Built Into Columbus: East Public
Built Into Columbus explores the places where Compton’s work, relationships, and history intersect with the people and businesses shaping the city.
East Public didn’t begin with the name East Public.
The early concept was called Parsons Compound. At the time, the two-story building that now houses Compton Construction was in rough condition, and the plan was to remove it. In its place, the team pictured a food truck park with room for people to gather.
As the neighboring properties, future tenants, and practical needs of the development came into focus, the plan began to change. The building stayed, and Compton Construction moved in. Soon, other businesses found their places nearby. What started as one idea gradually became a collection of reused buildings connected by food, coffee, art, outdoor space, and relationships.
Finding a new purpose for what was already there
Adaptive reuse gives an existing building a new role. At East Public, it also helped several different properties become part of a shared place.
Our future Compton Construction office was no longer seen as something to remove. Moving into the building gave us a home within the development and helped establish activity on the site early. The building that became Comune joined the plan. A shared green passage began connecting the properties physically, creating room between the businesses for people to move, meet, and spend time.
Across Parsons Avenue, another phase grew from a practical concern: parking. Acquiring the former used car lot created a more dependable parking solution, and the lot’s small sales office offered an opportunity of its own. That building eventually became Kokomo Juice & Coffee Paradise.
A neighboring house later gave Juicie Beauty Studio a new commercial home near Kokomo. Separate properties acquired at different times began supporting one another as part of a larger whole.
Creating cohesion without sameness
East Public needed a strong enough shared identity for visitors to understand that the buildings and businesses were connected. The name, signage, outdoor spaces, and physical proximity all help create that connection.
Still, the goal was never to make every part look or feel the same.
Parsons North Brewing remains Parsons North. Comune remains Comune. Kokomo, Juicie Beauty Salon, Homewerk fitness and even Compton Construction each bring their own personality, audience, and way of using the space.
Our goal, as described by Blake Compton, “is to build cohesiveness without becoming too rigid.”
That balance gives East Public much of its character. Each business can tell its own story while contributing to something larger. The development feels recognizable as one place because its differences have room to remain visible.
Letting culture grow from the community
Some early ideas for festivals and regular collaborative programming took longer to develop than expected. The shared spaces remained useful in more everyday ways, and over time, the businesses began creating events and activities of their own.
That same gradual process is shaping the art at East Public.
Murals have always felt like a natural fit for the development and for our own office. The newer work is increasingly connected to artists who already spend time there as customers and regulars. Instead of using art to invent a story for the properties, the art reflects relationships that are already part of the place.
A place that keeps evolving
One of the clearest signs of East Public’s success is that businesses have continued to choose to operate here through years of change.
They’ve built their own audiences, developed events, created relationships with one another, and added new layers to the experience of the properties. The shared outdoor areas are being used in ways that reflect the current businesses rather than a plan written years ago.
The buildings were also planned with future change in mind. They serve offices, hospitality businesses, and personal services today, while retaining the potential to support different commercial uses later.
That flexibility is part of the East Public story. The project wasn’t completed by freezing one idea in place. It grew by recognizing what each building could support, making practical decisions as new needs emerged, and allowing the identity of the place to develop alongside the people using it.
East Public feels connected because each part has room to be itself. It feels established because it has continued to change.
And for Compton, it is more than a group of projects. It’s where we work, where many of our relationships have grown, and one of the places where our history has become built into Columbus.
