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The New York Times wrote
A Waterfront Revival in Columbus, Ohio
By KEITH SCHNEIDER
Published: December 2, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A decade ago, a 75-acre area along the Scioto River less than a mile west of this capital city’s downtown was an industrial no man’s land, consisting of barren railyards, old warehouses and a shuttered 19th-century penitentiary. But that was before Nationwide Realty Investors turned the area into the Arena District.
The mixed-use district embodies three influential theories of urban redevelopment of the last decade: energetic and walkable street and neighborhood designs, as advocated by prominent architects who call themselves “new urbanists”; urban settings that let creative young professionals weave work and play, as advanced in the writing of Richard Florida; and sports venues, which some experts see as essential to civic economic health.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman has also started planning a new streetcar line that would tie downtown to the Ohio State University campus, to the Arena District and other parts of Columbus. “Downtown is the engine that drives our economy and the epicenter of life as we know it in central Ohio,” Mr. Coleman said. “We are making progress.”
Related Stories:
- Arena District vying for last piece of puzzle
- Columbus Streetcar proposal is being revised
- The Arena District turns 10 years old and growing
I don’t think it was intentional either. I just don’t understand how an article about the “new urbanism” in Columbus doesn’t include what is going on in the SN.
I think another Arena District in RiverSouth would be viable, possibly even desirable, especially if they got rid of the juvenile detention center right there by the county municipal bldg/courthouse. The Arena District is almost completely developed right now and continues to show strong sales even in a down market, which is a sign of durable demand for that kind of atmosphere and amenities.
What I don’t think is that another Arena District would be viable in the Brewery District, Market Exchange, Discovery District, East Franklinton, OTE, KLD, and so on. I think the demand is there for more of it than the space constraints of the existing Arena District will allow; that doesn’t mean that that kind of glitzy, modern development should go everywhere. However, that kind of unapologetically new development fits best where there aren’t wide swaths of solid older buildings worth saving. (You’d never propose it for Victorian Village, for example.) However, I can’t think of too much in RiverSouth that is both architecturally (a) sound, (b) unique, and (c) interesting enough to make a good argument against the kind of completely-new, large-scale development that seems to be NRI’s forte.
Nationwide will also build “Grandview Yard” just a couple of miles north, and it looks to be Easton-like. What impacts will this have on SN and Grandview Ave. (and the Arena District– and EASTON!). I wish they would have spent their money on a truly energized Arena District. With the track record of the “in” malls, could this just be another retail shift? Hmm. If it is, I’m glad it’s closer to town, but I don’t know how High Street downtown will ever compete.
[url]http://www.grandviewyard.com/[/url]
I don’t think it was intentional either. I just don’t understand how an article about the “new urbanism” in Columbus doesn’t include what is going on in the SN.
Maybe that’s old urbanism.
I don’t know. I’m not sure there’s enough parking. See, there are still a couple of buildings in this aerial:
View Larger Map
I’m trying hard to understand the concept-both with an AD style River South and Grandview Yard. We have developers trying to create a fashionable, hip community that supposedly recreates urban living…all in the shadow of some great urban areas just miles away?
What is this, some urban wet dream Disneyland utopia-all the glamour of urban living without the scary people and buses?
Yes.
I’m not going to knock the AD, Arena District, Grandview Yard, or any of that. But it would be nice if these developments were compliments to an otherwise vibrant downtown. These “urban wet dreams” have more of a parasitic relationship with downtown, which would ideally be a bit more symbiotic.
Yes.
I’m not going to knock the AD, Arena District, Grandview Yard, or any of that. But it would be nice if these developments were compliments to an otherwise vibrant downtown. These “urban wet dreams” have more of a parasitic relationship with downtown, which would ideally be a bit more symbiotic.
Yeah, when you look at what has put us on the map nationally it’s not so much Easton, AD, GY or any neighborfake, but the genuine hard work of people committed to their communities . No one goes home after visiting Columbus to talk about Baskin Robins or Express. They talk about German Village and the architecture, Jenni’s and Tigertree in the Short North, Tip Top on Gay St. It takes awhile, but history has shown that a little hard work and time can do wonders for Columbus.
I wish our local developers had a better sense of that and would put the dollars back in the real neighborhoods and communities of Columbus. Let our creative locals develop their own retail ventures instead of incubating another chain store that is a dime a dozen in every city.
What’s happening with the Trolley Market in OTE and the condos I keep seeing signs for on my rides home up Oak?
As much as I want to see development happen in OTE, I hope those condos never happen. They’re f-ing heinous.
