| Campus Partners History |
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History of Campus Partners The Ohio State University in January 1995 incorporated Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment as a non-profit community redevelopment corporation to promote improvements to the neighborhoods around the university. University Area Improvement Task Force For several decades, the University District – an area of Columbus which includes several neighborhoods adjacent to or near the Columbus campus of Ohio State – had faced challenges in the appearance and maintenance of its residential and commercial structures and, most importantly, in the safety and quality of life of the students and other residents who live and work in this area. These concerns grew in the early 1990s and safety had became a major issue. In January 1994, E. Gordon Gee, in his first term as president of Ohio State, established the University Area Improvement Task Force composed of representatives of university faculty, staff and students, university community organizations, and the City of Columbus. The task force met with key stakeholders and visited a number of urban campuses around the country. In March 1994, Stephanie Hummer, a freshman student, was abducted near her off-campus residence and murdered. Her death underscored the importance of the task force’s work. The task force presented its recommendations to Greg Lashutka, then mayor of Columbus, and President Gee in June 1994. Among the key recommendations were creation of a non-profit redevelopment corporation and preparation of a comprehensive revitalization plan and implementation program to offer a vision for the University District. Ohio State employed Barry Humphries, a Columbus developer with extensive experience in urban neighborhood revitalization, to develop Campus Partners and then became its first president. Initial planning effort Campus Partners’ initial priorities were to develop a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plan and implementation program and to actively promote projects and programs that can have an immediate positive impact on the neighborhoods. In February 1995, Campus Partners brought together a multi-disciplinary team of consultants led by EDAW, a planning and urban design firm based in San Francisco. The consultants focused on the following areas: safety and law enforcement; market and financial feasibility; transportation, circulation and parking; public services; social services, education, health and economic development; and planning, design, and architectural and historic issues. The consultants worked through the spring and early summer to review past studies, gather data on existing conditions and prepare a number of design and program alternatives. The Campus Collaborative, which was composed of representatives from several dozen colleges, departments and offices at Ohio State, was the member of the consulting team which focused on human services and student quality of life. The collaborative also considered how the university’s teaching, research and service missions could be enriched through greater involvement of faculty, staff and students in the urban neighborhoods around Ohio State. Neighborhood and city participation was sought through the Campus Partners Community Advisory Council composed of representatives of more than 90 community and neighborhood organizations and local government and university offices. Further public participation was encouraged in the planning process through neighborhood meetings and through six task forces which worked with the consultants in the six areas of concern. More than 400 people participated in this planning process. A panel from the Urban Land Institute reviewed the planning efforts and preliminary findings for a week in mid-July 1995. The Campus Partners consulting team in November released the first draft of a revitalization plan. A series of public meetings followed to gather public input on the plan. A final draft of the revitalization plan was issued in April 1996. Following additional public review, the University Area Commission, University Community Business Association, Columbus Development Commission and Columbus Historic Resources Commission each voted unanimously to support the plan. The plan, titled University Neighborhoods Revitalization Plan: Concept Document, was published in July 1996. The plan offered some 250 recommendations. Four major themes which emerged from the document were: · Improving rental housing and the quality of life in the predominantly student neighborhoods. · Increasing the level of homeownership in the University District. · Revitalizing the retail market serving these neighborhoods. · Encouraging faculty, staff and student involvement with the neighborhoods through a variety of learning and service activities. Early implementation projects Terry D. Foegler, AICP, who was assistant city manager and director of development for the City of Dublin, Ohio, became president of Campus Partners in September 1996. He led Campus Partners through a transition from developing to implementing the plan. In consultation with the university, the city and neighborhood leaders, Mr. Foegler has identified key initiating projects. Meanwhile, Ohio State's Board of Trustees in May 1997 approved the revitalization plan. The trustees also authorized Campus Partners to proceed with a proposed mixed-use project to redevelop a declining commercial area near the university, including the acquisition of property. In addition, they allocated $500,000 for an employer-based homeownership incentive program for faculty and staff to buy homes in the University District. At the recommendation of the city's Planning Division, Columbus City Council in June 1997 adopted the revitalization plan as official city policy to guide city action in the University District. Arising from the planning effort, Campus Partners helped to establish and staff a series of community committees to monitor and to encourage cooperation to improve refuse collection, code enforcement, street