Changes on the retail front

We got a reminder — two, actually — that brick-and-mortar retail in central Ohio is a tale of two worlds. While more than 3 million square feet (less than 4%) of retail space sits empty around Columbus, most of that is in older malls or bigger shopping centers that may never come back. Prime space in desirable areas, and smaller neighborhood centers, on the other hand, are in high demand.

Shopping for shopping centers

The Florida investor American Commercial Realty paid more than $10 million for seven central Ohio shopping centers, totaling nearly 215,000 square feet. Five of the seven centers are on or near East Main Street, including three in Whitehall, while the other two are in the Northland area. And ... they are almost all occupied, with a mix of local restaurants, salons and other businesses that serve their neighborhoods.

The next chapter

On the other side of town, and in a different retail world, Barnes & Noble is converting a former 40,000-square-foot Bed Bath & Beyond into central Ohio's first "new concept" store by the bookseller. The space helps anchor the Sun Center shopping plaza near Sawmill and West Dublin-Granville roads which, like the neighborhood centers above, enjoys a robust occupancy. The new Barnes & Noble will replace the existing one across West Dublin-Granville Road.

Office sale

A partnership between Douglas Capital Partners of Michigan and Columbus-based Allied Capital & Development paid $13.15 million for the 12-story Miranova office building on the southern end of Downtown. The new owners plan to spend about $2 million updating the 243,000-square-foot building, which opened in 2001 along with its neighbor, the Miranova condominium tower. The building is 57% occupied, and the largest tenant, AndHealth, is expanding. Owners will seek another anchor tenant for the building.

Smashing into town

Our random development photo of the week comes from Westerville, where the Iowa firm Smash Park is well underway on a central Ohio location at Cleveland Avenue and Polaris Parkway. The 42,000-square-foot facility (plus 15,000 square feet outdoors) will include pickleball courts, a restaurant and sports bar, duckpin bowling, ax throwing and other activities.

A cabin in the ... city

A log cabin that looks much older than its 1930s vintage has hit the market just north of Graceland Shopping Center. The cabin, unusual enough to land on Zillow Gone Wild, is listed by Brian Johnson with Coldwell Banker Realty, and is being sold by Auction Ohio, with a starting bid of $100,000.

Warehouse sales

A Washington, D.C., investor paid $43 million for three warehouses on the north side of Rickenbacker International Airport, topping this week's property transfers.

And that's the development wrap for the week. If you like what you see here, subscribe for more.