July 11, 2025 • 8 mins
Columbus Business First Managing Editor Mark Somerson on new apartments; Wendy's CEO moves to Hershey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On a Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line. It
is Friday at about ten after eight. That means we
check in with Mark Summerson, Managing editor Columbus Business. First, Mark,
have you ever gotten something in the mail, Amazon or
otherwise that you didn't buy?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, for me, it's usually things that I receive and
don't remember by it. That happens quite a lot, because
you know, late night, your brain works differently than it
does during the day, and occasionally you order something, maybe
maybe at ten PM, and it comes in a day
or two and you're like, wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
What that's funny. That's I one time and this is
before it was a long time ago. I might have
bought an It made an ill advised purchase off of
QVC watching TV. It was it was the world's worst
laptop computer. But I got I got suckered into that
thing and it was it was. It spent way too much.
(00:56):
It was the early days of a laptop and I
as an ill late night purchase. I'll just leave it
at that.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
But are you still using it?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The heck no, no, it's that's long gone. But we
once got we once got a package. It was like
ten thousand gauze pads unsolicited. Like it was the size
of a shoe box. It was like a brick of
gauze pads, and I was like, what the heck is this?
We didn't order it and we kept it. So we've
(01:25):
got like a lifetime supply of gauze. If you ever
need anything, give me a holler.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We do. You can always use a bit of gods.
I don't know. I think it's a great idea. Keep those, Yeah,
we'll keep those. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I just thought that was a good bizarre story. And
you hear about it every now and then, people just
receizing stuff in the mail they didn't buy. So hey,
let's let's dig into what's going on over at Columbus
business first dot com. I see former Starling Middle School
in Franklinton's now apartments.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Said they look beautiful. Yeah, this is an apartment building
that was created out of an old school, which is
great because you remember over in Franklinton Central High School
became Kosai, which was a great reuse of an old
school building. This one's similar except their apartments and we
do need housing it. These are not only apartments that
(02:13):
are affordable apartments. These are reserved for people making thirty
to eighty percent of the area media and income. There
are one, two and three bedrooms. Monthly rents started four
hundred dollars and go to about thirteen hundred dollars. The
old building, the big old school, has a bunch of
apartments in it's all together. The new two new apartments
(02:36):
have fifty two units in them, and the school has
about forty five. I believe something like that. My math
is terrible. School was built in nineteen oh eight. It's
been vacant since twenty thirteen, and WOTA Cooper came in,
bought this property and created a plan to not only
(02:56):
save the school but build two apartment buildings that are
simil in look right there in the heart of Franklinton.
And they received a lot of help they got I'm
going to go through. All these financing came through affordable
housing bond issuances, low income housing tax credits from the
Ohio Housing Finance Agency, federal historic tax credits allocated by
(03:20):
the National Park Service, as well as Ohio Historical Preservation
tax credits through the Ohio Department of Development. That you
have Columbus provided a mortgage and approved the tax abatement.
They also benefited from a tax of Elie revenue bonds
through the Columbus Franklin County Finance Authority. So yeah, lots
of different ways they got to put this up. It
(03:41):
costs a lot of money to build these things. It's
a thirty two million dollar project, but a beautiful adaptive
reuse project, and it's one where it's just really cool
to save old buildings. You know, Columbus had a terrible
history of knocking down old buildings back in the seventies
and early eighties and putting in basically not thing, sometimes
just surface parking lots. Now you've got this Starling Yard apartments.
(04:04):
People are moving in and it's so cool inside. They
kept a lot of the original school features, so there
are blackboards, the original doors, there's lockers, there's a welcome
to Starling Middle School signs still up. It's just a
really neat project and one that Columbus could benefit from
(04:25):
over and over again with these kind of reuse. And
if you remember, wa Cooper's also working on turning the
YMCA downtown into residences as well, so they're really big
into the reuse and saving old buildings.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, the pictures you sent me are gorgeous. It's called
Starling Yard and yeah, great, great reuse for a middle
school that could otherwise have been just knocked down. So yeah,
the other story, and we kind of mentioned this earlier
this week, the Wendy's CEO leaving his current post as
Wendy at Wendy's and going to Hershey. So he's going
(04:57):
from selling Frosty's to Hershey's cass.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And I'm really glad Business First put him on the cover.
Just a few weeks ago. We interviewed him and he
talked about how immersed he was in Wendy's. So we're
thinking that this job was kind of spontaneously offered to
him at Hershey, because he would not have agreed to
an interview if he knew he was leaving in a
few weeks. But yeah, we had him on the cover.
