The L Brands board has two people leave it. The Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University was named after a couple.
Business stories that changed Columbus include the diminished presence of Ohio's richest man in the local business scene, the bankruptcy of the owner of Polaris Fashion Place and several other local malls, and more. Here are some samples.
Wexner's wife steps down from the board of L Brands.
The founder of L Brands stepped down from the board of the retailer he created with $5,000 he borrowed from his aunt. Wexner decided to retire as chairman and CEO of the company. The Wexners sold a lot of their stock in L Brands and later split the company into two. Wexner stepped down as CEO and president after being criticized for his ties to a child sex trafficker.
The former Equitas Health employees said they experienced or witnessed a culture of discrimination.
The former Equitas Health staff condemns the treatment of black employees.
The Columbus Dispatch investigated claims of racial discrimination made by current and former employees of Equitas Health. The former CEO and other senior leaders resigned. The board hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation of the alleged racist culture in the workplace.
Restaurants and other shops support Columbus mask mandates.
Mayor Ginther signed an executive order on Friday that would require everyone to wear masks in public buildings. Business owners said they supported the decision, but expressed concern about enforcement. They told stories of customers starting fights.
Washington Prime Group, the owner of Polaris Fashion Place and other shopping centers, emerged from Chapter 11 in 2021.
The Polaris Fashion Place owner files for bankruptcy.
Washington Prime Group, the Columbus-based, publicly traded owner of Polaris Fashion Place and 100 other shopping centers, filed for bankruptcy protection in June after struggling for more than a year with the swine flu. Polaris added two major tenants, FieldhouseUSA and Public Lands, and Washington Prime operated as usual. In November, the company emerged from Chapter 11 as a private company under the direction of its largest creditor. Washington Prime Washington Prime also owns Indian Mound Mall in Heath, the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek, Dayton Mall, New Towne Mall in New Philadelphia, and the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor.
Hiring problems plague the economy.
Surge in demand and not enough workers caused shortages, delays, and rising prices in everything from cars to groceries.
Franklinton development takes shape.
The Peninsula is a development next to the COSI in Franklinton. Two apartment buildings, a hotel, an office building, and two parking garage are the first six buildings in the development. The developers were pleased with the early tenant interest and decided to build a 30-story apartment building and a seven-story office building on top of the parking garage. The development is expected to include up to 2 million square feet of offices, residences, retail space, and hotel rooms.
The Columbus housing market is booming.
The Columbus-area housing market had a record-breaking year as a mountain of buyers competed for a hill of homes by offering incentives such as appraisal gaps, no-remedy inspections and escalation clauses. The median sales price of a home in Greater Columbus was $260,000 in the first 11 months of the year, up from $231,750 in the previous year. In an average of 16 days, Columbus-area homes sold for an average of 102% of their asking price. In the spring, homes were selling faster in the Columbus area than anywhere else. The Columbus area was projected to be one of the hottest housing markets in the country in the year 2022, but buyers received discouraging news at the end of the year.
Schoedinger Funeral & Cremation Service has been sold.
Schoedinger Funeral Home is Columbus' oldest business.
Schoedinger Funeral & Cremation Service, Columbus' oldest family-owned business, announced in December that it had reached an agreement to be acquired by the Houston company Service Corporation International. Schoedinger is run by its sixth generation. Schoedinger said that the sale will not be visible to customers. The company's 180 employees, including five family members, will remain. Service Corp. International operates more than 1,900 funeral homes and cemeteries in 45 states and eight Canadian provinces.
Office space is empty as workers stay home.
Office vacancies in Greater Columbus continued to climb as white-collar employees continued to work from home. More than 20% of the offices in the area were vacant by the fall, not including those that were still paying rent. Developers continued to build new offices in hopes that companies would still be drawn to new space with new amenities. The Capital Square towers were particularly hard to find, with four of them being at least 60% vacant during the third quarter. By the end of the year, many corporate employers were not interested in returning to work.
Bill Gates, the co-owner of Microsoft, has farmland in Madison County that may become part of a solar farm. The actual owner of the farm is a company called Midwest farms, which has 6,300 acres of farmland in Union, Deer Creek, Monroe and Somerford townships.
Bill Gates farm property in Madison County will be part of a solar farm.
Bill Gates owns land in Madison County that is part of the site of one of the biggest solar farms in the U.S. The Oak Run solar farm would cost at least $1 billion to build and would be located north of London. Gates owns 6,300 acres of the project. Construction could begin in either '20 or '25.
