the building include skylights to reduce need for electric light, rainwater capture tanks, top grade insulation, tinted windows, a reflective white roof, and high performance electrical and mechanical systems.

Casto became involved with the project after the master plan was created, recognizing the lack of density in the downtown Sarasota market. To ask suburban customers to drive downtown and park in a garage to use the facilities they have near their homes wouldn’t sustain, so the unique attributes of the grocery store and the residential components were vital.

“The partnership was a good experience for both sides, and by working together we’ve created a great project for the city of Sarasota,” says Brett Hutchens, president and chief executive officer of Casto Lifestyle Properties. “We owned approximately two-thirds of the land, and the city owned one-third, so we combined the sites, traded air rights for surface land, and the city purchased 300 parking spaces in our garage for public use. In the end, the project has spurred additional residential development, which was the city’s goal all along.”

Another interesting aspect of the partnership was the fact that the city planned to adopt a new code to which Casto was not subject, yet they complied with it anyway to provide a test case. This practice proved extremely beneficial for the city because it was able to tweak its plans; in effect, One Hundred Central not only is significant in itself, but also it helped the city manage development for the future.

Some of Casto’s major challenges in development included working with the city to replace old utility lines, vault the underground for retention, and to improve the streets around the site. Coordinating development without interrupting daily life in downtown Sarasota also proved difficult, but the city deeded Casto part of the right of way on the street to ease strain on construction.

Other than the Whole Foods, One Hundred Central features 23,000 square feet of street-level retail, including national tenants such as Starbucks, Aveda Salon, Washington Mutual, and regional and local tenants including a white-tablecloth Italian restaurant, an accessory store, and a furniture store. Whole Foods is positioned freestanding at one end of the project while the remaining balance of the retail sits on First Street, a primary thoroughfare through downtown.

“Whole Foods provides that heartbeat you look for in any downtown,” says Hutchens. “The unique thing about One Hundred Central is what it did to energize the Sarasota market, providing a pedestrian-friendly environment for the people that live here; it puts everything at the local residents’ fingertips.”


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