Tag Archives: Columbus Ohio neighborhood

How I Would Develop Southeast Downtown

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Southeast Downtown will be getting a relative boost in the next few years, thanks to the Mound Street Connector, currently under construction. As part of the I-70/I-71 rebuild, a new ramp will run from westbound I-70 into Downtown via Mound Street, which currently is a dead end at the Split. It has been that way since the highway was constructed in the early 1960s. The city of Columbus recently came out with development guidelines for the Mound Street Corridor concerning preferred type of development, preferred heights, etc. I wanted to make my own map of how I would redevelop this long-neglected part of Downtown if I had the ability.

This is the map I came up with:
http://goo.gl/maps/gg0Mx

The area I looked at is bounded by Main Street to the north, 71 to the east, 70 to the south and 3rd Street to the west.

Some of the details include:
-The creation of 2 gateways into Downtown, one on Mound and the other on Main Street. The gateways could include some kind of large public art sculpture, signature signage and landscaping, or really anything that provides a welcoming entrance into the heart of the city.
-20-25 historic buildings that currently exist in this part of the city would be preserved. Any historic commercial buildings would remain as such or converted to mixed used with residential above and ground-floor retail. Historic homes would be restored (if needed) and kept as residential buildings or perhaps used for small businesses.
-4 new CoGo stations would be built.
-Currently, several streets have incomplete or non-existent sidewalks. These would be completed along with landscaping.
-Mound Street’s original street grid would be restored. That means connecting the sections between Grant and S. 5th Street.
-Noble Street’s original street grid would be restored, also between Grant and S. 5th Streets. Both new sections of Mound and Noble would have sidewalks and landscaping.
-17 major street intersections would be rebuilt with brick. Pedestrian priority walks and signaling would be installed.
-4th Street would be converted to 2-ways with a landscaped central median.
-All major streets would have designated bike lanes.
-3 pedestrian/bike greenways would be created. The first would run along Waldo Alley from Fulton Street to the south to Walnut Street to the north. The 2nd would run from Fulton Street to the south to Rich Street to the north. Finally, the 3rd would run along Lazelle Street from Fulton Street to the south to Town Street to the north. The paths would be landscaped and would have bike and pedestrian lanes. Cafes and other small eateries could line certain sections, and they could also potentially be the site of markets and other events. Adjacent residential/mixed-use buildings would have direct access to these paths.
-31 buildings would be torn down. These would be non-historic, low-rise buildings with non-adaptable uses and suburban layouts.
-These 31 along with 21 other surface lots would be replaced with mixed-use development for a total of 52 new buildings. The minimum height being 5-10 stories depending on the location. Mixed-uses would include residential over retail/offices.
-Over 60 surface lots in all would be replaced with some kind of development.
-6 new parking garages would be strategically built to serve new development needs with a minimum of 3,000 spaces. Ground-floor retail would be included, and the garages would be built with the potential to add residential/offices on top.
-13 new parks or green spaces would be created.

What do you think? It’s just a wish list I want to see and a fun little exercise more than anything. Obviously, private/public developers would have to step forward. Not to mention that the 31 tear downs just might object to losing their buildings. Oh well… we can all dream, can’t we?



The Scioto Peninsula Project

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The Scioto Peninsula Project Columbus, Ohio

The Scioto Peninsula project is an in-planning-stage development that promised to be hugely transformational for both Downtown and all of Franklinton.

The history of the Scioto Peninsula in not really all that positive. Bounded by 315 to the west and on all other sides by the Scioto River directly across from Downtown, this area currently contains Veteran’s Memorial, COSI and not much else. Even as far back as the 1950s, a large chunk of the peninsula, especially around Central High School (which still exists as COSI), was just vacant land. Otherwise, what existed were warehouse buildings and other commercial buildings. What people lived there were mostly confined to a few public housing projects. Being so close to the Scioto River, the area repeatedly flooded over its history, especially in the Great Flood of 1913 and to a lesser extent in 1959. This prevented much development here and in Franklinton in general. Federal standards were actually in place that banned most new construction or even renovations to most types of buildings. This allowed all of Franklinton, including the Peninsula, to stagnate and go through steady decline.

Help was coming, however, in the form of a giant floodwall. Conceived as far back as the 1980s, the Franklinton Floodwall would not be completed until 2004. It took another 4-5 years before people began to seriously look at the area for redevelopment and then for that development to actually start taking place. Eastern Franklinton, so far, has been the focal point of that redevelopment, and a big project to help tie in Downtown with the neighborhood is the planned redevelopment of the Peninsula.

Almost all the buildings that existed in the ’50s are now gone, even the housing projects. COSI uses much of the land for parking, as does Veteran’s Memorial. The rest is grassy lots primed for redevelopment. Some projects have already taken place. The two new Downtown bridges at Main and Rich Streets provide a nice access onto the Peninsula, along with the Broad Street bridge. A 4th, a planned pedestrian bridge, will be located on the north end crossing from Vet’s Memorial to North Bank Park in the Arena District. This bridge is probably still a few years off, as there is another, large project planned. The low-head dams along the Scioto River in the Downtown area are going to be removed, starting sometime next year. This will lower the river level and create a more natural flowing waterway. It will also create acres of new riverfront parkland that new paths and landscaping will be added to. This will create an inviting, park setting to both sides of the river.

The Peninsula has been planned for redevelopment several times in the last 30 years, but there was a lack of momentum for urban projects for decades and no serious plans ever seemed to emerge. That was until the last 10 years, starting in 2002 with the first Downtown development plan by Mayor Coleman and the city. A new version was released in 2010 and contained a dozen projects planned to help Downtown become a destination again. While the Scioto Peninsula was not specifically mentioned, fixing the riverfront was. That’s where Scioto Mile park came from and is now a very popular spot for residents. With all this momentum, the Peninsula needed a serious plan. Right now, meetings are taking place and a development plan is now in the early stages. Some early ideas include a lot of residential, retail and entertainment space, along with a more interactive riverfront and even a transit station for light rail. The first draft of the plan is likely to be released in 2013 and construction could begin as early as 2014.

This project can be found in the Columbus Development links page, which provides a large and regularly-updated list of ongoing and proposed development across the area.