Article by Tim Feran, originally posted on Columbus Underground

“I once was a banker with a suit and tie, and I stumbled into a meditation room and it changed my life.”

Those aren’t the words of a professor of philosophy — they’re the earnest musings of developer, entrepreneur and investor Brett Kaufman.

The Founder of Kaufman Development was in the spotlight at the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s forum on September 13, 2023, “Gravitational Pull: How Creative Culture Makes Neighborhoods Great.”

Part of the CMC’s “Developing a Dynamic Downtown” series, the event was the first forum to be held at the CMC’s new home at The Ellis in Italian Village. The forum focused on Kaufman’s Franklinton development Gravity — “the world’s largest conscious community” that replaced longtime vacant lots and parking lots with buildings that could have been “plucked from a hip neighborhood in Copenhagen.”

In fact, much of the conversation between Kaufman and Columbus Business First reporter Bonnie Meibers was more like an extended examination of the developer’s interior life — his motives, his inspirations and his goals.

Meibers started by asking about the name — how did Kaufman decide to name his project “Gravity” rather than a more typical tag, like Franklinton Estates, for example.

During early conversations with friend Christopher Celeste, “he was working on a concept he called ‘Gravity,’” Kaufman said. “Christopher gifted me the name. He used to tell me, words really matter… As I’ve seen Gravity develop, he was right.”

The name “stands for bringing people together… to connect, collaborate, learn, grow… A neighborhood within a neighborhood, a community within a community.”

“It does come back to creativity,” he said. “I believe we’re all born to be creative, in our own ways. That is at the core of what our community stands for. It’s not just about the buildings. What do you do inside? That’s a critical part of building a community.”

The mixed-use residential community opened its first phase in 2019, and opened its second phase in June, across West Broad Street from the original Gravity building.

“Sometimes it feels like it’s happening and I don’t know how it’s happening,” Kaufman said. That may be because in some ways Gravity — and Kaufman’s company — is something of a dream come true for the developer.

“The whole reason I started the company was to be a place I wanted to work. I didn’t have to wait for the weekend, vacation or retirement to do things I wanted to do.”

When Meibers gently brought up Kaufman’s mental health journey, he readily acknowledged that “mental health is a real important passion of mine, using your life to serve you and ultimately others.” Kaufman said that “through therapy, a lot of work” he has worked through some traumatic childhood events, and has been open about sharing that journey with others.

“I’m amazed by how many others are struggling,” he said. “The conversation is shifting. I grew up at a time when you didn’t talk about it.”

Kaufman talks publicly about mental health issues, but also privately, said Greg Davies, CEO of the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation and Capitol South. “When I lost my first wife in 2017 very suddenly, very tragically, Brett called.” And kept calling, and calling, and sharing his own experiences while listening to Davies delve into his grief.

“He kept telling me it helped him,” Davies said in comments delivered at the end of the forum. Ultimately, Kaufman introduced Davies to his current wife. “I really believe Brett when he talks about life being about love and creativity.”

The Franklinton development may seem to contradict the much-reported pandemic-driven flight to the suburbs, but Kaufman believes that move “is way overblown. If you want acres of land and a certain kind of environment, the urban environment might not be for you. But when I started in German Village rehabbing… we were seeing people moving to Columbus to work for Abercrombie & Fitch and they’d say, ‘I don’t want to live in the suburbs. Give me something with character.’”

That is exactly what he hopes Gravity will become, he said. In 10 or 20 years he hopes to see a community “filled with diversity, an emphasis on the arts, music everywhere. We aim to change the world. What if it becomes a model for others — then it really does change the world.”