Developers want to rezone vacant Columbus Best Buy. What’s coming to the space?
Something new could be coming to the vacant Best Buy space at 2925 Manchester Expressway.
Icarus Alternative Investments LLC has filed a rezoning application for the space. According to the application, the plan is to turn the vacant building into a fulfillment and distribution center. The project’s name is “Columbus Center.”
Icarus Managing Director Alex Oliver declined to comment, citing the ongoing application and that Icarus does not yet own the property.
Best Buy Stores LP owns the property.
The project classifies as a major rezoning. That’s because it includes, among other things, more than 150,000 square feet of gross floor area in warehouse, wholesale or industrial use.
Best Buy did businesses at the Manchester Expressway property for over 15 years. On Sept. 19, 2003, it opened the 45,000-square-foot store on property formerly home to Kinnett Dairies and then Parmalat USA, which bought out Kinnett in 1998, ultimately closing it and auctioning off the equipment.
The electronics retailer operated at its Manchester Expressway location for over 15 years. In January 2019, Best Buy announced plans to move to the former hhgregg store at 2499 Whittlesey Blvd., where it operates today.
An interesting element of the property is the 20-foot Holstein cow statue on the site. Columbus residents have long had an affection for “Kadie the Cow,” which has graced the grounds atop the hill off Manchester Expressway since 1967, when Kinnett Dairies was there.
The rezoning application does not mention Kadie the Cow.
After public outcry over Kadie’s uncertain future in 2019, Columbus Council voted that year to ratify an agreement that gives the city permanent access to Kadie, even as the property she stands on changes hands.
