Whoever said you can’t find nature in the heart of the city has never been to Columbus, Ohio — well at least not recently. Columbus is making a big effort to replace roadways with greenways and alter people’s perceptions about what it means to live downtown.
What used to be a dilapidated department store is what started it all. In 2002, Mayor Michael Coleman and the city council formed the nonprofit Columbus Downtown Development Corp. (CDDC), which was tasked with reshaping and revitalizing downtown into an urban hub.
In 2008, The Lazarus Building, a department store that has been an urban icon for the last 100 years, received a $1 million facelift and is now fully leased to a mix of commercial, cultural and retail tenants in 1 million square feet of space.
“The Lazarus Building suffered the same fate as malls and department stores in downtowns throughout the country,” recalls Guy Worley, CDDC president. “As more people left the cities for the suburbs, these malls and department stores were left to decay.”
The building was the first LEED Gold-certified renovation project in Central Ohio — something the city takes pride in.
“We didn’t want this project to come at the expense of our environment, so instead of demolition we chose rehabilitation. Instead of throwing everything away, we set out to recycle as much as we could,” says Worley.
And recycle they did. The building recycled 75 percent (6 million tons) of construction and demolition debris, which is equivalent to keeping 3,000 cars out of landfills, according to the CDDC. Current green features include harvesting rainwater for cooling, low-flow plumbing, energy-efficient windows and a green roof to reduce summer heat.
“The building was aptly named, as it truly did come back from the dead,” says Worley.
More Improvements Ahead
The renovation of the Lazarus Building was the first major project the CDDC undertook, and was so successful that it propelled the organization to begin renovating all of the neglected buildings in Columbus into moneymakers for the downtown area.
Plans to turn parking lots and boarded-up buildings into green spaces are underway, and the CDDC has already converted a five-lane road into two lanes to build what is known as the Scioto Mile Riverfront Park.
This grand boulevard stretches along the east bank of the river and includes water features, benches, swings, gardens and tables along a boardwalk that connects Battelle Park to John W. Galbreath Bicentennial Park.
John W. Galbreath Bicentennial Park has been updated and now features a 15,000-square-foot water fountain that becomes a water playground during warm months, a café, and a band shell that hosts touring artists, local musicians and arts organizations.
Next in line for the city’s beautification is the removal of the Main Street dam.
This $35.5 million project, known as the Scioto Greenways Project, will restore the river’s natural channel and add 33 acres of additional green space along the water.
“The project will allow the river channel to resemble the deep and shallow depths a river should have. When the project is complete, the river will narrow to about half of its current width, allowing the flow to pick up speed. The banks are also being remade using sediment from the existing river as well as imported material from nearby construction sites,” says Worley.
The green spaces will be an integrated system of parks, boulevards, bikeways and pedestrian paths. The CDDC says it expects the river to be active with paddleboats, canoers and kayakers by next spring due to the addition of boat launches.
Planners expect this project to serve as a further catalyst for private investment in downtown Columbus, but the development of such a large area still isn’t a walk in the park.
“The greatest challenge is always getting over the finish line. It’s easy to announce a project, harder to begin a project and even more difficult to complete a project. But we have a track record at the CDDC to live up to what we say,” says Worley.
Paying homage to veterans
Another development in the works is the Ohio Veterans Memorial and Museum. Construction on the facility started this summer, and the project is a $50 million investment sourced from public and private investment. This museum, located on the Scioto Peninsula, will be the first statewide veterans museum in Ohio and, along with Memorial Grove, will occupy a seven-acre site.
Memorial Grove is a green space that will surround the new museum and provide a natural sanctuary for rest and reflection. Turner Construction Co. will head up the construction management, and Allied Works Architecture will be the primary architect.
All of the planned renovations and updates around the city are making Columbus a desirable place to live with a lot of urban amenities, according to the CDDC.
“Columbus is a place where we say what we mean and mean what we say. It’s trite, but true,” says Worley. “We don’t develop plans that sit on shelves. We develop plans that are used to chart our course. There is community participation, and the public and private sectors work in tandem to execute the plans.”
Private investments totaling $270 million have already been made to draw people from all walks of life inside the city limits. These investments have manifested themselves in 1,137 housing units, 105,000 square feet of retail space and 275,000 square feet of office space.
“Downtown Columbus has seen major investment and energy over the past decade. At the same time, the demographic of our city is changing. Millennials want to live and work in a walkable, pedestrian-friendly community. They want amenities, green space, culture and restaurants,” says Worley.
“While the suburbs will always have their place, downtown Columbus has carved out a growing market and is poised to take advantage of this trend as it grows.”