Emma Wozniak, a business reporter at The Columbus Dispatch, writes about her first year on the beat.
Wozniak writes, “As many of my sources and some of my readers know, I stepped into this vast, ever-evolving beat in October 2025 after six months as an intern. There is never a shortage of stories to be written, and it brings me tremendous joy (if not a tinge of anxiety) that I finally am starting to feel like I have a firm grasp on the development world of central Ohio.
“For one thing, there’s a seemingly endless stream of projects, whether under way or merely proposed, all unfolding against a backdrop of soaring construction costs, population growth that’s outpacing housing production and a neighborhood culture unafraid to challenge unwanted development.
“The city’s $100 million pedestrian pathway project, for example, continues to draw attention as East Gay Street is effectively unrecognizable amid ongoing construction and some of its businesses are hurt as a result. The Capital Line hopes to be a major magnet for Downtown, but getting there means weathering what Mayor Andrew Ginther referred to as ‘growing pains.'”
Read more here.
