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Gateway Redevelopment Project

Campus Partners is continuing to assemble the project development team for the University Gateway Center. Campus Partners announced in January that Jones Lang LaSalle had been selected as the development manager for the project. As development manager, Jones Lang LaSalle is responsible for continuing management of the design, construction and leasing of the Gateway Center and for advising Campus Partners on key development decisions. Jones Lang LaSalle has broad experience in building and managing complex, urban projects and has extensive experience in providing development management services to universities and other institutions.

Jones Lang LaSalle, with headquarters in Chicago, is the world's leading real estate services and investment management firm. The company has a significant local development presence through its acquisition of the Columbus-based Galbreath Company. Jones Lang LaSalle began work on the Gateway project last September. Campus Partners had issued a request for proposals last July to a number of firms that provide development management services on a fee basis. Campus Partners subsequently interviewed five firms in August. Campus Partners announced Jones Lang LaSalle's selection once negotiations were concluded on a development management services agreement.

Campus Partners in January purchased the property at 79 E. 11th Ave. Ownership of this property will provide Campus Partners with needed flexibility in sizing the Gateway parking garage.

The application for the rezoning of the Gateway development site has been filed with the City of Columbus. The University Area Commission conducted its initial review of the request at the February meetings of the Zoning Committee and the full commission. The rezoning also is being considered by the University Area Review Board.

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Gateway Public Improvements

Bids were received Feb. 28 on the phase 1 public improvements for the Gateway site. These improvements include burial of overhead utilities, separation of storm and sanitary sewers and roadway work. Columbus City Council approved the expenditure of $550,000 on Dec. 9 to reimburse Campus Partners for the design costs associated with these improvements. The remainder of the City's 2003 capital improvement budget of $3.5 million for the Gateway project (out of the total City commitment of $5 million) should be authorized in the near future. Campus Partners expects the Phase 1 public improvements will begin in March or early April and be completed by September of this year.

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Broad Street Portfolio

Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) and Campus Partners expect to close on the Broad Street Portfolio in March or early April. In the last quarter of 2002, OCCH prepared a general schedule of renovation for nearly all of the buildings in the portfolio. The schedule proposes two major phases of renovation involving several types of financing. Phase 1 involves three projects consisting of a total of 85 buildings with 554 housing units. The first project will be funded from the sale of tax-exempt bonds and actual rehabilitation is expected to begin in August or September 2003. The second and third projects will be funded with tax credits and actual rehabilitation is expected to begin in December 2003 or January 2004. Phase 2 will seek similar types of funding in 2004 with renovation beginning later in 2004 or 2005. OCCH will contract with the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority to handle the temporary relocation of tenants while properties are being renovated. OCCH is in the process of selecting a firm to serve as the construction manager for the Phase 1 projects.

OCCH staff members have been meeting with tenants and with neighborhood civic groups over the past two months to obtain support for OCCH's tax credit applications for financing the Phase 1 projects and to explain the broader renovation plans.

Special Improvement District

The petition drive to create the University Uptown Special Improvement District is driving for the goal line. The SID steering committee has support from the owners of about 60% of the area of the proposed SID. To create the SID, the steering committee must file petitions bearing the signatures of the owners of at least 75% of the area of the proposed SID. Steering committee members are personally appealing to five or six property owners whose support could put the petition effort over the top.

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Public Safety

The University Area Safety Committee met Jan. 8 and discussed the riot following the Ohio State-Michigan football game. Committee members viewed a videotape shot by a crew working for the Office of Student Affairs which showed the excessive alcohol use, public urination and other inappropriate behavior, litter and other problems around Ohio Stadium and Lane Avenue before and after the game. David Andrews, chair of the new Task Force on Preventing Celebratory Riots, reviewed his panel's charge from the university president and mayor. In other business, Columbus Police and the Community Crime Patrol reported on the burglary prevention patrols during December. The neighborhoods were very quiet.

The University Area Safety Committee did not meet in February because many of the committee members also are serving on or assisting with the Task Force on Preventing Celebratory Riots. The next meeting of the committee will be Wednesday, March 12, at 3:30 p.m. in 33 W. 11th Ave. Fred Harris, general manager of the Holiday Inn on Lane Avenue, will attend the meeting and participate in a discussion of the activities on Lane Avenue during home football games.

The University Area Crime Stoppers Board offered a reward in December for information leading to the arrest or conviction of persons in a series of robberies. Columbus Police took reports of at least a dozen robberies during November in an area on or near High Street between East 11th and Fifth avenues. In late December, the police did arrest a man during a robbery in that area. The Crime Stoppers board in February approved a reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of persons for thefts in Larkins Hall, the university's main recreation center.

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Code Enforcement

At its meeting on Jan. 14, the University District Code Enforcement Task Force heard from the city's staff that the systematic exterior code enforcement inspections in the second target area should be completed by the end of February, weather permitting. The second target area covers properties from East 15th to East Woodruff avenues. In other business, the task force voted to send a letter to Richard Pfeiffer, new city attorney, asking that he prepare a new noise ordinance which will be constitutional and serve the neighborhoods well and uniformly.

The task force isn't meeting in February. The task force's next meeting will be Tuesday, March 11, at 2 p.m. in the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St. At that meeting, the task force will hear a report and recommendations from graduate students in the university's service-learning course that has focused on code enforcement issues in the University District.

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Student Involvement

The Campus Partners Student Advisory Board met Feb. 20 with David Manfredi and John Martin of Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston to discuss the University Gateway Center. They explained the urban design goals of the Gateway project, the evolution of the concept drawings and the next steps in developing the final design. Other meetings with members of the Gateway project team will be scheduled for later in winter quarter and in spring quarter.

Refuse Collection and Street Sweeping

The Campus Partners Public Service Committee will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, March 12, at the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St. Committee members will focus on street sweeping at 1:30 p.m. in Room 200 and refuse collection at 2:30 p.m. in Room 100.