Planning Concepts for the
Gateway Center
| Market Studies Confirm Need for Redevelopment Project A retail and entertainment center was proposed as a major, mixed-use redevelopment project in the area of High Street and 11th Avenue during community planning in the University District in 1995 and 1996. An advisory services panel from the Urban Land Institute supported the project in its review of the initial planning concepts. The University Neighborhood Revitalization Plan: Concept Document (1996) recommends the project. Campus Partners employed Goody, Clancy & Associates over the past 18 months to assist with an in-depth analysis of High Street and the implementation measures recommended in the concept document, including the proposed University Gateway Center. |
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All these studies confirmed the need to proceed with the University Gateway Center to better serve the market of students and other residents and to energize the whole High Street corridor in the campus area for the following reasons:
- A key weakness of High Street as identified by area business people, customer surveys
and retail consultants is the limited variety of retail and entertainment activity. Fast
food restaurants and bars predominate with few other types of stores to draw people to
High Street. One result is that High Street is falling far short of "capturing"
its appropriate share of the market of students, residents and Ohio State employees.
Consultants noted that certain types of modern retailing generally requires larger spaces
than the relatively small floor plates of most buildings on High Street. Enough property
could be assembled in the area of 11th and High to permit development that can accommodate
larger retail and entertainment businesses which could anchor south campus and provide a
synergy of uses to better serve the market.
- Traffic circulation and parking also limit the High Street market. The University
Gateway Center will reinforce a major entrance to the university from Interstate 71 and
will provide needed parking to serve the commercial district of south campus.
- The area around 11th Avenue is the most distressed on North High Street with deteriorated buildings and a high level of crime. The change in the drinking age and the enforcement of under-age drinking laws have resulted in many of the bars in the area closing. Although there are some viable businesses in the area whose uses are appropriate, the area as a whole will continue to decline unless redevelopment occurs. The deterioration continues to adversely affect both the safety of nearby student housing and academic buildings, as well as the viability of adjacent commercial areas of High Street.
The university's Board of Trustees in May 1997 authorized Campus Partners to purchase property for the University Gateway Center with a commitment of up to $15 million from the university's endowment funds. So far, Campus Partners has acquired about three fourths of the property in the target area, including the site of the former Big Bear Bakery, which was demolished in August 1998.
Description of Gateway
Center Concept
The University Gateway Center will reinforce High Street's transition to a 21st
century Main Street. It will blend the active pedestrian environment characteristic of
traditional Main Streets -- High Street already boasts some of the highest pedestrian
counts in Ohio -- and the vitality and convenience of a state-of-the-art, mixed-use urban
environment. The gateway center also will provide an appropriate entrance to a major urban
university.
As described in the RFP, the Gateway Center is proposed for the area of High Street and 11th Avenue and, as currently conceived, includes 7.4 acres. The project, which may attract $50 million to $70 million in private investment, will be a competitive mixture of entertainment, retail, office and mixed-income rental housing. The project will total 450,000 to 550,000 square feet, plus parking facilities. An estimated 350 to 700 new jobs will be created adjacent to a center city neighborhood with high rates of unemployment. Most of the Gateway Center is located in the city's federally designated Empowerment Zone. The Gateway Center's mix of retail and entertainment will enhance High Street's commercial viability by:
- Creating a significant retail and entertainment anchor for High Street, geared to
students and residents, but also appealing to a broader regional audience interested in
the collegiate market;
- Offering rental housing options for young professionals and graduate students which are
currently lacking in the University District;
- Building a prominent landmark for High Street and the University District;
- Re-establishing stronger connections between the university and its neighborhoods by locating activities that appeal to the broader university community on High Street.
Even more detail on the concept for the Gateway Center is available in Appendix B of the Request for Proposals.
Last updated May 25, 1999.
University Gateway Information
