The days of Lev's Pawn Shop at 1174 W. 5th Ave. look numbered, with plans on file for a new four-story mixed-use building that would swap pawn tickets for apartments and storefronts. The site, near the northeast corner of Doten Avenue and West Fifth, is slated to trade in its long-standing shop for housing stacked above ground-floor commercial space, according to Columbus Business First.
The outlet reports that the owner has filed plans for a four-story mixed-use project at 1174 W. 5th Ave. The story, written by reporter Leslie Caimi and published yesterday, notes that the proposal would formally bring the former pawn shop site into the Fifth by Northwest development wave.
What the city's record shows
City paperwork is already catching up to the news. The City of Columbus permitting portal lists an addressing record titled "1174 W 5th Avenue Redevelopment." That entry notes a request for a certified address for an apartment building on the parcel's northeast corner. The project appears under record number MAPM2600010 and is tied to parcel number 010061683.
In other words, the paperwork is still at the "make it official on the map" stage, not the "bring in the backhoes" stage.
Where it fits on West Fifth
West Fifth Avenue has quietly turned into one of Columbus's hottest corridors for infill housing and retail, and this proposal slots right into that trend. In the Fifth by Northwest area, several larger mixed-use projects have either recently opened or are working their way through the pipeline. Columbus Underground has tracked nearby developments that show how the corridor is leaning into denser apartment buildings with storefronts at street level.
For neighbors, that means more height and more residents, but also more places to grab coffee without getting in the car.
Next steps
So far, the city's addressing entry does not list a construction timetable, and the initial coverage has not filled in that blank either. It is still unclear when demolition or full building permits might show up.
If the project keeps moving, the usual sequence - final site-plan review, building-permit applications, and related approvals - would generate additional records on the City of Columbus permitting portal, along with more detailed local reporting as the plan comes into sharper focus.
