November 12, 1998

Campus Partners has selected three teams of nationally known developers to compete for the construction of a major mixed-use redevelopment project at the front door of The Ohio State University's Columbus campus. The project, currently known as the University Gateway Center, will span both sides of High Street at 11^th Avenue, anchoring the revitalization of the main street of the University District.

The University Gateway Center will reinforce High Street's dynamic "main street" character by blending an active pedestrian environment with the vitality of multi-story urban buildings. The project, which could attract $50 million to $70 million in private investment, will include entertainment, retail, office space, mixed-income rental housing, and parking facilities.

The three competing teams of developers who are being invited to respond with detailed proposals to design and develop the University Gateway Center are:

• The Druker Company, Ltd., of Boston.
• The collaboration of LaSalle Partners Development, Inc., of Chicago; the Don M. Casto Organization, of Columbus; and Arshot Investment Corp., of Columbus.
• The collaboration of Towne Properties and Madison Marquette Realty Services, both based in Cincinnati.

"Our project took a major step forward with the selection of these three outstanding teams," explained Terry D. Foegler, president of Campus Partners. "These developers emerged from a highly competitive 'request for qualifications' process in which 10 developers or teams of developers submitted statements of their urban development experience and interest in building the gateway center. Our choice was difficult due to the number of well-qualified firms which responded. The firms' statements were reviewed by university and city staff members and by neighborhood and student leaders.

"The next step will be even more competitive," Foegler said. "Over the next several months, each of the three teams will advance their ideas for the project, including preliminary design concepts, an initial identification of major retail and entertainment tenants, the proposed mix of uses, and estimated costs. The review process will occur with extensive input from the diverse stakeholders of the University District -- university and city officials, residents, business owners and students -- who will have opportunities to review the firms' development concepts. Campus Partners then will select a developer with which to negotiate a development agreement."

Ohio State President William E. Kirwan described the University Gateway Center as a front door for the university. "Like any business owner or homeowner, we are concerned that the initial impression of a visitor or potential student to our campus be a favorable one," he said. "The University Gateway Center will be one of the university's front doors and we want it to be attractive, inviting and representative of the excitement generated by one of the nation's premier public universities."

Kirwan noted that the gateway center is linked to the broader improvements for the University District. "We will continue to work with our partners in the neighborhoods and with the city to improve the quality of life for our students and other residents of the University District," he said. "A diverse and vital 'main street' will serve the neighborhoods well, and conversely healthy neighborhoods are a key to the long-term commercial success of High Street."

Columbus Mayor Greg Lashutka reaffirmed the town-gown partnership for the University District. "This partnership, created four years ago with the formation of Campus Partners, has resulted in improved public safety, public services and homeownership," he said. "Now we are prepared to move forward with much greater private investment in a very visible project which will reinforce High Street's transition to a 21^st century 'main street.' The University Gateway Center will link successful commercial districts and neighborhoods of choice from downtown through the Short North, University District and into Clintonville.

"As a graduate of Ohio State and as mayor, I am particularly pleased that this public-private collaboration to build the University Gateway Center will result in a multi-million dollar investment in a center city neighborhood. This investment will create several hundred new jobs and enhance the attractiveness of the surrounding neighborhood, while strengthening and revitalizing our local tax base."

Pasquale Grado, executive director of the University Community Business Association, said the University Gateway Center "will be an anchor for south campus entertainment and retail activity and a catalyst for other High Street improvements north and south of 11^th Avenue." Grado is the chair of the advisory steering committee which has guided development of a master plan for High Street over the past 16 months.

David Williams, Ohio State's vice president for student and urban/community affairs and chair of the Campus Partners Board of Trustees, said the gateway center is a highly visible component of a comprehensive planning and revitalization effort for the neighborhoods around Ohio State that has been under way through the leadership of Campus Partners since 1995. "The gateway center and other improvements to the area will offer our students and neighborhood residents more diverse opportunities for entertainment, shopping, employment and housing in an environment which is safer and more attractive," he said.

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Contacts: Terry Foegler, president of Campus Partners, at (614) 294-7300.

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