Campus Partners begins demolition

University Gateway Center to be development’s cornerstone

COLUMBUS - Ohio State University President William E. Kirwan, Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, City Council Member Richard W. Sensenbrenner and student government president Eddie Pauline released a wrecking ball today (5/1) to begin demolition along two blocks of North High Street to make way for construction of the University Gateway Center.

The Gateway Center, which will be built on 7.4 acres in the area of 11^th Avenue and High Street adjacent to Ohio State's Columbus campus, will be a dynamic blend of entertainment, retail, office space, rental housing and parking to serve one of the nation's largest collegiate markets.  The total investment in the project is likely to be more than $100 million.

“The Gateway Project is one of the nation’s largest and most exciting urban redevelopment projects.  It represents the university’s and the city’s commitment to revitalizing the University District,” Kirwan said.  “We believe that Gateway will better serve our students and other area residents; it will be a catalyst for the renewal of the entire High Street corridor; and it will be a significant stimulus for further private investments.”

Coleman agreed. Gateway represents the type of high-quality, urban mixed-use development I believe is so critical for both our urban neighborhoods and for our downtown. We are at this point in the project because the city, the university and various neighborhood groups have collaborated toward this common goal,” he said.

King Wrecking Company Inc. of Cincinnati is conducting the demolition, scheduled to be completed in mid-July.

Pauline said revitalizing High Street will offer new entertainment venues for students, as well as opportunities for employment and educational services.  “Making the entrance to campus more attractive and appealing will help attract students to the university, as well as address student concerns about a lack of entertainment opportunities across from campus,” he said.

 Campus Partners, the non-profit redevelopment corporation established by Ohio State, proposed the Gateway project to better serve the market of students and other residents.  The Gateway Center is one of the largest mixed-use, urban redevelopment projects ever attempted in central Ohio and represents one of the largest projects in the city’s federally designated Empowerment Zone.

Campus Partners President Terry D. Foegler said the first-phase public improvements, such as burial of overhead utility lines, the installation of various storm and sanitary sewers, and a variety of roadway improvements, may begin near the end of 2002.

Once those public improvements are largely completed, he said, construction of the new buildings could begin in the latter part of 2003.  The second-phase public improvements, such as the installation of brick sidewalks and decorative pedestrian lighting, will take place in the final stages of project development.  Under this schedule, the project would be complete by the summer of 2005.

            The Gateway project will total approximately 450,000 square feet of leaseable space for housing, retail and office uses and will include a 1,200-space parking garage.  An estimated 450 to 700 new jobs will be created adjacent to the Weinland Park neighborhood, which has a high rate of unemployment.

            A major proposal to redevelop the area of 11^th Avenue and High Street emerged from extensive community-based planning the University District conducted in 1995 and 1996.  The University Neighborhoods Revitalization Plan: Concept Document, published in 1996 and adopted by Columbus City Council and the university’s Board of Trustees in 1997, recommended the project to energize High Street.

            Campus Partners purchased its first property in the Gateway area in 1997.   Subsequently, Columbus City Council in late 1999 approved an economic development agreement for property acquisition and construction of the Gateway project, including a commitment of $5 million for capital improvements in the area.  By early 2002, Campus Partners had acquired or contracted for all of the land in the Gateway redevelopment area and had successfully relocated all of the remaining businesses.

            Kirwan, who will leave the university June 30 to become chancellor of the University of Maryland System, said he is proud that a more visible aspect of the project is finally under way. “With this demolition today, people can start to visualize how Gateway will transform the university and neighborhood around it.”

A member of the King Wrecking Company crew assists Eddie Pauline, president of Undergraduate Student Government, in operating the wrecking ball to make way for the new University Gateway Center.

William E. Kirwan (left), president of The Ohio State University, and Michael B. Coleman, mayor of Columbus, watch the wrecking ball at work.

Terry D. Foegler, president of Campus Partners, addresses the approximately 125 people in attendance for the beginning of demolition for the Gateway project.

Posing before they each took a turn at the controls of the crane working the wrecking ball are (left to right): City Council Member Richard Sensenbrenner, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, Undergraduate Student Government President Eddie Pauline and Ohio State University President William Kirwan.