A redesigned 25-story tower planned for downtown Columbus won a warm reception from the Downtown Commission at its Oct. 27 special meeting, according to reporting by The Columbus Dispatch, putting a project years in planning a step closer to joining the skyline at East Rich and South Fourth streets.
The project, known as The Estrella, is proposed by local developer Bluestone Brothers for 175 E. Rich St., on the southeast corner of East Rich and South Fourth, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Commissioners told the developer the latest changes were consistent with the project’s overall design aesthetic.
In its newest form, the building would stand roughly 300 feet tall and span more than 538,800 square feet, according to the site plans reported by The Columbus Dispatch. The scale would make it one of the larger new residential buildings proposed for the downtown core in recent years.
The residential portion would include 296 one- and two-bedroom apartments across stories eight through 24, plus seven penthouses on the 25th floor, The Columbus Dispatch reported. The mix is aimed at the growing number of residents who want to live downtown rather than commute into it.
The ground floor would hold roughly 18,000 square feet of commercial space, according to the plans. Levels two through five would consist of 327 parking spaces — 26 of them for visitors — along with residential services, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Stories six and seven would hold office, fitness, gaming, commercial and bar and grill spaces, plus a 13,365-square-foot rooftop plaza with a pool for residents, according to the plans. The project’s website describes a rooftop restaurant concept offering a view of the Scioto Mile and downtown skyline as the first true 360-degree patio sky deck in Columbus, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The Oct. 27 presentation was a conceptual hearing, not an approval vote. The developer will have to return to the Downtown Commission’s next meeting on Nov. 17 with an application for approval to receive a vote, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
The Estrella has been before the commission several times, most recently in February 2025, The Columbus Dispatch reported. That long review history is common for large downtown projects, where height, parking, and street-level design are weighed against the city’s push for more downtown housing.
The project was previously approved for tax credits worth up to $4.5 million by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority in 2025, according to The Columbus Dispatch. State support of that kind is often a key piece of financing for large mixed-use buildings.
Downtown growth is also drawing new investment in other parts of the city center. Columbus this week landed its first nonstop flight to Europe, a sign of the region’s expanding reach: Columbus lands first nonstop flight to Europe with Lufthansa to Frankfurt. Sports investment is growing too: OhioHealth takes naming rights for Columbus NWSL club’s training grounds.
For downtown residents and workers, the proposal combines housing with everyday amenities in a single building — apartments above, commercial space at street level, and parking in between. That stacking is deliberate: it is how large sites in the core can add residents without spreading outward, and it is the pattern city planners have encouraged as downtown employment and entertainment districts have grown.
Rich Street itself sits between the Scioto Mile riverfront to the west and the Discovery District to the east, an area that has seen steady reinvestment in housing, offices and cultural venues. A 296-unit building at Rich and Fourth would add a significant block of new residents within walking distance of both, supporting the restaurants and shops that depend on foot traffic beyond office hours.
The rooftop elements set this version of the plan apart from earlier iterations. A residents’ pool deck of more than 13,000 square feet, combined with a proposed rooftop restaurant open to a wider audience, would give the building a public-facing top floor rather than reserving its best views entirely for penthouse owners — a feature commissioners have favored in other recent downtown approvals.
What happens next is the Nov. 17 Downtown Commission meeting, where Bluestone Brothers is expected to seek approval of the application. If the project advances, downtown residents would gain hundreds of new apartments and a new rooftop destination — and a long-discussed corner of East Rich Street would finally change.