The expansion of the data centers is part of the $1 billion investment by the company.
New Albany will get an additional $1 billion for its data-center operations, as well as additional land in Columbus and Lancaster for more data centers. Demand is behind the $1 billion expansion of the New Albany operations by the search engine. The old Hartman Farm is located off of South High Street in Columbus. The tech giant said it will give more than 1,000 acres of land in the Columbus region after purchasing
There has been a surge in unemployment fraud in Ohio.
There were so many fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits in Ohio that they were even filed in the names of the governor and lieutenant governor. Over one million claims were flagged for potential fraud in January of last year. The state struggled under the weight of legitimate claims for benefits with the unemployed complaining of lengthy wait times to collect benefits.
Where are the workers? Businesses struggle to hire workers.
Greater Columbus businesses have struggled to meet surging demand because of a number of problems created by COVID-19. Business executives say that soaring transportation prices are pushing up costs and frustrating customers. The global economy was largely shut down in March of 2020 when the Pandemic began. One of the most rapid downturns in U.S. history was followed by a quick snapback.
Sheetz opened its first store in Delaware. Sheetz plans to have 50 stores in central Ohio. The new store in Delaware was photographed on April 8, 2021.
Sheetz arrives in Columbus.
Sheetz opened its first store in Delaware in April. Nine stores were opened in the Columbus area by the end of the year, and the company is on its way to 50 stores by the year 2025. Sheetz freakz is a fan of the store.
Some Columbus restaurants are in a tight spot because of restaurant delivery fees.
The Columbus city council approved a 15% third party delivery service fee in January, but the law only applied to contracts negotiated after the rule was passed. Most Columbus restaurants did not benefit from the rule because they were unwilling to change their agreements for fear of losing them. The companies said they were following the rule as it was written and that the third party services were exploiting a loophole in the law.
During the Pandemic, business startup surged, but will they last?
The surge in business started in Ohio, but economists are not sure what it means. Many of the startups have no website and their owners don't return messages seeking comment, but others started their own businesses because they wanted greater flexibility or the ability to work from home during a global epidemic.
Even with enhanced benefits gone, restaurants still can't find workers.
Restaurants across Ohio had to close in 2021 because they couldn't find enough workers, a problem that some business owners attributed to enhanced unemployment benefits. The hiring troubles continued when the benefits expired. Workers who left the industry cited a number of reasons, including a lack of child care, rude customers, and low pay.
OSU is sending help to farmers who are stressed out by the swine flu.
The coronaviruses made farmers face stress as commodity prices skyrocketed and support networks were cut off. Ohio State University's extension service is training its workers to better spot signs of mental illness and offer help to farmers who need it. Farmers are more likely to die by suicide than the general population, and experts fear that COVID will make the problem worse.
Ohio veterinarians are swamped as pet owners return to work.
Shelter animals finding good homes were the subject of feel-good headlines. The so-called "COVID puppies" needed more medical care, inundating animal hospitals and veterinarians offices across the state and causing weekslong wait times.
The champion of diversity is how Gale King changed Nationwide.
After 37 years at the company, former Nationwide Insurance executive vice president and chief administrative officer, Gale King, announced her retirement. She was celebrated for creating an engaging work culture and mentoring leaders in the company and beyond. Her impact was praised by many people.
The Lower.com Field contracts opened new doors for minority- and women-owned firms.
54 minority-owned enterprises and 27 women-owned enterprises in central Ohio helped complete the construction of the Columbus Crew's new stadium and training facility. A total of 97 contracts were awarded to minority- and women-owned contractors, amounting to over $74 million in spending. underrepresented companies said these efforts have given them access to key players in the industry.
Black women business owners in Ohio want better access to capital.
The Ohio RISE Survey was created by the Alliance of Black Businesswomen & Entrepreneurs (ABBE) Ohio to track the impact of the Pandemic on Black women-owned businesses and assess their needs for survival moving forward. 70% of businesses that responded reported a loss of revenue, and 30% had to close temporarily. Their most pressing needs were access to capital, greater business operational support, and an equitable opportunity to get private and public contracts.
Dispatch business reporters contributed to the report.
The Columbus Dispatch originally published this article: Ohio unemployment fraud, Wexner, mall bankruptcy: To a wild 2021.
