On Development: Private equity is inequitable
Mom-and-pop landlords own a steadily shrinking share of American apartments. The increased concentration of rentals in the hands of absentee private equity firms damages our communities.
Brian's Latest Articles
On Development: The cloud is made of concrete
Things happen one by one by one over the months and years, and we don’t see it happening until we’re overwhelmed.
On Development: Another way of looking at Franklinton
It would be easy for Jim Sweeney and Blake Compton of Walnut Street Partners to level the dozen or so remaining worker houses on a short, narrow block of Walnut Street and put up a couple of typical, boxy “five-over-ones” with tax abatements. But that’s not their vision.
On Development: Keep Wall Street out of the Columbus housing market
The city’s tax abatements for apartment projects are, in effect, subsidizing the rapacious interest rates of the private equity and hedge fund ‘investors’ who help finance housing development.
On Development: Preserve the future
Columbus is rife with silly franchised juice bars, phone stores, and other fleeting chains that occupy space for a while but never come close to replacing venerable dives and other businesses that were bulldozed to make room for ‘progress.’
On Development: Here’s the skinny on small-scale development
While the apartments proposed for a narrow Franklinton lot might be from the wrong developer and set in the wrong location, the concept is something that has merit.
On Development: A market on the corner – not a corner on the market
Rethinking the corner grocery store for modern day Columbus.
On Development: Ohio foots bill for Delaware County sprawl
U.S. 23 through Delaware is not so much a transportation problem as it is a planning and zoning mess.
On Development: Neglected spaces amid a housing boom
It’s all too common in Columbus (and many other cities) for an empty building or vacant lot to be a stain on the neighborhood while an owner waits for a better redevelopment deal.
On Development: Time travel shows how CCS history repeats itself
The following is a sample column Brian Williams provided with his application to become a Columbus Dispatch Metro columnist in 1997. This is the first time it has seen the light of day.