FOR RELEASE:  Friday, May 15, 2003

A new model of South Campus Gateway has been constructed as a leasing tool for the project and will be displayed at the International Association of Shopping Centers conference in May 2003.

Gateway merchandising plan to be unveiled by new leasing team at International Council of Shopping Centers convention

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Campus Partners and its leasing team will complement its local retail recruitment efforts for the South Campus Gateway with the national presentation of the project at next week’s annual International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) spring convention in Las Vegas.

Gateway’s presence at the convention marks a formal launch of the project’s merchandising plan by the project’s new leasing team.  The plan seeks to blend approximately 35 to 40 entertainment, food, retail, and service tenants in the Gateway development, located adjacent to The Ohio State University on High Street and 11^th Avenue.  The tenants will represent a strategic mix of local, regional, and national businesses.

A new scale model of the Gateway development will be on hand at the ICSC convention as a leasing tool in the Jones Lang LaSalle display. 

“The ICSC convention marks Gateway’s formal kick-off of commercial leasing efforts at the national level,” said Terry Foegler, Campus Partners president.  “This is where the team makes and solidifies its contacts with potential tenants – everyone from small, new concept restaurants to the larger, more established retailers.  We’re looking for businesses we believe will be the best fit for the community of students, university employees, local residents, visitors and High Street in the University District.”

Campus Partners, master developer of the Gateway project, has retained Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) to lead Gateway’s retail leasing efforts.  Locally based CEG Development of Dublin has teamed with JLL in taking Gateway to prospective commercial tenants.  JLL also provides overall development management services for the Gateway project.

“Jones Lang LaSalle has brought in key urban retailing team members to help us identify and assist local tenants for Gateway,” said Foegler.

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

The Gateway development includes the construction of 540,000 square feet of retail, residential, and office space in four buildings, as well as a five-level, 1,200-car parking garage.

The retail plan proposes a distinctive blend of entertainment, goods and services on the first floor of each of the four buildings and on the second floor of two buildings.

Among the entertainment uses being pursued are a cinema, music club, and dining and beverage establishments – 24-hour diner, sports bar, coffee shop, brew pub, ethnic and fine dining – that will provide a lively environment.

Campus Partners has already signed a lease with Barnes & Noble College Bookstores to anchor Gateway with a 50,000-square-foot university bookstore on the first two floors of a five-story building on the southeast corner of East 11^th Avenue and High Street.  Barnes & Noble College Bookstores currently operates The Ohio State University Bookstore and Long’s Bookstore and plans to combine those existing operations at Gateway.

The selection of merchants also is likely to include clothing, accessories, gifts, apartment furnishings, and convenience and service retailers, such as a grocer, bank, and hair salon.

Campus Partners plans to construct about 175 residential units in a combination of studio, one- and two-bedroom and loft-style apartments in the upper four floors of two buildings and town-homes along the north and south sides of the parking garage.  The housing will respond to the demand for housing from graduate students and young professionals who want to live close to Ohio State.

Campus Partners will incorporate at least 70,000 square feet of office space in the upper three floors of the building which will house the bookstore.  The office space will be leased to Ohio State and will bring several hundred university employees to Gateway on a daily basis.

Public improvements on the site began earlier this month and are scheduled to be completed this fall.  Construction of new buildings is expected to start immediately thereafter.  Gateway is scheduled to open in August 2005.

Ohio State created Campus Partners in 1995 as a non-profit community redevelopment corporation to spearhead the revitalization of the urban neighborhoods around its Columbus campus.   Campus Partners works in collaboration with the city, community agencies, neighborhood leaders and the university itself.

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