Columbus has long been famous as the home of the Ohio State University, the nation’s largest. But for a long time, this city’s downtown has been depressed, with storefronts shuttered and major streets deserted in the evening. Although a state capital, thus blessed with a number of hefty government employers, the city has been in a decline that paralleled that of many Midwestern rust-belt centers, where industry and white-collar jobs retreated to the suburbs.
These days, those suburbs are faring well, and the university has become an important incubator of information technology start-ups. But downtown is stirring, too. In anticipation of the city’s 200th birthday, which will occur in 2012, Central Columbus is attempting a comeback. For the first time in decades, the downtown is slowly beginning to hum with new developments.
Historic buildings are getting renovated, more than 5,000 condos have recently been built (10,000 more have been proposed), and new pedestrian destinations, like the King Lincoln Arts and Entertainment District and the River South District, are drawing new residents from the suburbs. On weekend evenings, these areas bustle with activity. City officials say downtown is looking more promising than it has for years.
“There are so many projects breaking ground in 2008 that our goal is to be complete before Columbus’ 200-year anniversary,” said Amy Taylor, vice president of Capitol South Urban Redevelopment Corp. “I think the Columbus community looks at downtown as the pinnacle.”
Many projects have been initiated by the state government, including a new $105 million courthouse, a $56 million stadium for the Columbus Clippers, a Triple-A baseball club and a $40 million park. The city has also invested in wider sidewalks, new outdoor seating, bike paths and lighting.
The city’s mayor, Michael Coleman, is emphasizing sustainable green design as a key component for downtown’s rebirth. The 1-million-square-foot Lazarus building, a former department store being turned into office space, will have a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification. On the edge of downtown, in a public-private partnership with the city, Sovereign Homes and MiraCit Development recently opened Green View Estates, 30 homes on 11 acres, which will afford plenty of green space built on what had once been one of the city’s most dangerous spots.
“Columbus’ downtown has already witnessed the spiral of decline, when business traffic — which once reached over 30,000 — dropped to 4,000 in 1999. But we have since reversed it in 2002,” said Michael Brown, a spokesperson for the mayor. “Sure, we still compete with the suburbs for business, but right now we’re ahead.”
In particular, the city is in a battle with the suburbs for retail shoppers. The opening of three malls in northern suburbs in the 1980s hit the downtown retail scene hard.
In early November, City Center, a downtown Columbus mall, was acquired by the Capitol South Urban Redevelopment Corporation, a city-owned firm, for a mere $2.8 million. Presently, only 34 tenants remain in the 1.2 million-square-foot mall, down from 148 when it first opened in the late 1980s.
Still, the city has not announced plans for how it will reinvigorate the mall.
“The revitalization of City Center is a barometer for the community downtown,” Taylor said. “But until we put up a plan, we cannot determine how to redevelop.”
Commercial brokers indicate that drawing tenants back to City Center will take time. Presently, downtown retail space rents for $20 to $32 per square foot, whereas space in the suburbs goes for $10 to $16.
For all the changes visible in downtown Columbus, some brokers think the city might go down a bit more before business firmly picks up again. Others sense that, backed by the city government and other civic institutions like Ohio State University, a critical mass is finally building after years of hard times.
“You could see prices drop downtown. There’s a lot of space downtown because years ago, it was substantially overbuilt,” said Robert Deis, a broker with Prudential CRES Commercial Real Estate in Columbus. “Businesses moved to the suburbs years ago because of tax incentives. Now, tax incentives are starting to bring some back downtown.”