Request
for Proposals
Description of the Project
| •Overview | •Uses and Related Parking |
| •Access to Area | •Scale, Massing and Density |
| •Planning Context | •Urban Design Goals |
| Ohio State established Campus Partners in 1995 to work with the City of Columbus, the university, neighborhood leaders, and property and business owners to revitalize the neighborhoods around its campus. Campus Partners led an 18-month public process to develop a comprehensive improvement plan for the University District, published as the University Neighborhoods Revitalization Plan: Concept Document and adopted by the university's Board of Trustees and Columbus City Council. In July 1997, Campus Partners employed Goody, Clancy & Associates, an architectural and urban planning firm based in Boston, to develop an implementation program for the plan's retail and commercial recommendations for High Street. The High Street report to be published later this summer will outline a series of measures to enhance the length of High Street in the University District and reinforce the opportunity for success of the University Gateway Center project. Among the measures expected to be undertaken are: |  Large view of map |
- Adoption by the City of Columbus of development and design guidelines
and a commercial zoning overlay for High Street to protect and enhance
its urban character.
- Creation of a parking authority to manage the area's parking as a
system and to provide, as needed, additional parking supplies.
- Formation of a business improvement district (known in Ohio as a special
improvement district) to provide essential maintenance, security, and
marketing for property owners and businesses along High Street.
- Implementation of critical traffic circulation measures and enhancements
to the street's public realm with pedestrian-scale lighting, pedestrian
crossings, street trees and other streetscape improvements.
- Implementation of various strategic redevelopment opportunities which have been identified along High Street.
One of the major recommendations of the report is the development of the University Gateway Center as a prominent and lively gateway for the university and the entire University District. The center is to create a significant new retail and entertainment destination for both the university community and the entire Columbus region.
This major new mixed-use urban redevelopment combines entertainment, retail, restaurant, office, residential and parking uses in a 450,000 to 625,000 square-foot project which will provide critical anchoring and energizing uses for a rejuvenated High Street corridor throughout the University District. Over the past three years, consultants Robert Charles Lesser & Co., EDAW, Gibbs Planning Group, Boulevard Strategies, Hunter Interests, Goody, Clancy & Associates and a nationally recognized ULI Advisory Panel have reaffirmed the desirability of, and the demand for, this proposed development. The opening this month of Urban Outfitters on High Street at East 14th Avenue and strong representations of interest from a variety of notable businesses, such as Sundance Theaters, have further demonstrated the strong viability of this densely populated, yet clearly under-served, market.
Access to the University Gateway Center will be excellent. In addition
to the extraordinary pedestrian densities within the adjacent neighborhoods,
the site is located on High Street, the city's main north-south arterial
and most popular bus route. Entering the site from the east is 11th Avenue,
the arterial to High Street from the city's major north-south expressway,
Interstate 71, less than two miles away. Recent studies have recommended
that 11th Avenue, currently part of a one way pair, be made the two-way
connector from High Street to I-71. Less than two miles to the west of
the site is a second expressway, Ohio State Route 315, for which additional
ramps to serve the area are being planned to enter the university's Medical
Center. The site is adjacent to the Ohio State campus, four blocks from
the OSU Medical Center and Batelle Memorial Institute, and only two miles
north of downtown.
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This document includes excerpts from the Goody, Clancy & Associates'
forthcoming report, A Plan for High Street: Creating a 21st Century Main
Street, which provide the overall context for the High Street revitalization
program and its relationship to the University Gateway Center. These plans
and sketches illustrate a conceptual approach to organizing and massing
the project within the dimensions and urban design objectives of the report.
The master developer is welcome to offer creative new approaches, but
potential master developers should suggest a mix of uses, urban design
character, massing, mix of new and retained buildings, and other key characteristics
that are consistent with the goals of Campus Partners and the university
community.
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Anticipated Mix of Uses and Related Parking
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As currently conceived, the mixed-use redevelopment planned for the University Gateway Center would include the following:
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- Office Space: 50,000 to 100,000 sf University-related activities
that would draw students and other members of the university community
to High Street would be particularly desirable office uses. This space
likely should be located as one or more floors of a large-floorplate
building located on the west side of High Street on upper floors above
retail space.
- Rental Housing: 180,000 to 350,000 sf Campus Partners has established
as a goal creating a portion of this housing as mixed-income. Such a
mixed-income complex could include 125 to 150 units‹with approximately
15% to 20% of these units classified as affordable and the balance as
market rate. This mixed-income complex would be located along 9th Avenue,
east of the buildings facing directly onto High Street. An additional
35 to 150 market-rate units could be located along High Street, preferably
with retail uses at street level.
- Parking: Anticipated parking ratios to support uses on the site are:
Retail* 3 spaces per 1,000 sf Entertainment* 4 spaces per 1,000 sf Office 1.5 spaces per 1,000sf Housing 1 to 1.5 spaces per unit
* Retail would include stores and restaurants and cafes; entertainment would include an arts cinema, dance clubs, billiards, and similar uses.