I’m in the same boat as joev as far as time spent in the Arena District. I’ve gone to a few movies at Arena Grand and had lunch at Gordon Biersch a few times but thats about it. Whenever I’ve driven through, the place is a no mans land. Never seen anyone hanging out in the park with the chunk of the old Union station either.
As much as I want to see development happen in OTE, I hope those condos never happen. They’re f-ing heinous.
I’m in the same boat as joev as far as time spent in the Arena District. I’ve gone to a few movies at Arena Grand and had lunch at Gordon Biersch a few times but thats about it. Whenever I’ve driven through, the place is a no mans land. Never seen anyone hanging out in the park with the chunk of the old Union station either.
The Sherman-Oak Condos don’t look half bad. Which ones are you referring to?
I don’t spend a ton of time there either, but having a company sink a billion dollars into creating a new downtown neighborhood definitely has some indirect benefits for everyone.
North Bank Park is nice. You should spend some time there when the weather gets warmer again. We enjoyed taking Desi over there this summer to play in the fountains. It’s just like the ones at Easton except you get them all to yourself. ;)
I think Grandview Yard is going to have a much different feel than Easton. Mixing residential into the development will be a huge change, and as far as I know, NRI is building public streets through the project just like the Arena District. Easton’s streets are private property which is pretty much the ultimate sterilization.
As for how Grandview Yard will impact neighboring areas, I’m not really too sure on all of that yet. I don’t think they’ve announced any of their planned tenants yet, and I think we’ll only start to realize who they’re competing with when we find out what all will set up there. I assume it’s going to be somewhat similar to what we see at Easton. If that’s the case then I really don’t see it hurting the Short North a whole lot. It’s fairly well established as a destination. As for downtown, it could really slow down the return of larger or chain retailers into the core of the city and compete directly with any sort of retail plans for City Center. It does feel like city officials are pushing for downtown retail to go more the entrepreneurial route though, and if that ends up getting any legs under it I think downtown could still continue to see slow and steady progress on the retail front. At the very least I don’t see Grandview Yard halting the development of Dirty Frank’s or putting B1 Bicycles out of business.
Newer buildings aren’t as “urban” as older buildings? Are people living in the Arena District not technically living an “urban” lifestyle?
I’ll tell you what I’m trying hard to understand:
Title: Grandview Yard
Desc: Massive single-developer mixed-use project located just outside of downtown.
Status: Moving forward soon.
Verdict: People are mad that it’s getting built.
Title: Jeffrey Place
Desc: Massive single-developer mixed-use project located just outside of downtown.
Status: Delayed over and over again.
Verdict: People are mad that it’s not getting built.
I agree that some of the office development in the AD has proven to be parasitic, but the residential development and entertainment development has been nothing but a boost for downtown as a whole. At the same time though, if companies were considering relocating their offices, and the Arena District was not there, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that they were planning on remaining downtown.
Anyway… can I ask what you suggest in place of the Arena District or Grandview Yard? If these multi-million dollar investment into the core of our city are “urban wet dreams” then I think it’s safe to call an abandoned prison and an abandoned grocery warehouse “urban night terrors*”. ;)
I’m not saying that these projects aren’t great and that there is anything less urban. I’m just failing to see the appeal to a local developer to create something new-that mimics or replicates a neighborhood just down the street.
Instead of sinking the money into Grandview Yard, why not City Center? This is probably the problem I think I have with all of this. Yay free market, but isn’t there some amount of social responsibility that goes with being a major player in your city? Back in the day when the major companies were screwing their workers over left and right, we had child labor-but hey, we also got some pretty good universities out of the deal, the Caraneige libraries and other public works.
Just incoherent musings…
ETA
In place of AD/GY, how about building up the Long/Spring corridors? Bridge the gap between KLD, OTE, Discovery District and Downtown. Give the students a place to be and build that residential density up. Create affordable housing there that will bring people to downtown.
As much as I want to see development happen in OTE, I hope those condos never happen. They’re f-ing heinous.
I’m in the same boat as joev as far as time spent in the Arena District. I’ve gone to a few movies at Arena Grand and had lunch at Gordon Biersch a few times but thats about it. Whenever I’ve driven through, the place is a no mans land. Never seen anyone hanging out in the park with the chunk of the old Union station either.
The Sherman-Oak Condos don’t look half bad. Which ones are you referring to?
The ones further down Oak near Miller or Kelton.
I would really like to see some of the large developers try their hand at smaller, infill projects. Any idiot can make a nice neighborhood when they bulldoze everything in their way and start from scratch. I would like to see who can pull of a nice neighborhood one piece at a time.
