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Press Release wrote
Demolition of Lazarus Sky Bridge will help prepare High Street for Active Retail
In his 2008 State of the City Address Mayor Michael B. Coleman announced the creation of a new district downtown, The Mile on High District to focus on rebuilding the High Street Corridor with active retail, office and housing to bring more people and new investment back into the area. Today Columbus City Council will consider ordinance 1090-2008 to authorize the release of $503,670 of bond proceeds currently held in the RiverSouth Area Redevelopment Project Fund in support of Columbus Downtown Development Corporation’s plan to repair the two alleys adjoining the northwest portion of The Lazarus Building to complete a plan to demolish the sky bridge connecting the Lazarus Building to City Center and repair the Lazarus facade, preparing it for street-level retail.
“High Street is the spine of our City and for our City to work best, our backbone must be strong,” said Mayor Coleman. “With more than 100,000 workers and an increasing number of residents moving downtown, we need to spur economic development and create new retail opportunities along High Street by demolishing the cavernous City Center walkway. We are grateful to Governor Strickland and our legislative partners for helping to secure money for this worthwhile project.”
The sky bridge that once connected City Center with Lazarus has been dormant for years and is a strong impediment to creating a thriving retail environment. Demolition of the Lazarus Sky Bridge will provide a catalyst for retail along the High Street corridor in front of The Lazarus Building helping to spur economic redevelopment. The total cost of the project is approximately $3 million with the State of Ohio contributing $2.5 million from the 2008 state capital budget.
Recent public and private investments have made RiverSouth an emerging neighborhood. Construction for the Main Street Bridge has been underway for several years, and The Scioto Mile Park began construction in April 2008 and the municipal garage at the corner of Front and Rich streets will be completed in the spring of 2009. Last month, Lifestyles Communities broke ground on a moderately priced housing development, featuring both rental and for-sale units on four empty lots just south of The Lazarus Building, providing an important housing product downtown.
Council will also consider ordinance 0973-2008 for the creation of a downtown Tax Increment Financing District (TIF). The TIF will cover a large area of Downtown approximately bounded to the north by the Arena District, south by the Brewery District, east by I-71 and west by the Scioto River and is targeted to fund a variety of public improvements including parking garages, roadways and parks.
The City of Columbus is helping lead the implementation of the Downtown Business Plan with the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation and local businesses. 2008 marks the sixth year of the 10-year plan to bring new investment, energy and activity into downtown. The total new investment in downtown since 2000 is estimated at $2.19 billion, with $711 million in public funding helping leverage $1.48 billion in private investment. This includes projects proposed, under construction, or built since 2000.
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- itinerantfoodie: Not one mention of Huntington Park or their sparse advertising. (Seriously
- Liz Samuelson: Why can't they just pay someone to do it versus a contest? I really like t
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Downtown Re-Development Moving Forward
By: Walker
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Well it was downtown, so I’m sure it wasnt too made up :D
without the skywalk it will definately look different, better. ha. but does anyone know how many ppl actually use the skywalk?? i doubt that very many ppl do.
Does anyone know if there are any pictures of all the construction going on in the Riversouth? I haven’t seen it for a couple of years now and would really like to see whats changed. Thanks!
Here’s construction photos from back in March:
http://capcitysavvy.com/2008/03/30/riversouth-is-under-construction/
The Lazarus Garage is gone now, and the courthouse has the elevator and stairwell shafts almost completely in place. Town Street and Civic Center are both ripped to shreds and they’ve been doing utility work along Front Street where that new apartment complex has just broken ground.
Basically, the mall was ok for the first 8 years (89-97) and it was all downhill after that due mainly to Tuttle, Easton, and Polaris opening.
Worth a read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_City_Center
The central core of downtown is a business district. If you’re not working there between 8am and 5pm, then you really have no reason to be there outside the occasional show at the Ohio Theater or Palace Theater.
It’s the same as any other business center in any other major city. Things are slowly changing though, and more non-work-related things are popping up around there.
Nice, Thanks Walker. Riversouth is looking much more appealing now compared to that sea of parking lots that was ther before. I would love to live in that area with the completion of the Scioto Mile and everything.
I believe it’s been closed off since Lazarus closed. No one is using it.
Definitely lots of activity down in this neck of downtown! Hopefully future construction in RiverSouth will be a little more dense, and a little more mixed-use.
