A Dublin Tradition Started with an Earthquake

Local News

Construction has officially started on J Block, the newest stretch of Bridge Park — and it's bringing two different kinds of news with it.

The residential side is The Ellis, a new condo building with 89 units, a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom flats, plus a pool deck, fitness center, and a connected parking garage. Prices start at $400,000, and about 20% of the units are already under contract, with completion targeted for the end of 2027.

Next door, a four-story office building is going up, and Cenovus Energy is moving its U.S. regional headquarters there — bringing about 120 jobs with it. The company's had a Dublin presence since 2009, most recently out of a Tuttle-area office, but outgrew that space after doubling its local workforce over the past three years. Both the city and JobsOhio kicked in tax incentives to help land the move.

It's one of the last undeveloped blocks left in Bridge Park's original footprint — so if you've been curious what's happening past the parts you already know, this is it.

Local News

More than 25 years ago, Prince of Peace started a small rummage sale to help people in Turkey after a major earthquake. It's grown into something a lot bigger since.

That sale is Closet Cause, and it's become one of the more quietly impressive things happening in Dublin. What began as a one-time push to support earthquake relief turned into a yearly tradition — and each year, the congregation's donations got bigger and more varied, and more neighbors from Dublin and the surrounding area showed up too, both to help run it and to shop it.

Now more than 100 volunteers pitch in over a five-day collection period before the two-day sale itself. The money raised supports the church's Global Partners — things like feeding children in Haiti, sending kids to school in Kenya, bringing electricity to a village in Guatemala — and goes to Volunteers of America locally, plus it gives everyone a reason to finally clear out the garage, and a chance to catch up with neighbors while doing it.

This year's sale runs Friday and Saturday, August 7 and 8, at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 5475 Brand Rd. — Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Local News

Picture an apartment building where your neighbor down the hall might be a retired schoolteacher, the person next door might be a young professional working downtown, and across the hall could be an adult with autism who's finally living on his own for the first time — and none of that is accidental. That's the whole idea behind a project taking shape at Dublin Center Drive and West Dublin-Granville Road.

It's called All In Dublin, and after a few years of planning, it finally has a real timeline: construction starting later this year, with the first residents moving in by early 2028. Seventy-five apartments, a mix of one to three bedrooms — a quarter set aside for adults with disabilities, 40% for older adults, the rest for working families.

The group behind it started back in 2015 focused on a much narrower goal: housing for adults with autism.

It's been a slow road — about $24 million, mostly funded through tax credits, with the usual tangle of financing pieces that have to line up before anyone breaks ground. But the group behind it says the delay is just that, not a sign it's falling apart. Keep an eye out for a groundbreaking later this year.