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Update from Campus Partners: 
Prepared for residents the University Area Commission
July 20, 2007

Contents:

· Arts leaders to discuss the arts and revitalizing neighborhoods · Civic leaders break ground on new street lighting system · City prepares for 11th annual special collection of bulk refuse

· University District committees meet · Demolition of Columbus Coated Fabrics on schedule · New stores open at South Campus Gateway · Campus Partners Board elects members

Arts leaders to discuss the arts and revitalizing neighborhoods Bryan W. Knicely, president of the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and Sherri Geldin, director of the Wexner Center for the Arts, will be the guest speakers at the University District Organization's Fifth Monday Roundtable series on Monday, July 30. The Wexner Center will host the program, which will focus on the impact that the arts – and specifically public art – can have on revitalizing communities and neighborhoods. Following their presentation, audience members will be invited to ask questions and discuss the topic. The program will be presented on July 30 at 7 p.m. in the Wexner Center’s Film/Video Theater, 1871 North High Street at 15th Avenue. There is no admission charge. A reception will follow in the center’s café. Knicely is an Ohio native who assumed the GCAC presidency seven months ago. Before returning to Ohio, he served for six years as the assistant director and accessibility coordinator of the Maine Arts Commission. Geldin has been director of the Wexner Center since 1993. Under her leadership, the center has emerged as one of the foremost contemporary art venues in the nation. The program is the fourth in a series of Fifth Monday Roundtables designed to explore the present and potential assets of the university area that make it a special place to live, learn, work and play. The roundtables are held on the fifth Monday of the month. Back to the top Civic leaders break ground on new street lighting system City and university officials joined student and neighborhood civic leaders on July 11for a ground-breaking ceremony to install a new street lighting system in the predominantly student neighborhood. Installation work is scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 20 and is expected to continue street-by-street through early spring 2008. The new street lights will replace an antiquated system that serves as area bounded by High Street, Summit Street, East 11th Avenue and East Woodruff Avenue. Undergraduate Student Government first expressed concern with the street lighting following a survey of the area conducted by USG volunteers in autumn 2001. A number of street lights were found to be out. The city’s Division of Electricity replaced the burnt-out bulbs. The problem surfaced again in spring 2004 when USG volunteers reported a number of burned out lights, as well as situations in which the lights on a whole street were out. The Division of Electricity promptly replaced bulbs and trimmed foliage which had grown to block lights. The division acknowledged, however, that the street lighting system was antiquated and electrical problems did result in periodic black-outs. With assistance from the University Community Business Association and Campus Partners and support from the University Area Commission, USG presented a proposal to the city in April 2006 to use capital improvements dollars to replace the lighting system. After viewing the lighting situation first-hand following an Ohio State football game last fall, Mayor Mike Coleman committed to finding city dollars to replace the lighting system as soon as possible. Back to the top City prepares for 11th annual special collection of bulk refuse The City of Columbus and neighborhood property owners are cooperating again this summer to conduct the 11th annual special collection of bulk refuse from Aug. 22 to Sept. 10. The eight sites identified in the University District as drop-off locations for bulk refuse are: · Rear of 51 W. 9th Avenue · Rear of 175 W. 9th Avenue · Rear of 104 E. 12th Avenue · Rear of 155 E. 13th Avenue (available after Aug. 31) · Rear of 107 E. 14th Avenue · East Woodruff Avenue at Tuller Street · West Patterson Avenue next to Tuttle Park swimming pool · Williams Street between Oakland and Patterson avenues In addition, Phi Delta Theta Fraternity will again this year be collecting reusable furniture and household goods for donation to the MAP Furniture Bank. The furniture drive will be Aug. 26 and 26. Donations can be dropped off on those days at the fraternity house, 1942 Iuka Avenue. The fraternity also will pick up donated items on those days. To arrange pick-up, visit the fraternity’s web site at http://ohiounion.osu.edu/greek_life/chapters.asp?Organization=39. Back to the top University District committees meet The University District Code Enforcement Task Force and the Campus Partners Public Service Committee on refuse and recycling held a joint meeting on July 17. Representatives of the City Attorney’s office, SWACO and three of the city’s solid waste inspectors attended the meeting to discuss the