(05:22):
He's holding a spatchel up next to Dave Thomas's image,
and he talked about the future. This is not great
for Wendy's. You don't want your top position to get
changed over and over again in a few years. I've
seen some things on LinkedIn where there are restaurant association
officials who and those who watched the restaurant industry. They're saying,
(05:46):
this is not good for Wendy's. It's not good for
any fast food to have your CEO office become like
a revolving door. So, yeah, he didn't last long. He
started in February twenty twenty four, and now they have
to find a replacement. So he'll be going to Pennsylvania
to Hershey. If you've ever been there, it kind of
smells like weird chocolate and peanut butter, and I have
(06:06):
been there. Yeah, it's a weird smell. But he's gonna
live there now. Ah, and Wendy's is again searching for
a new CEO, which again is not a great thing
for them to do. Yeah, he was talking about how
big they're going to expand and all these new recipes
that they're working on, and you know, they'll continue to
do that, but they have to find a new CEO
(06:29):
and that's that's not a lot of fun for any
company to have to go through this and to see
somebody who just came in that they were really high
on and now leaving for a candy company.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, it sounds like maybe Hershey's made him an offer
he couldn't refuse, and.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You know it was a sweet deal.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You know, it's ah sweet deal. I see what you
did there with a kiss mark Summers and Columbus business first,
and the boat House at Confluence Park is reopened. It's restaurant.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes, speaking of closed restaurants, not that Wendy's has closed
any recently, but the Confluence closed actually with the boathouse
closed in February twenty twenty. It's remained open available for
events over the past five years. But now the restaurant
has reopened and they had a soft opening this week.
It is one of the greatest locations in Columbus. I
(07:19):
mean it's right where the rivers meet. You have a
stunning view of downtown. It's an easy place to get to.
They have a huge parking lot. I know they're working
on some of the landscaping now and they're really hoping
people come back there. This is where the Columbus Metropolitan
Club met for years before they moved over to Victorian Village.
So yeah, they have a new menu. Of course, they
(07:42):
have steaks, so I know you might like that. They
have a smash burger. They got Angus herb roasted prime rib.
Doesn't that sound good? Miso marinated Chilean sea bass. I
like seafood, So this is not that the seafood came
out out of the two rivers that converge there. I
believe the sea bass actually came from somewhere else. But
(08:05):
it's nice to think when you're eating seafood and looking
out on the water that it's fresh and right from
the rivers.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But you know, yeah, everything, Yeah, that delicious si out
of sea bass. I'm gonna have to pass on that
very much. Well, add that to the place that you
and I need to go to to go get some stuffs. Mark,
And if you ever need any gauze pads, you know
where to find me.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
All Right, if we cut each other with steak knife,
we have all right.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Check out Mark Columbus business first dot com. Great to
talk to you again, buddy. Have a great weekend.
On a Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line. It
is Friday at about ten after eight. That means we
check in with Mark Summerson, Managing editor Columbus Business. First, Mark,
have you ever gotten something in the mail, Amazon or
otherwise that you didn't buy?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Well, for me, it's usually things that I receive and
don't remember by it. That happens quite a lot, because
you know, late night, your brain works differently than it
does during the day, and occasionally you order something, maybe
maybe at ten PM, and it comes in a day
or two and you're like, wait a minute.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
What that's funny. That's I one time and this is
before it was a long time ago. I might have
bought an It made an ill advised purchase off of
QVC watching TV. It was it was the world's worst
laptop computer. But I got I got suckered into that
thing and it was it was. It spent way too much.
(00:56):
It was the early days of a laptop and I
as an ill late night purchase. I'll just leave it
at that.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
But are you still using it?
Speaker 1 (01:03):
The heck no, no, it's that's long gone. But we
once got we once got a package. It was like
ten thousand gauze pads unsolicited. Like it was the size
of a shoe box. It was like a brick of
gauze pads, and I was like, what the heck is this?
We didn't order it and we kept it. So we've
(01:25):
got like a lifetime supply of gauze. If you ever
need anything, give me a holler.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
We do. You can always use a bit of gods.
I don't know. I think it's a great idea. Keep those, Yeah,
we'll keep those. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I just thought that was a good bizarre story. And
you hear about it every now and then, people just
receizing stuff in the mail they didn't buy. So hey,
let's let's dig into what's going on over at Columbus
business first dot com. I see former Starling Middle School
in Franklinton's now apartments.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Said they look beautiful. Yeah, this is an apartment building
that was created out of an old school, which is
great because you remember over in Franklinton Central High School
became Kosai, which was a great reuse of an old
school building. This one's similar except their apartments and we
do need housing it. These are not only apartments that
(02:13):
are affordable apartments. These are reserved for people making thirty
to eighty percent of the area media and income. There
are one, two and three bedrooms. Monthly rents started four
hundred dollars and go to about thirteen hundred dollars. The
old building, the big old school, has a bunch of
apartments in it's all together. The new two new apartments
(02:36):
have fifty two units in them, and the school has
about forty five. I believe something like that. My math
is terrible. School was built in nineteen oh eight. It's
been vacant since twenty thirteen, and WOTA Cooper came in,
bought this property and created a plan to not only
(02:56):
save the school but build two apartment buildings that are
simil in look right there in the heart of Franklinton.
