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Campus Partners announces retail tenants for South Campus Gateway
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Campus Partners announced on May 4, 2005, the first complement of retail, food and entertainment venues which will open at South Campus Gateway this fall.

Bringing an element of “star power” to the announcement, Eddie George, former running back for the Ohio State Buckeyes and winner of the Heisman Trophy, revealed plans for Eddie George’s Grille 27, a sports-theme restaurant which will open in a prominent High Street location at the north end of Gateway.

The other tenants include:
  • The Skye Bar, a locally owned and operated entertainment venue of more than 10,000 square feet, is being developed by Tom Selvaggio and David Allsbrooks, owners of The Frog Bear & Wild Boar Bar in the Arena District. This second-floor venue will include DJs and a dance-oriented format, as well as live music events, an 80-foot bar and “sky box” private party rooms overlooking the stage and dance floor and a private VIP room
  • Ugly Tuna Saloona, “fresh fish ugly owners,” is an ultra-casual, old-style Florida seafood grill being developed by the owners of Adobe Gila’s of Easton. Ugly Tuna, which will be in second-floor space, will feature fresh fish and cool cocktails with entertainment seven nights a week.
  • Pesto Creative Italian Bistro, a quick-casual Italian restaurant featuring fresh, made-to-order pastas, pizzas, salads and gelato. Pesto will launch its flagship location at South Campus Gateway and will be owned and operated by Lee Shadle, who will be graduating next month with a bachelor of science degree in marketing and logistics from Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business.
  • Mad Mex brings its award-winning combination of fresh Cal-Mex menu and funky, fun bar to Ohio. The Big Burrito Restaurant Group, based in Pittsburgh, operates the existing six Mad Mex restaurants in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and State College
  • Lave, a unique, locally owned and operated store, will feature fresh, handmade natural bath products. The store is being developed by Columbus entrepreneur Lisa Karst.
  • A full-service Greek restaurant is being developed by Mohamed Hassan and Gihan Zalat. They currently own and operate The Happy Greek, an award-winning restaurant on High Street in the Short North.
  • Potbelly Sandwich Works is a quirky sandwich joint serving up crispy, hot sandwiches, hand-dipped shakes and live local music.
  • Panera Bread, a bakery-cafe featuring artisan and sourdough breads, soups, sandwiches and salads, is owned and operated locally by Breads of the World, L.C.C.
  • The Finish Line, Inc., one of the nation’s leading athletic specialty retailers, offering the best selection of footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and kids, will open one of its first college-town stores at Gateway.
Gateway’s primary retail anchor will be Barnes & Noble, The Ohio State University Bookstore. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Inc., operates bookstores for more than 525 colleges and universities, and the bookstore at Gateway is one of only 11 academic superstores. This bookstore will combine all of the elements of the existing Long’s Bookstore, The Ohio State University Bookstore, The Health Sciences Bookstore, and a substantial Barnes & Noble trade book and periodical selection and café in 50,000 square feet at the southeast corner of High Street and East 11th Avenue.

The lead entertainment anchor will be the unique, eight-screen Drexel Gateway Theatre. The theatre includes a café and will have a total of nearly 900 plush, over-size seats in seven stadium-style auditoriums and one multi-purpose room. The theatre will have a wide variety of offerings, including major independent, art and foreign films, as well as some first-run commercial films. In addition, the auditoriums will be equipped with state-of-the-art audio-visual capabilities to serve the presentation needs of conferences and special events.

“The line-up of commercial tenants which we are announcing today helps meet a number of our objectives for Gateway,” explained Terry D. Foegler, president of Campus Partners. “The array and blend of locally owned, regional and national businesses has been a major foundation of the merchandising plan since its inception. A number of these establishments are not found elsewhere in central Ohio. Additionally, the entertainment orientation of Gateway will be further reinforced by these venues, in which patrons will find a variety of bars, experience live music, dancing, and games, and immerse themselves in some exceptional sports viewing environments. These tenants also will help ensure that Gateway’s offerings will appeal to both students and others interested in this unique form of urban retail and entertainment.

“With the number and variety of restaurants and night spots already committed to Gateway, we have an excellent critical mass of tenants in the food and beverage category,” Foegler said. “The tenants announced today help establish the food and beverage category as Gateway’s third and final major anchoring element for the project, complementing the bookstore and cinema anchors. The ‘destination quality’ of our anchors will generate substantial vitality at Gateway throughout most of the day, all through the year. Additional tenants in this and other categories will be announced in the near future.”

South Campus Gateway, which will begin opening Aug. 1, is an urban, mixed-use redevelopment along High Street adjacent to the Columbus campus of The Ohio State University. Gateway includes 225,000 square feet of retail, 90,000 square feet of office space, 184 apartments and a 1,200-space parking facility.

Gateway is the signature project in Campus Partners’ program to revitalize High Street and the University District neighborhoods. One key goal of the project is to help reinforce High Street as a pedestrian-oriented, 21st century “Main Street” that provides a gateway to the university campus and the neighborhoods.
 

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