sweeping, public safety and other municipal services. These committees, which include representatives of the city, university, businesses, students and permanent residents, continue to meet regularly. Campus Partners developed the homeownership incentive program for faculty and staff, which the university implemented effective June 1, 1998. In mid-1997, Campus Partners, with support from the city, began a High Street Urban Design Project to enhance the urban character of the area's "Main Street" and to encourage a healthy mix of retail and entertainment uses. A broad-based advisory committee oversaw the project. The resulting document, A Plan for High Street: Creating a 21st Century Main Street, was published in the fall of 2000 and included recommendations for a parking authority, special improvement district and traffic circulation improvements. The High Street Urban Design Project also outlined the size and scope of the redevelopment project now known as South Campus Gateway. In 2002, Campus Partners published a companion document, University/High Street Development and Design Guidelines. In mid-2002, Columbus City Council approved both documents as official planning tools for the city and adopted an urban commercial zoning overlay for High Street. Campus Partners in mid-1998 initiated a competition to select a preferred master developer to build the South Campus Gateway, a major, mixed-use, urban redevelopment project on High Street. As a result, Campus Partners in May 1999 designated The Druker Company, Ltd., of Boston, as the preferred master developer. In December 1999, Columbus City Council approved an economic development agreement between the city and Campus Partners on land acquisition, public improvements, traffic measures and employment initiatives related to construction of Gateway, the signature project in Campus Partners’ revitalization efforts. Campus Partners stepped up land acquisition for the Gateway Center and, as of mid-2001, owned about 95 percent of the project site. The city began the process of eminent domain to assemble the remainder of the site, but the purchase of the final parcels was concluded before the eminent domain action went to court. Demolition of the existing buildings on the 7.5-acre Gateway site was conducted in 2002. Public infrastructure improvements, such as separating storm and sanitary sewers and road improvements, were done in 2003. Construction of Gateway’s buildings began in January 2004, and Gateway opened in August 2005. Other major projects In early 2001, Campus Partners began work on an alternate restructuring plan for more than 1,300 units of project-based, Section 8 housing, of which about 550 units are located in the Weinland Park neighborhood of the University District. The goal was to maintain these properties as affordable housing under new, non-profit, community-based ownership and management, improve the housing through a major renovation, provide supportive services for the residents, and disperse a portion of the housing into the wider community over time. Campus Partners’ plan received broad support from affordable housing advocates, neighborhood leaders and local and federal government officials. Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, partnered with Campus Partners to implement the plan. OCCH acquired the properties in 2003, installed new leadership in the property management company, and instituted supportive services for the residents. Housing rehab began in 2004 and will conclude in 2009. The housing portfolio was re-named Community Properties of Ohio. Campus Partners assisted the city’s Planning Division and neighborhood civic leaders in an 18-month community-based planning process to prepare the Weinland Park Neighborhood Plan, which was adopted by Columbus City Council in mid-2006. The plan will guide further neighborhood improvements, including the redevelopment of the Columbus Coated Fabrics (CCF) site. Campus Partners began investigating the potential redevelopment of the CCF site in 2004. The 20-acre “brownfield” site runs along both sides of North Grant Avenue between East Fifth and East 11th avenues. Campus Partners initially obtained an option to acquire the site from the bankrupt former owner of the property, Decorative Surfaces International (DSI) and a bankruptcy court in the state of Delaware. DSI had ceased manufacturing on the site in 2001 and entered bankruptcy in 2002. For more than a century, the site was used for industrial purposes, most recently for the production of plastic coated wall coverings. From 2002 to 2006, the property was plagued by illegal salvaging, vandalism, fires and other public safety problems. Campus Partners conducted environmental assessments of potential contamination and developed a partnership with the city to acquire the site and explore the potential redevelopment. Campus Partners also developed a relationship with Wagenbrenner Development Company, which had expressed interest in the redevelopment potential. Campus Partners worked with the bankruptcy court to transfer title to the property to the city in December 2006. Under contract with the city, Campus Partners in 2007 managed the asbestos removal and demolition of the existing buildings on the site. Campus Partners also assisted the city in its successful application in April 2007 for $3 million from the Ohio Department of Development’s Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) to remove contamination from the CCF. Columbus City Council in March 2008 approved an economic development agreement between the city and Wagenbrenner under which the city will provide $14 million in infrastructure improvements on and adjacent to the CCF site. Wagenbrenner plans to invest $80 million to build more than 500 units of market-rate housing, a community center and 1.5 acres of greenspace on the site. Wagenbrenner has acquired the property from the city and in 2009 is overseeing the environmental clean-up. Construction of public infrastructure improvements could begin in 2010.
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