FEATURED DEVELOPMENT

FEATURE DEVELOPMENT

BY GARTH BISHOP

Photos courtesy of Craig W. Murdick, Architect Ltd. and Beulah Park Living

A Horse of a Different

Natural features promote walkability in the community .

Walkability, community connections and unique history help make Beulah Park stand out

Beulah Park was a major part of the Grove City community for more than 90 years prior to its 2014 closure. So when developer Pat Kelley began working on plans to transform the onetime racetrack into a new neighborhood, he felt it crucial to ensure it would still be a major part of the community.

Today, with more and more parts of the neighborhood opening up and even more on the horizon, Beulah Park is an ever-growing component of Grove City’s community fabric. The neighborhood features single-family homes, ranch homes, apartments, townhomes and senior living options, as well as a long list of amenities including a central park, clubhouse, school, medical office and forthcoming retail space – all in addition to new connections to Grove City Town Center. It was made possible by a close relationship between the developer and city leaders, and the support of community organizations such as the Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce, Visit Grove City and Heart of Grove City.

Grove City is not a community of separate territories,” says Grove City Mayor Richard L. “Ike” Stage. “I like to think of it as one big close-knit neighborhood; and like all new developments in Grove City, I look forward to getting to know our new neighbors.

Beulah Park is the Featured Development in the 2022 BIA Parade of Homes.

In its past life, Beulah Park was a thoroughbred racetrack – Ohio’s first when it opened its doors in 1923 – and event venue, hosting concerts and festivals in addition to racing. It wasn’t long after the closure of Beulah Park that plans for the community were formulated. In the approximately two years since building began, $26 million worth of infrastructure – including the park and above-mentioned amenities, as well as road extensions to connect the neighborhood to the city at large – has been completed.

“It has a different look and feel to it, but it still has that idea of a gathering place for all and a source of pride for the Grove City community,” says Beulah Park Director Sarah Backiewicz.

The neighborhood is designed in the New Urbanism style, which places emphasis on walkability, diversity of living options and proximity to community amenities. Not only does Beulah Park have all that, Kelley says, it also benefits – thanks to an extension of Park Street – from its connections to the Town Center, into which Grove City has put an enormous amount of effort in recent years. And through those connections, the neighborhood is also forging connections to the city’s older neighborhoods.

“Beulah Park has provided this eastwest, north-south connector that’s not just connecting Beulah Park to the Town Center, but to the surrounding communities,” Backiewicz says.

The bulk of Beulah Park will be available to view during the Parade. Its varied divisions, designed to appeal to every demographic, include:

Color

A new build by Iulianelli Homes .

• Beulah Place, luxury townhomes and apartments

• The Courtyards at Beulah Park, luxury ranch homes developed by Epcon

Communities

• Danbury of Grove City, a senior living facility with villas as well as studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments

• The Grove at Beulah Park, singlefamily homes designed by Pulte Homes

• The Paddock at Beulah Park, custom single-family homes

• The Strand at Beulah, luxury townhomes built by Townsend

Construction

And They’re Off, a sculpture by architect and artist Craig Murdick .

All the amenities of Beulah Park are meant to be within a 15-minute walk for residents, starting with the neighborhood park.

The Park at Beulah, a 32-acre park central to Beulah Park, was devised to serve as the heart of the community, Kelley says. Phase 1 – including grading, grass, trees, paths, entrance features and more – is completed, with a playground, shelter house and pickleball court scheduled for phase 2 and an amphitheater envisioned for phase 3. All lots facing the Park at Beulah are on single-load streets, so no homes block the view of it, and all of the Paddock homes facing it have front porches with rear alley access.

“It was always envisioned as a gathering place not just for Beulah Park, but the entire Grove City community,” Kelley says.

Beulah Park’s past is on display as well, with multiple tributes to the racetrack and community destination that once was. Of these, the most prominent is And They’re Off, a sculpture designed to evoke the gate at the opening of a race. Created by architect and artist Craig Murdick, the sculpture – made with 12,000 pounds of steel – was installed in September 2021.

“You won’t find anything (else) like it,” says Kelley. “It’s very unique, and people hopefully will stop to visit that and check out the historical markers there as well.”

The future of Beulah Park includes the Shops at Beulah, an approximately 50,000-square-foot retail space. Kelley anticipates neighborhood-friendly businesses such as a hair salon and real estate office, in addition to restaurants and boutiques.

“It’s meant to complement what’s in the Town Center,” he says. “We purposely made it small-scale because we didn’t want it to overtake the … landscape. We want it to fit in and be part of the walkability of the community.”

Over the course of the Parade, the neighborhood will be home to a variety of programming, including live music and horse rides. There will also be connectivity between the Parade and Grove City’s annual Arts in the Alley, which takes place Sept. 16-18 in the Town Center.