I’d also like to point out that Front St. has been reduced to one lane for a month and it hasn’t caused mass hysteria. Shockingly, we don’t require 5 lane, 35 mph, one-way streets with timed traffic lights to ensure our continued survival. Amazing. :roll:
the area under that thing is just dank dismal and depressing. Even on a sunny day it is dim and lit with hundreds of those cheap fluorescent lights that make everything look slightly green. Most evenings there are a bunch of people who congregate there and it looks like shady dealings are going on. Even if they are all perhaps lovely nice people with puppies and fuzzy bunnies, the setting somehow makes them look like they are up to no good at all. It’s a bad atmosphere.
At the “race for the cure” event, more people tripped and fell under that thing than any other part of the 5K run. I think it is the transition to darkness when people are trying to run.
No, sir. I don’t like it. I do not like it one bit.
Time to let some fresh air and sunlight in!
Well it was downtown, so I’m sure it wasnt too made up :D
That is the kind of attitude that has helped kill many a downtown. With City Center (some here may be able to offer better details) there were a few crime issues that the media ran with. I say perceived in the sense that what one hears and sees on the news is more often than not contrary to actual experience. Just ask any of us that work or live downtown.
Well it was downtown, so I’m sure it wasnt too made up :D
That is the kind of attitude that has helped kill many a downtown. With City Center (some here may be able to offer better details) there were a few crime issues that the media ran with. I say perceived in the sense that what one hears and sees on the news is more often than not contrary to actual experience. Just ask any of us that work or live downtown.
I sense there was a bit of sarcasm behind the reply (note smiley emoticon).
Although CaD does list Dublin as his location… that in itself is suspicious :wink:
of course once this thing is gone i assume that the facade of the lazarus building will most likely be rennovated to its original state, yes? so like the rest of the building allready is, (i.e. get rid of that 1960s fake-marble “fan-like” decoration that covered up all the windows?)
also does anybody know what they’re going to do with the city center facade, maybe just patch it up lightly so it will hold til the building comes down? oh and isnt the sidewalk in that area some kind of special material designating it as being where the skywalk is, (like a purple granite or something if my memory isnt completely gone?). will this stay, perhaps as a memorial to the failed urban policies of the 1980s?
I sure hope that’s the plan. The south and west facades look great having been restored to their original 1920s appearance.
I passed through the Riversouth area yesterday to get a look at the ongoing redevelopment. I must say I was impressed. The span of the new Main St. bridge is definitely taking shape. The construction on the new Hall of Justice is impressive as well. To be honest, I didn’t think the building was going to be so tall from the renderings. The base of the new parking garage is for the most part complete. Prep work is being done on the Lifestyle Communities condos, and streetwork is ongoing in the area as well. The demolition of the City Center skywalk will only continue the incredible momentum we have going on in Riversouth. My hope now is that we can finally get rid of the large swath of land at the corner of Rich and High. That would be a dream come true.
Did you see the Wonder Twins?
A.
Did you see the Wonder Twins?
Only if their Wonder Twin powers were activated. Though Zan might’ve been the crane operator…
Well it was downtown, so I’m sure it wasnt too made up :D
That is the kind of attitude that has helped kill many a downtown. With City Center (some here may be able to offer better details) there were a few crime issues that the media ran with. I say perceived in the sense that what one hears and sees on the news is more often than not contrary to actual experience. Just ask any of us that work or live downtown.
I sense there was a bit of sarcasm behind the reply (note smiley emoticon).
Although CaD does list Dublin as his location… that in itself is suspicious :wink:
Yes some sarcasm was intended. Plus I know better than to speak ill of downtown on this downtown cbus website. RELAX THAT WAS MORE COMEDY.
Maybe I should change my location from Dublin’ish to ‘NW Corner’.
This site’s physical boundaries include the whole region. A lot of it is downtown-centric, but you better be ready for some hot debate if you speak negatively (especially if the negativity is based on unfounded rumors such as the downtown crime misconception) about any neighborhood, as there’s always plenty of people here from all corners of the city to represent where they live.
:D
Sorry, my week’s been horrible so the sarcasm sense is off a bit. :D
Like Walker said, we do get a bit touchy about the misconceptions.
I’m annoyed at how the whole City Center thing has been brushed under the rug. First we will hear development plans in March, then May, then…silence. So they’re gonna take down the overpass, GREAT! Now what about the mall?! The silence is more annoying that would be an announcement that they have no clue what to do with it. At least we’d know they’re trying.
I would hope that a few enlightened engineers and demo technicians would “mistakenly” misplace some explosives and demolish the rest of City Center Mall. This would all be done while evacuating the area of course!
It’s certainly easier to start new projects from scratch or from usable buildings than to find a use for an existing eye sore or a giant dysfunctional concrete cinder block.