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Next Thursday, The Ohio State University will officially unveil their new master plan that will outline how the OSU main campus will develop over the next 50 years and how it will change in the context of the neighborhood, city and region. Business First posted up a brief preview of some of the development recommendations coming from the new master plan, which includes the suggested addition of a second “Gateway” at the corner of Lane Avenue and High Street on campus grounds currently used as parking and lawn space. More information on the master plan will be available next week following our coverage of the master plan unveiling.
Comments
- cheap: i highly recommend the Millersport sweet corn festival of course,the cor
- Jimmy Mak: Thanks for the write-up! Just to clarify - this is the third year we've do
- Briana Henry: Well, eventually they plan to add more bands from the region...gotta start
- bucki12: I like the business model, but the internet sales part seems like something
- racheltb: I don't see the Ohio Shrimp Fest on the list. It is truly a good time. h
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OSU May Develop “North Campus Gateway”
By: Walker
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DavidF above is spot on about the issue totally sums up in a sharper and more concise manner what I was trying to say regarding the South Gateway Center.
ZAS – I guess you didn’t call it a failure, but your seemingly sarcastic comment about it being a “runaway success” seemed to imply that you actually meant the opposite of that… a failure. Sorry if I put words into your mouth.
I agree with you that it is bothersome that some of the retail bays have not been rented out, and that others sit empty for long periods of time. I’ve heard that high rents keep many businesses away, including the smaller mom-n-pop variety who can’t afford it. The one thing to keep in mind though is the size of the individual retail bays. I’d have to dig up an old article that had the exact numbers but I recall reading somewhere that B&N is around 25-30% of the retail space at the Gateway by itself, and the theater is almost the same. Throw in the five big restaurant/bars and Aveda and we’re probably talking about 90% of the retail space right there. If a few of those smaller 2,000 sqft spaces are sitting empty, it’s quite visible from the street level, but again… they make up a very small percentage of the space in the overall project.
DavidF – I’ve never been a big fan of land acquisition via eminent domain, but I don’t necessarily think it’s the “raw deal” that everyone always claims it to be. Building owners were compensated for their properties, probably better than they would have been if they had sold on the open market. Of course, business tenants renting spaces in those buildings were forced to relocate and some either chose not to, or weren’t able to. I don’t know if their leases with their building owners guaranteed them that they’d be able to rent those spaces until the end of time, or whether anyone expected that, but I’m doubtful that’s the case. Is there any guarantee that any of those businesses would still be in business today if the SCG never happened? Again… eminent domain is not my preferred method of pushing forward with urban redevelopment, but I’m not convinced that I’ve ever heard any opposition that wasn’t at least a little bit clouded by rose-tinted nostalgia.
What I personally think would be interesting would be an indepth series of interviews with building owners and business owners who were pushed out of the area. I’d love to know if owners felt that they were compensated fairly, if relocated businesses are still doing ok after moving, and if closed business owners have managed to move on.
I believe Paul Bonneville (Retrometro) had some good entries on the subject. Unfortunately his blog seems to no longer exist.
Walker said: “I’d have to dig up an old article that had the exact numbers but I recall reading somewhere that B&N is around 25-30% of the retail space at the Gateway by itself, and the theater is almost the same. Throw in the five big restaurant/bars and Aveda and we’re probably talking about 90% of the retail space right there. If a few of those smaller 2,000 sqft spaces are sitting empty, it’s quite visible from the street level, but again… they make up a very small percentage of the space in the overall project.”
What about the vacant Sunflower Market? That was a pretty decent sized place and quite visible on High St. That needs to be filled with something!
ZAS: +1 for Mad Mex’s half off food and happy hour! I also remember McFaddens having a good happy hour. With OSU out of session, I am more likely to visit SCG now…
It’s unfortunate what happened to Sunflower but that was out of gateway/universities hand. Sunflower simply did to much to soon. Gateway was actually doing well but opening stores all around stretched them thin.
While I do agree that it would be nice to see that area filled that is actually not in the universities court. Sunflower is still on lease. OSU is actually benefiting somewhat how it currently sits rather than if it was actually vacant. Sunflower’s legal group has placed an outside broker to market and rent it. That’s not OSU that has it listed.
@Walker: Here’s where I think it was a raw deal:
1. OSU spent time, money and political capital to build a pretty bookend for prospective students and their parents. As a member of the student government at the time all of this was beginning, I can tell you that many people in the University community felt that this would have been better used being proactive in the neighborhoods East of High Street. This could have been used working towards a cleaner, safer neighborhood with higher quality affordable housing instead of a show piece that has negligible benefit beyond it’s immediate footprint.
2. We spend a lot of time touting the virtues of buying local here. We decry shady landlords jacking up rents and forcing good local businesses to fold up or move. While this situation happened before your time, that doesn’t make the situation any different. A big pocketed, politically powerful entity decided that it was going to control to a significant degree what kinds of businesses would be able to operate in that area. No, of course there’s no guarantee that any of the former businesses would still be in operation, but it’s interesting to me that an action that would be vociferously opposed if it happened in the Short North, is somehow acceptable just because it’s Campus. Rose tinted nostalgia? Perhaps, but again, you weren’t there and I think that guides your rose tinted vision of what the area has become as much or more as any of us who aren’t thrilled with it.
That said, I’ll restate that I think NCG could be a positive development. The significant difference in this case is that it won’t be accomplished by a legal land grab by the University.
I’m an OSU alumnus and I’m proud of the University, I frequent the theater at the Gateway fairly frequently, and I like some of the business mix that has gone in there and the apartments (not incredibly affordable, but nice to have right on High street). That doesn’t mean I can’t feel bad that other options for improving the neighborhood as a whole were ignored in favor of eye candy.
Just so you know… I was at OSU in 1998, which was pre-Gateway. I remember the dive bars that were there. ;)
I think the old South Campus dive bar scene pretty much died soon after the catalyst that was for Campus Partner’s the 1996 Papa Joe’s fire.
I don’t recall exactly when those businesses vacated, but demolition didn’t start until 2002. There were still active bars circa 1998-2000.
Anyway… I think we’ve all digressed quite a bit. As DavidF pointed out, this North Campus project is a much different proposal than the South Campus Gateway. I’m looking forward to learning more about it.