Update from Campus Partners:  July 24, 2002

Contents:

Gateway Redevelopment Project 

The Gateway project has continued to evolve over the past three years since The Druker Company was tentatively designated as the preferred master developer.  The project remains on track, but the preferred development model that has emerged is the use of a fee-developer who will work with Campus Partners to manage the project.  With the completion of the land acquisition, this is the most appropriate time to make such a change.

Among the factors that now make the fee development services model a more appropriate mechanism than a land-lease to a developer or a joint venture are the likely increased utilization of the space in the Gateway Center for university-related purposes (such as housing for students of the Moritz College of Law) and the ability of Campus Partners to access less expensive tax-exempt financing for the Gateway project.  Unfortunately, The Druker Company, like many development companies, does not provide development services on a fee basis and, therefore, will discontinue its involvement with the Gateway Center.

As a result, Campus Partners has invited a selected number of development firms with fee-developer experience to respond to a request for proposals.  Campus Partners expects to choose a fee-developer by late summer.  Most, if not all, of the team assembled by Druker are expected to continue with the project.

Broad Street Portfolio

Campus Partners and Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing (OCCH) are optimistic that the closing on acquisition of the Broad Street Portfolio and the related restructuring through the federal Mark-to-Market program will take place this fall.  The staff of OCCH has done an outstanding job in completing the due diligence on the portfolio, developing the financial plans for the acquisition, and pursuing issues of management, renovation and opportunities for demolition and de-concentration.

The following is a summary of the activities involving the Broad Street Portfolio since the last update in May:

-- OCCH continues to have extensive discussions with HUD’s Columbus field office on the acquisition of the portfolio and the Mark-to-Market restructuring.  For the most part, the details of this transaction are being worked out in Columbus, rather than in Washington.
-- Moody-Nolan, Inc., has completed an engineering and architectural review of all the buildings in the Columbus portion of the portfolio and has rated each building according to its renovation needs.
-- From a variety of inputs, OCCH has identified buildings in each neighborhood that it plans to remove from the portfolio prior to the Mark-to-Market restructuring.  These buildings total 106 units.  (One building with 17 units is in the Weinland Park neighborhood.)  By removing these buildings prior to restructuring, the goal is to make the properties available for redevelopment with as few restrictions on use as possible.
-- Campus Partners staff in June worked with staff in the offices of Congresswoman Deborah Pryce and Congressman Pat Tiberi on a legislative amendment that would designate the Broad Street Portfolio as a demonstration project and permit greater de-concentration of the units.  A housing bill is being considered by the House Financial Services Committee and may be a vehicle later in the process for an amendment affecting the Broad Street Portfolio.
-- OCCH is working with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency to gain access to additional funds as gap financing for the closing.

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University Uptown Improvement District

The petition to create the University Uptown Improvement District is being circulated among High Street property owners.  Key owners have been identified and are being contacted directly by members of the SID Steering Committee and by Campus Partners staff.   The goal is to obtain the necessary signatures of the owners of 75 percent of the area of the SID within the next 30 to 60 days.

As now proposed, the SID will include High Street properties between Wall Alley on the west and Pearl Street on the east.  The southern boundary will be East Eighth Avenue and West 10th Avenue.  The northern boundary will be East Norwich Avenue and West Northwood Avenue.  The petition will specify that the assessment for the SID could be effective Jan. 1, 2003, or Jan. 1, 2004, depending on how quickly the petition and assessment are approved.  The SID is likely to generate about $210,000 annually from the assessment and $40,000 annually each from the city and the university in expected contributions.

High Street design guidelines

Campus Partners and the City of Columbus this month have published the University/High Street Development & Design Guidelines as a companion to A Plan for High Street: Creating a 21st Century Main Street.  The publication of the guidelines is the culmination of five years of work by many stakeholders in the University District.   The University Area Commission worked diligently with the city’s Planning Division to put the guidelines in final form.  Columbus City Council adopted the guidelines in May.  In addition to the printed version, the guidelines will be available on the city’s Website.

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Homeownership Incentive Program

Campus Partners convened an ad hoc homeownership committee on June 21 to advise Campus Partners staff on the possible redesign of the university’s homeownership incentive program.  The committee members reviewed the experience with the current program. They also discussed the pressures to convert homeownership to rental housing in the northern part of the University District; barriers to homeownership in the Weinland Park neighborhood; city programs to promote homeownership; and innovative approaches to homeownership, such as a community land trust.  Additional information is being gathered, and another meeting of the committee is likely to be scheduled later this summer.  The committee includes neighborhood residents, university staff and local housing experts.

Public safety

The University Area Safety Committee met June 12 and heard a report from Andrea Dowhower of the Office of Student Affairs on the survey of students conducted during spring quarter on their perceptions of public safety on- and off-campus.  Among the findings was that since 1996-97 there has been an increase in undergraduate students’ perceptions that the campus is safe.  There was a drop, however, in their perceptions of safety around the campus from 2000-01 to 2001-02.  If you want a copy of the survey results, contact Steve Sterrett.  The committee plans to discuss the survey results in more depth at its next meeting.

Gary Holland, deputy director of the city’s Public Safety Department, told the committee that the police will implement the new noise ordinance in a consistent fashion across all neighborhoods.  Some neighborhood leaders had expressed concern that the University District might be treated differently because of its reputation for noise.

Sgt. Terry Perrigo reported that the Columbus Police had recently arrested at least 16 persons on drug charges in the Weinland Park neighborhood as a result of a long investigation by the Strategic Response Bureau.

The next meeting of the University Area Safety Committee will be Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 3:30 p.m. in room 101 of the Student Affairs building, 33 W. 11th Ave.

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Refuse collection and street sweeping

The Campus Partners Public Service Committee on refuse collection is planning the sixth annual collection of bulk trash in the University District as part of the annual move-out and move-in of students.  The city will place roll-offs (extra-large dumpsters) in seven or eight locations throughout the area from Friday, Aug. 30, to Sunday, Sept. 15, to receive the bulk trash.  In addition, efforts will be made to encourage residents to donate reusable household goods to Material Assistance Providers, a non-profit “furniture bank” for homeless families and others in need.   Gerald Edwards, administrator of the city’s Refuse Collection Division and chair of the Campus Partners Public Service Committee, hopes to increase involvement by property owners in the special collection and improve the efficiency of the program.

Code enforcement

Andy Baumann, code enforcement supervisor for the city, told the University District Code Enforcement Task Force at its meeting July 9 that systematic exterior code inspection would resume in the next two weeks.  The inspections will be conducted in a new pilot area bounded by High Street on the west, Indianola Avenue on the east, East 11th Avenue on the south and East 14th Avenue on the north.  There are no known homeowners in the area, so a companion “envelope program” is not needed.

Jennifer Evans-Cowley, assistant professor of architecture at Ohio State, has served as a member of the task force for the past year.  She proposed to the task force that a class of graduate students, “Urban Project and Policy Planning Studio,” work with the task force and the city during winter quarter 2003 on one or more of the code enforcement policy issues in the University District.  The task force members enthusiastically accepted her proposal.

The task force’s legislative committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 2 p.m. in the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.  On the agenda will be a discussion of the issues which the urban policy class might work on.  The full task force will hold its next meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 2 p.m. in the Northwood-High Building.

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