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From The Dispatch:
A Downtown gem when it opened in 1989, the forlorn mall will be torn down by summer
BY MARLA MATZER ROSE AND MIKE PRAMIKColumbus City Center is coming down, and Downtown as we know it is about to change. This summer, nearly 20 years after City Center opened as the shining star of central Ohio’s retail universe, the obsolete and nearly abandoned mall will be demolished. It is to be replaced by an urban park and, within several years, a collection of buildings that will contain residences, offices, restaurants and shops.
The city has dubbed the $165 million project Columbus Commons. It is seeking federal stimulus money to pay for the mall demolition and development of the park, which city officials expect to start this summer and complete within 18 months. The remainder of the project will take shape over the next five to 10 years, as the market dictates.
All that will be left are the parking garage, underground parking and the entryway to the mall off State Street.
OK, I’m sold. I don’t know why I was so against it in the first place. Maybe because I wanted to do something with it myself? I had some sort of “hanging gardens” urban park concept that I wanted to do for a potential senior thesis… I’m just glad they are reopening town street.
Dog park?
dog park would be awesome! closer to condos than the one they stuck on 4th street. Also a classic fountain like the one at fountain Square in Cincinnati would be awesome..something new to showcase downtown Columbus. Has anyone ever been to Fountain Square during the summer to have lunch? A very nice urban setting.
I’d still like to see a permanent ferris wheel and a summertime fountain
that can double as a wintertime ice skating rink.
Urbanboi… have you seen the plans for the fountain on the Scioto Mile about two blocks from the City Center? ;)
From Business First:
The city of Columbus and its Capitol South Community Redevelopment Corp. plan to knock down City Center shopping mall this spring to make way for a $145 million office and retail development anchored by a $15 million city park.
The demolition is scheduled to begin in late April, marking the end of the massive 19-year-old retail center in a steady decline since the opening of competing suburban retail malls began 10 years ago.
City officials unveiled the plans Wednesday at a news conference.
Capitol South CEO Guy Worley said the Columbus Commons project could eventually entail 30,000 square feet of retail space, 40,000 square feet for restaurants, 435,000 square feet in offices and 400 housing units on the 8.9-acre site.
From Columbus Homes Blog:
Ding, Dong, the Mall is dead. So sang the Lollipop Guild Powers-That-Be from the Mayor’s Office to Capitol South Urban Redevelopment Corp. this afternoon. After years of full scale retail exodus, a not-too-hostile takeover by the City and an enormous amount of speculation, City Center isn’t getting a Target, a Grocery Store or becoming a Casino. City Center will be demolished to make room for a city park, Columbus Commons.
It’d be nice to get some local outdoor artists’ work in the park, too. I love parks, and the ones we have are nice–but fairly generic. Goodale, Schiller, and Franklin, are all lovely English-style parks, but kinda the same. Or maybe just a heavy hand on the French-style.
I like the idea, I might not be so wild about the execution. We’ll see.
I’m not sold … Andrea’s comment about the parks we already have is spot on. We need a dense dynamic downtown in order to enliven the parks we already have, in fact have you ever seen anyone in the “green space” left over from the Centrum (does anyone in this messageboard remember the Centrum?). An urban park has to have a consistent framework in which to work (Bryant Park in NYC, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia), and just tearing down City Center is not going to do it. I do not buy the idea that once you take down City Center – that new buildings will suddenly appear. It will take 20-50 years to see the vision as presented in the gauzy renderings – if ever. As it exists today all existing structures will be backed up against this “park” … how do you address this problem architecturally? I am not completely against the concept of a public square, but it needs to be accomplished with elegance and grace – not with the city using the lowest bid and the cheapest materials.
My preference is a selective demolition of the City Center, re-skin whatever remains, re-connect Town street, reduce the retail footprint, expand office and residential uses, and then provide a well considered public square amongst fully realized “existing” buildings.
From the article and from Walker’s interview, it sounds like saving anything was just not feasible. They looked into that for nearly a year and everyone they talked to said it wont work. Plus to be a front runner for the stimulas package you need to have your project ready now. With that idea we wouldn’t’ be ready in time, which means a new source of funds would be needed ….. which in turn pushes back the time table. We need to seize this opportunity and I think the current plan does that.
As for the fountain idea ….. excellent idea, fountain square is the only thing I like about Cincy. Walker, I know there is already one planned for close by, but I dont see why we cant have another.
As for park use …. excellent point, we def. need to add reasons to use the park, but if restaurants were to line it and open up to the park, there is something that will draw people in year round.
I don’t think anyone would have imagined the AD as it is now when the pen was first torn down.
But yeah, reading through the articles and interviews it sounds like this is the best of the options. I think you will see this built up quickly in the next decade or so. That is a very prime piece of real estate-access to transit and freeways; local, state and federal government; higher education; museums. Someone will find value in it.
They probably could have saved the money on consultants and just come here to CU for the idea.
They’ll be getting no money from the Feds if Tom Coburn has his way. He’s proposing an amendment to the stimulus bill as follows, ”
They should incorporate the walkways that save energy as people walk on it to light up some display or use the power to power the Stores and housing .
I was hoping for a dry heat sauna with rotating pastel lights…oh well.
I think we all pretty much agree on adding as many things possible to ensure the park is used. Might I also suggest buskers? And why not include some unusual architecture? That can and does add to a city’s image.
And how about a dog park section?
I also second the food carts and spaces for local art. What else could we add?
Now with all these ingredients for making a great public space, how can we possibly expect shrink the park to a mere fraction of the original size and still cram all these great things into it? Aside from not adding a few new roads, how about less “C” shaped buildings which take up more space and just keep all the buildings up against High, Rich, and along existing buildings to ensure maximum room for the park?
Photo hunt time! Can you find the difference between these two renderings? (sorry…can’t seem to get the embedded images to work)
Photo 1 and Photo 2
missing the streetcar …. correct?
I think the initial 9 acre park without anything else around it will be underused.
I think the final 1 acre park with 30,000 sqft of retail 40,000 sqft of restaurant, 400 residential units, and 400,000+ sqft office space will be a much better fit.
From my understanding, the larger 9 acre park we’ll get out of step one is an interim step. We either have a large underused park while we wait for the rest of the infill, or we have a large abandoned mall while we wait for the rest.
You’re right Walker, the 9 acre park is a place holder for the ultimate plan. It’s easier to sell parcels of lawn to developers than a chunk of a dead mall. IMO this plan gives the city maximum flexibility to react to needs over the next 10 years. If the economy turns around there might be a need for more housing than offices (or the opposite).
I was a bit bored at work so I wandered over to the Dispatch Hot Topic. I’m glad I don’t rely on those folks for impressions of the city. I had no idea how much crime and prostitution there is downtown! One poster suggested we need more parking, not parks, downtown. Another wanted the mall turned into a jail. It’s a wonder that these people ever leave their homes. Yikes!
Ha, I just had that convo with someone at work today. I run through downtown nearly every night. I’ve never felt unsafe once.