Potential locations--not all of which may be required--for parking include: - A major parking structure proposed along 11th Avenue and located east of buildings facing High Street (anticipated capacity is 650 to 800 spaces). The street level of this parking structure may be a highly appropriate location for an arts cinema complex. This parking could be accessed from 11th Avenue and/or Pearl Street.
- One to three levels of parking below grade, beneath the large-floorplate building located west of High Street (anticipated capacity is 100 to 300 spaces). This parking would be accessed via an alley or surface parking located to the west of the building.
- A small surface parking lot located west of the large-floorplate building (anticipated capacity is 50 to 75 spaces).
- One level of parking, located a half level below grade, beneath the large housing complex, with the housing and its courtyard built on a deck above (anticipated capacity is 150 to 175 spaces). This parking would be accessed via Pearl Street.
- One or more levels of parking below grade, beneath housing located along High Street and accessed via Pearl Street.
This anticipated use mix is subject to continued review and refinement by the master developer as project feasibility analyses move forward. This mix does reflect the most current, desired use mix objectives emerging from the High Street study.
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Scale, Massing, and Density
The University Gateway Center will represent an intensive new focus of activity along High Street, but at the same time it should be designed to reinforce the street¹s traditional Main Street character. Scale, massing, and density should respect the following parameters:
- The total build-out anticipated for the project, as noted in Section
2.2, is 400,000 to 600,000 square feet of new buildings and an additional
6,000 to 25,000 square feet of renovated existing buildings. The resulted
FAR would range from 1.4 to just under 2.0.
- New buildings should have a minimum of three stories and maximum of
five stories facing
High Street, with the exception of special design elements such as a tower (with a maximum of 2,000 square feet), which may rise to a maximum of 100 feet.
- New buildings should maintain a massing that is compatible with the bay rhythms and generally flat rooflines predominant among High Street¹s traditional buildings.
 Three dimensional massing model of University Gateway Center, view toward northeast. Larger view of model |
 A north view of High Street through the University Gateway Center Larger view of drawing |
Urban Design Goals
The configuration, mix of uses, architecture, pedestrian circulation, and other key elements that shape the University Gateway Center¹s character should reinforce the following desirable urban design qualities along High Street:
- Reinforce High Street¹s traditional Main Street architectural character.
Integrate new and existing buildings; use new construction to reinforce
the street¹s traditional architectural character, bay rhythm, predominance
of brick and similar materials, vertical window articulation, and other
prominent design elements; and use new buildings to form continuous
building walls along High Street.
- Articulate the center¹s massing to provide a prominent gateway to
the University District, perhaps locating a highly visible beacon-like
tower at the intersection of High Street and 11th Avenue.
- Foster pedestrian activity along High Street. The sidewalks should
be lined with a diverse mix of retail, cafés, restaurants, and entertainment
uses. Emphasize vertical (i.e. multi-story) stores and maximize the
number of retail and entertainment uses facing High Street. The Gateway
Center should not utilize an interior atrium. All street-level retail
and entertainment uses should front onto High Street. Access to upper
level retail and entertainment uses should be visible from High Street.
These businesses should have a visible identity on High Street.
- Create one or more vital public spaces facing onto High Street. These
spaces should be animated by restaurants and cafés, accommodate outdoor
dining, and be open to the public at all times.
- Meld exciting new architectural design with respect for High Street¹s
historic character. If possible, integrate new and existing notable
buildings. Create new buildings and spaces that visibly convey the dynamic
character of the university community and the gateway center¹s unique
University district setting. Shape and articulate the facades of these
buildings to reinforce the pedestrian-oriented character of High Street¹s
traditional buildings. Create a project that both fits comfortably into
its context‹by demonstrating how best to blend new and old‹and signals
a new era of robust vitality along High Street‹by creating buildings
and spaces that explore new approaches to reinvigorating Main Street.
- Incorporate one or more strong anchors that would create new draws
for High Street. Desirable examples include an arts cinema complex (which
alone could draw as many as 750,000 to 1,000,000 people per year), a
high quality food store that caters to a university community, a large
retailer focused toward student markets, and/or similar entertainment
and retail uses.
- Incorporate housing and office uses on upper floors and at street
level along side streets to expand the mix of uses along High Street
and support its long-term economic vitality. The 9th Avenue frontage
east of High Street represents a particularly appropriate location for
extensive new, mixed-income rental housing.
- Incorporate uses that draw the university community to High Street.
Possibly locate university offices that serve large segments of the
university community, in the center to strengthen the integral relationship
between campus life and High Street.
- Locate a parking structure(s) away from High Street. The University Gateway Center will require substantial new parking. It is highly unlikely that extensive surface parking will be acceptable. All, or almost all, of the parking required for the site will be located in a parking structure together with a portion possibly provided below-grade. While a parking structure could have frontage directly on 11th Avenue (preferably with a pedestrian-oriented use occupying the frontage at street level), any structure must be separated from High Street by a building containing retail and entertainment uses.
Request for Proposals