I don’t know. I’m not sure there’s enough parking. See, there are still a couple of buildings in this aerial:
View Larger Map
So funny…and depressing. :lol: :cry:
I don’t really see the AD or GY mimicking or replicating other existing/historical urban neighborhoods. Both seem to be aimed at creating something new. I can see this argument applying to Easton, which is a faux-town-center built on a cornfield. When applying it to the AD I feel like you’re really making it stretch just to have something to complain about. I’m sure Canton or Youngstown or any other Ohio city would love to have a company like Nationwide investing that much money in their urban centers. I guess what I’m saying is that there’s some happy middleground out there that we should all feel ok in somewhere between “settling for what’s been given to us” and “being too jaded to appreciate what’s here”.
I’m not sure if there’s really a whole lot of difference in social responsibility between redeveloping an abandoned mall and redeveloping an abandoned warehouse. It sounds like it’s just your personal preference that they pick City Center instead. It’s my preference too. Too bad you and I aren’t calling the shots.
What I meant was what developments would physically be better in place of the spots where the AD is and GY is planned. I’d love to see Long & Spring redeveloped in addition to Grandview Yard. Both can happen. We don’t have to pick and choose.
The biggest crux of “downtown” development is that it is generally cost prohibitive for individual or entrepreneurial real estate ventures. There are plenty of large expensive parcels of land downtown ripe for development, but the number of corporations who can both afford to build AND see the value (both monetary and socially) is fairly limited. It seems like nearly everyone expressing opinions on this topic would like to see our development all have an independent and personable feel to it, but the reality of the situation is that it’s not always feasible.
So funny…and depressing. :lol: :cry:
Hey dudes! I’m counting maybe 14-15 blocks worth of parking lots between Town, High, Mound, and Civic Center.
8 of those blocks are currently disappearing! How depressing is that?
Perhaps I should mosey over there and snap some new construction photos for you both. It’s probably hard to see the mess that is South Front Street right now from your respective locations/timezones.
:P
So funny…and depressing. :lol: :cry:
Hey dudes! I’m counting maybe 14-15 blocks worth of parking lots between Town, High, Mound, and Civic Center.
8 of those blocks are currently disappearing! How depressing is that?
Perhaps I should mosey over there and snap some new construction photos for you both. It’s probably hard to see the mess that is South Front Street right now from your respective locations/timezones.
:P
It is hard to see from here. Maybe I’ll go play in traffic at Christmas.
BTW, you’re welcome to mosey over anytime. If that’s not feasible, please send photos, or post them here or on XingColumbus.
I don’t spend a ton of time there either, but having a company sink a billion dollars into creating a new downtown neighborhood definitely has some indirect benefits for everyone.
I’m not knocking the Arena District, but I think a new development along those same lines would only cannibalize the AD. Whatever is built has to be different and appeal to a different set of people.
North Bank Park is nice. You should spend some time there when the weather gets warmer again. We enjoyed taking Desi over there this summer to play in the fountains. It’s just like the ones at Easton except you get them all to yourself. ;)
I actually go to North Bank Park quite a bit. Even got married there. But it seems very cut off from the Arena District – I never thought of it as part of that neighborhood – feels more like Downtown proper. The Arena District doesn’t feel at all like a “waterfront development” as the article states.
I can think of two possible reasons that vary by project component:
Residential: It’s in the Grandview Heights school district, not Columbus.
Commercial: More people live in Grandview (6,695 at the 2000 Census) than in downtown. I could also imagine that people in UA and 5xNW would rather go to Grandview (based on proximity) than downtown.
I’ll tell you what I’m trying hard to understand:
Title: Grandview Yard
Desc: Massive single-developer mixed-use project located just outside of downtown.
Status: Moving forward soon.
Verdict: People are mad that it’s getting built.
Title: Jeffrey Place
Desc: Massive single-developer mixed-use project located just outside of downtown.
Status: Delayed over and over again.
Verdict: People are mad that it’s not getting built.
I’m in favor of both, but I think I can help explain the difference in attitudes. Although both projects are mixed use, I think the difference lies in the mix. GY will have a lot of retail, over 1 Million sq. ft if I remember correctly (the site is blocked at work), but just 200 to 300 residential units. JP will have 1120 residential units and 300,000 SF of “retail and commercial space,” part of which may be offices, not actual retail. JP seems like a better balanced neighborhood.
http://www.jeffreyplace.com/
More residential is good everywhere, but people are hesitant to support more retail when there clearly is too much already (which is why downtown can’t attract enough).