RE/MAX City Center Realty and The New Victorians

Re/Max Short North & Harrison West

By Mary Martineau

Joe Armeni has run two businesses in the Short North out of his offices on West Third Avenue for almost two decades. Wearing his RE/MAX City Center Realty hat, Joe is a licensed commercial real estate agent who manages all of the sales and rentals of his client base and has done so for 18 years. As The New Victorians, Joe has been building, developing and renovating property in the Short North for 26 years. Joe is something of a Short North real estate magnate. He graduated from OSU with a real estate major in 1981, but his first foray into home ownership was a house he purchased on campus in 1978. His next purchase was a house on Neil Avenue in 1979, which he bought while he was still in school. He moved to Victorian Village in 1981, and he promptly picked up his first Short North property in 1982. From that time on, every other property that he purchased, built or developed under The New Victorians has been in the Short North.

Joe is one of the original Harrison West pioneers. He remembers when the building that houses Aniara was a burned out shell and the chic Caffe’ Apropos was the dingy Michigan Market. The building that houses his businesses was a hardcore bar riddled with bullet holes when he acquired it in 1995. He gutted the structure from top to bottom and added the glass storefront. Joe is proud to be the only real estate company that is both located in Harrison West and owned by a longtime Short North resident. He has bought, sold, renovated and managed more than 100 properties in Harrison West through the past two decades, and he currently manages approximately 250 Short North properties for clients.

Harrison West has nowhere to go but up in the eyes of this real estate expert. He recognized the neighborhood’s potential early on with its adjacency to Victorian Village and knew that gentrification would continue toward the river, where The New Victorians began building a row of condos in 1994. At this point, Harrison West is so far along in the development process that Joe foresees re-renovations as the next wave of improvements coming; only a few houses in Harrison West still need rehab. While the rise in home prices is great for residents, it no longer makes as much financial sense for renovations by The New Victorians. Instead, Joe is focused on selling the remaining units in his latest major project: turning the former Masonic Temple into the “York on High.” If you are looking for a realtor or property manager intimately acquainted with Harrison West and the Short North, Joe’s your guy.

You can find Joe Armeni online: http://www.shortnorthhomes.com/

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