And they received a lot of help they got I'm
going to go through. All these financing came through affordable
housing bond issuances, low income housing tax credits from the
Ohio Housing Finance Agency, federal historic tax credits allocated by
(03:20):
the National Park Service, as well as Ohio Historical Preservation
tax credits through the Ohio Department of Development. That you
have Columbus provided a mortgage and approved the tax abatement.
They also benefited from a tax of Elie revenue bonds
through the Columbus Franklin County Finance Authority. So yeah, lots
of different ways they got to put this up. It
(03:41):
costs a lot of money to build these things. It's
a thirty two million dollar project, but a beautiful adaptive
reuse project, and it's one where it's just really cool
to save old buildings. You know, Columbus had a terrible
history of knocking down old buildings back in the seventies
and early eighties and putting in basically not thing, sometimes
just surface parking lots. Now you've got this Starling Yard apartments.
(04:04):
People are moving in and it's so cool inside. They
kept a lot of the original school features, so there
are blackboards, the original doors, there's lockers, there's a welcome
to Starling Middle School signs still up. It's just a
really neat project and one that Columbus could benefit from
(04:25):
over and over again with these kind of reuse. And
if you remember, wa Cooper's also working on turning the
YMCA downtown into residences as well, so they're really big
into the reuse and saving old buildings.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Well, the pictures you sent me are gorgeous. It's called
Starling Yard and yeah, great, great reuse for a middle
school that could otherwise have been just knocked down. So yeah,
the other story, and we kind of mentioned this earlier
this week, the Wendy's CEO leaving his current post as
Wendy at Wendy's and going to Hershey. So he's going
(04:57):
from selling Frosty's to Hershey's cass.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And I'm really glad Business First put him on the cover.
Just a few weeks ago. We interviewed him and he
talked about how immersed he was in Wendy's. So we're
thinking that this job was kind of spontaneously offered to
him at Hershey, because he would not have agreed to
an interview if he knew he was leaving in a
few weeks. But yeah, we had him on the cover.
(05:22):
He's holding a spatchel up next to Dave Thomas's image,
and he talked about the future. This is not great
for Wendy's. You don't want your top position to get
changed over and over again in a few years. I've
seen some things on LinkedIn where there are restaurant association
officials who and those who watched the restaurant industry. They're saying,
(05:46):
this is not good for Wendy's. It's not good for
any fast food to have your CEO office become like
a revolving door. So, yeah, he didn't last long. He
started in February twenty twenty four, and now they have
to find a replacement. So he'll be going to Pennsylvania
to Hershey. If you've ever been there, it kind of
smells like weird chocolate and peanut butter, and I have
(06:06):
been there. Yeah, it's a weird smell. But he's gonna
live there now. Ah, and Wendy's is again searching for
a new CEO, which again is not a great thing
for them to do. Yeah, he was talking about how
big they're going to expand and all these new recipes
that they're working on, and you know, they'll continue to
do that, but they have to find a new CEO
(06:29):
and that's that's not a lot of fun for any
company to have to go through this and to see
somebody who just came in that they were really high
on and now leaving for a candy company.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, it sounds like maybe Hershey's made him an offer
he couldn't refuse, and.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You know it was a sweet deal.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You know, it's ah sweet deal. I see what you
did there with a kiss mark Summers and Columbus business first,
and the boat House at Confluence Park is reopened. It's restaurant.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Yes, speaking of closed restaurants, not that Wendy's has closed
any recently, but the Confluence closed actually with the boathouse
closed in February twenty twenty. It's remained open available for
events over the past five years. But now the restaurant
has reopened and they had a soft opening this week.
It is one of the greatest locations in Columbus. I
(07:19):
mean it's right where the rivers meet. You have a
stunning view of downtown. It's an easy place to get to.
They have a huge parking lot. I know they're working
on some of the landscaping now and they're really hoping
people come back there. This is where the Columbus Metropolitan
Club met for years before they moved over to Victorian Village.
So yeah, they have a new menu. Of course, they
(07:42):
have steaks, so I know you might like that. They
have a smash burger. They got Angus herb roasted prime rib.
Doesn't that sound good? Miso marinated Chilean sea bass. I
like seafood, So this is not that the seafood came
out out of the two rivers that converge there. I
believe the sea bass actually came from somewhere else. But
(08:05):
it's nice to think when you're eating seafood and looking
out on the water that it's fresh and right from
the rivers.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
But you know, yeah, everything, Yeah, that delicious si out
of sea bass. I'm gonna have to pass on that
very much. Well, add that to the place that you
and I need to go to to go get some stuffs. Mark,
And if you ever need any gauze pads, you know
where to find me.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
All Right, if we cut each other with steak knife,
we have all right.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Check out Mark Columbus business first dot com. Great to
talk to you again, buddy. Have a great weekend.
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