problem of illegal dumping in the University District. The problem is not only one of trash being dumped along the railroad right-of-way or in a ravine, but also one of building debris and other inappropriate items being placed in the city’s refuse containers. After the discussion, the two committees agreed to form a small task force to look at the problem in more depth. The two committees will meet again on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at 1 p.m. in room 100 of the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St. The University Area Safety Committee is not meeting over the summer. The next meeting of the committee will be Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 3:30 p.m. in the conference room of 33 W. 11th Avenue. Back to the top Demolition of Columbus Coated Fabrics on schedule Champion Environmental Services has completed more than 80 percent of the demolition of the existing Columbus Coated Fabrics buildings and is on schedule to complete the work by August. According to Champion’s on-site project manager, the firm has hired 16 workers from the Columbus area, of whom 14 came from applications taken by Godman Guild Association. The temporary workers are paid prevailing wages. The Ohio Department of Development is scheduled on July 25 to announce the recipients of state grants in the latest round of funding under the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF). With support from Campus Partners and the Wagenbrenner Development Company, the City of Columbus last April applied for $3 million from CORF to remediate the Columbus Coated Fabrics property. Given the state dollars available and the ranking of this project, Campus Partners is confident that the city will receive the CORF grant. Assuming the grant is received, the clean-up would take place in 2008. Meanwhile, the city, Campus Partners and Wagenbrenner Development Company continue to work on an economic development agreement that would support Wagenbrenner’s plan to build up to 500 units of housing and a community park on the Columbus Coated Fabrics site. Back to the top New stores open at South Campus Gateway Five new retail businesses have opened this spring and early summer at South Campus Gateway, joining the existing 22 retail tenants. The retail portion of the project is 83 percent leased. The Aveda Institute Columbus is building out 7,900 square feet of space at 1581 N. High Street for a licensed professional training school of cosmetology, projected to open later this summer. The new stores are: · Au Moda, 1552 N. High Street, women’s designer clothing and accessories. · Inta Juice, 1585 N. High Street, restaurant serving healthy juice and smoothie beverages. · Max Muscle, 18 E. 11th Avenue, sports nutrition store with dietary supplements, training and apparel. · No Tan Lines, 1589 N. High Street, tanning salon. · Status Style, 1568 N. High Street, sneakers and “streetwear” for the urban contemporary market. The apartments at Gateway currently are 100 percent occupied. Only one apartment remains available for lease for the 2007-08 academic year. Back to the top Campus Partners Board elects members The 11-member Campus Partners Board of Directors earlier this month re-elected two of its members and elected three new members. The board is composed of six “university directors” representing Ohio State and nominated by the university president and five “public directors” who are not university employees or trustees. The board re-elected Bobby D. Moser and Thomas W. Johnson as university directors for three-year terms expiring in mid-2010. Mr. Moser is chair of the Board of Directors and is Ohio State’s vice president for agricultural administration and vice president for university outreach. Mr. Johnson is interim university treasurer. The board elected Ellen Manovich as a public director to succeed Kent Cherny as a representative of Ohio State students for a two-year term expiring in mid-2009. Ms. Manovich was recommended for the position by a search committee composed of student leaders. She is from Dayton and just completed her freshman year. The board also elected Boyce Safford III, director of the Columbus Department of Development, as a public director representing the city for a three-year term expiring in mid-2010. He succeeds Mark Barbash, former director of the Columbus Department of Development and now with the Ohio Department of Development. Finally, the board elected Columbus civic leader Donna James as a public director to fill a vacancy on the board. Her term will expire in mid-2008. The other university directors on the board are Brian Hicks, university trustee; Eric Kunz, associate vice president of health sciences; Hazel Morrow-Jones, associate dean in the College of Engineering; and Robert Schottenstein, university trustee. The other public directors are Kathleen Fox, a representative of the residents of the University District, and Robert Weiler of The Robert Weiler Company, a Columbus real estate firm.

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1824 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43201
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