Columbus' Arena District Helping To Revive City's Downtown
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Columbus' Arena District Seen As One Of
Most Successful Redevelopment Projects In U.S. |
Columbus' $750M Arena District, for which the 18,500-seat Nationwide Arena "was the catalyst," has "attracted some of the city's most prominent architecture, law, real estate development and advertising firms and is regarded as one of the Midwest's most successful urban redevelopment projects," according to the N.Y. TIMES' Keith Schneider, who wrote under the header, "A Waterfront Revival In Columbus, Ohio." The district is a mixed-use neighborhood of housing, offices, retailing and entertainment, and "about 1,000 people live in the 525 housing units" in the district. Arena District developer Nationwide Realty Investors (NRI) "helped Columbus envision a new approach to land use." The district, a partnership between Columbus and the company, was to be an "answer to Columbus's downtown woes, and it seems to be succeeding." It "embodies three influential theories of urban redevelopment of the last decade" -- walkable street and neighborhood designs, an urban setting that "lets creative young professionals weave work and play" and sports venues, which some experts "see as essential to civic economic health." The development plan for the Arena District's final phase includes a $250M project to add 450 housing units, 300,000 square feet of office space, an eight-level garage with 1,600 spaces, an "80,000-square-foot grocery store ... and as much as 40,000 square feet of retail space." NRI is also developing the $50M Huntington Park, a 10,000-seat baseball field for the Triple-A Int'l League Columbus Clippers opening next spring." NRI President & COO Brian Ellis said of the impact of the current economic climate, "What's happening now may affect the speed at which we complete this final phase. But we continue to see strong demand for the office space and housing. We continue to command the highest rental rates in the city" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/3).
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