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Since the only real progress made on the massive RiverSouth project has been the revamp of the old Lazarus building, I figured it was time to put this one back on the table for discussion.
If you’re unaware, the area defined as “RiverSouth” is a massive 20-acre plot of land on the south end of downtown, sandwiched between High Street and the Scioto River. The majority of this area is made up of flat parking lots, with just a few buildings sprinkled blocks apart from each other. The idea to develop this area was announced years ago, but not much has materialized in the way of a master plan for the project.
The four-block area at High/Mound/Front/Main will be the home to the new Franklin County Courthouse Complex which was announced to feature some sort of mixed-use development, but most of the rest of the area is unaccounted for.
So once again, the question is: How would you like to see this area redeveloped? More office skyscrapers? Residential towers? Green Space? Retail? Entertainment? Really, the sky is the limit when there’s this much room for improvement. Got any good ideas?
No skyscrapers, commercial or otherwise. A pedestrian oriented high-density neighborhood would be nice. One of the lots would make for a nice public space like a European style plaza. It would work as long as the area is high-density and would serve as a place for locals to hang out for free. Just make sure parking isn’t plentiful.
A “mini-Easton” would be cool there. I lived just north of Atlanta for a while and there were a couple of these types of complexes that were very nice and convenient for quick shopping trips and also served as a place of residence for many upper-middle class renters. You could have an open air shopping area and build a few units of Easton-esque brownstone apartments in the immediate surrounding area. Businesses like Trader Joes, Cold Stone, Best Buy and some of the mall stores like Ann Taylor, Banana Rep and the Limited line stores did pretty well in those shopping ATL suburb shopping centers. Add to it the fact that there is no longer any mall type shopping in the downtown area….something on a smaller scale like this could be successful do to its conveniece for city dwellers.
I’ve noted this before, but this area would benefit enormously from one specific addition by deletion: get rid of the juvenile detention center across Front Street from the Franklin County building (the building that currently doubles as both the municipal complex and courthouse, while the new dedicated courthouse is built).
I would want to see more midrise residential, not perhaps as tall or magisterial as Miranova or Waterford, but nevertheless higher-density, near the riverfront, on all the lots abutting Galbreath Park. Unfortunately, one of those sites is a historic building, I think (an old church or something? But converted into an art center of some kind? I don’t know). Closer toward the new courthouse, there’s probably room for new office or mixed-use buildings, since there are always businesses that really like to be close to the judicial and government buildings in any locality (law firms among them, but hardly the only example).
I know the old Red Zone (forget its new name) is still there, but I don’t see this area turning into much of a serious entertainment district a la the Arena District or Short North.
Right now, that whole area is pretty much a blank slate.
I have always wondered if there might be some way to position several blocks of this area for authentic, ethic-oriented development that might lead to a mini ChinaTown, or something like that.
For example, I have really developed an appreciation of Asain culture, and Columbus has a pretty vibrant Asian community. I thought it would be cool to allow people of Asian ethnicity to have some of this land as a blank slate so that they could develop it to resemble a street from one of the cities in Asia.
I realize this is probably pretty unrealistic idea, but, hey, I can dream!
Well…
- As Walker pointed out, four blocks are going to be the courthouse.
- The remaining 3 blocks between Rich, Main, Front, and Civic Center are set aside for expanding the office building. (check out the “for lease” sign near the front of the building for a rendering).
- Casto has a proposed condo development on the corner of Front and Main that has been on hold forever (presumably until the city gets off the dime on thier piece). I believe this project would be a renovation of the abandoned U-Stor-it facility.
- The Mayor and his aides have made public statements that they would like to introduce more rental units in the Capital South land that will be developed in RiverSouth.
- The Lazarus Parking Garage is shut down because it is in a state of disrepair. I wouldn’t be suprised to see this rebuilt as a parking structure of some sort…there will be a need with the other lots wiped out for development.
- The North Lazarus building is set for renovation next, just as soon as the new one is done and it’s residents can move to the new building.
Assuming all of those projects happen, that only leaves a few parcels for development…
- The surface parking lot(s) adjacent to Columbia Gas
- The surface parking lot(s) near the Sunoco Station and Karma
- The corner of High and Main
The first two would be prime location for some mid-rise residential. They are close proximity to the river and all of downtown. They would offer great views of downtown and red, white and boom. The summer festivals would literally be at your doorstep. Bicentennial Park is only 1 block away.
The third would be a great spot for a high-rise residential tower or hotel with street level restaurant space.
I’d like to see Front Street converted into two-way from all the way up at Nationwide, all the way down to the Brewery District. The corridor of Front stretching through RiverSouth from Town to Mound should be pedestrian friendly, no visible surface lots, ground level retail with 3 to 6 floors of office and residential above it, and potential office high-rises set back from the street, to give a vertical feel without the vertigo effect of having the skyscrapers right off the sidewalk.
I’ve always thought this area could use at least 3 or 4 high-rise buildings as it’s a great big hole in our skyline right now. You have the high-rises clustered around Capitol square, and then you have a 4-block gap down to the Franklin County Courhouse building. Sure, there’s Miranova, and Waterford, and the Columbus Gas building, but they’re all half the height and depending on the angle are really minimalized compared to the other buildings downtown.
The closed Lazarus Garage should either be rennovated or torn down. Several new hidden garage structures would be welcome in this area, and underground parking is definitely doable with so many flat lots currently here.
I’d like to see the whole area between Mound, Civic Center, Main, and Front converted into dense mid-rise housing, so that Miranova and Waterford are more in the middle of a small neighborhood than isolated buildings are they are right now.
I agree with gramarye that the Juvy building should be moved (it’s overcrowded anyway) elsewhere, just as the impound lot is being moved off Whittier Penninsula for development.
I also agree with dKilla that some mall-esque retail should be welcome in this area, but more with a downtown feel. I’d love to see urban versions of big-box retailers incorporated like Best Buy (or Microcenter), DSW, Target, etc.
Once the Main Street bridge and Town Street pedestrian bridge is complete, it should alter the traffic flow in this area as well, and main street may become more used, making it more of a thoroughfare than it currently is, so I’d say it should also contain more ground-level amenities.
The current Streetcar plan has the cars coming north on Front and turning the corner at Mound to head back to High, but I think it could easily continue up Front instead a few more blocks, maybe to Town before going back to High, so that this new area also gets easy access to the streetcars.
Maybe the streetcars could travel on Front and High all the way until Nationwide or even better, W Goodale?