Projects currently under construction on the OSU campus alone:

 

 

New ME Building (Robinson Lab replacement) #18

 

Physics Research Lab #13

 

Knowlton School of Architecture #14

 

McCracken Power Plant Addition #17

(no image)

 

Larkins Hall Expansion #7

 

Page Hall Renovation #11

 

Hagerty Hall Renovation #10

 

The Oval Restoration

 

Neil Ave. Garage #8

 

Woody Hayes Drive Bridge Construction #16

 

Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) Expansion #4

(no image, vertical 44,000 sq. ft. expansion of Weisman Hall)

 

Ross Heart Hospital #3

 

Medical Center Parking Garage #2

 

Biomedical Research Tower #9

Hey I have a question for the C-bus members, was the Gateway project worth the time and money.

Back in '95 when Papa Joe's burned down was when they started to buy south campus properties, they pretty much told everyone they were going to take all of S.C. by purchasing or eminent domain.

I went to a lot of Campus Partners planning meetings and I would always ask why not try to effect incremental change.  That way it would not be the no mans land it has been for the last decade.

(O.K, so I have my own opinion)

So, let's hear some other opinions.  Was it worth all that time and all that university money ($40Million?)

 

Thanks

Pat

It's definitely way too early to tell, as the entire South Campus Gateway project is still under construction. But initial changes, as far as I can tell, seem to be positive.

 

South Campus used to be a haven for debotchery of all sorts, and still somewhat maintains that reputation but to a much lesser extent, especially criminally. The seedy bars and pubs are gone, to be replaced by new storefronts, entertainment and appartments. Many bars have moved north of Lane Ave. to the Northwood area of High St. Old Schools, Miani's, Dick's Den, Lido's, and many other bars have become the top campus watering holes. The best part is, they bear no resemblance to the delapidated, crime-ridden havens that once existed on South Campus, and fit well with the surrounding neighborhood.

 

Interest from the private sector has also been evident with the construction in the South Campus area. The Newport embarked on a massive renovation project which included putting Panini's in two floors of the building, a trendy but casual bar. A set of row houses close to the gateway project that have been vacant for years is under renovation. HighFive, a seedy bar that was falling apart on the corner of High and 5th has been transformed into an ultra-trendy pub, with an all-glass facade facing High St.

 

Campus Partner's work isn't limited to the South Campus Gateway either. The firm recently purchased the land once occupied by the Columbus Coated Fabrics company in the Weinland Park neighborhood. This will be their next target for rejuvenation:

 

http://campuspartners.osu.edu/ccf.htm

 

So overall, I think the investment by Campus Partners into the reconstruction of the South Campus area will, in the end, be worth all the initial time, effort, and money. This project, along with the private sector investments, will finally make High St. one continuous shopping, eating, and entertainment district stretching all the way from German Village to Worthington.

I think campus partners owns the Newport as well

At least the vacent lots, that I associated with South Campus when I was at OSU, have disapeared.

 

Photo taken by me back in June, 2003 (just before they started construction)

no.

 

i prefer locally owned establishments(bars restaurants and music stores) to the gap.

even if the area was a little rundown...don't expect to see me shopping there

I guess that is my point/complaint. The area was a little run down, and it needed help. But instead of building on the strengths of the neighborhood, they used an unlimited budget and the power of eminent domain to build a mini Easton. But they had to make the area a ghost town for nearly ten years to do it.

Just up the road, the Short North area is a good comparison. When I came to Columbus in '93 the Short North was a rough part of town. But with a very strong business association putting on annual events, like the doo-dah parade and comfest, etc. they really strived to create a neighborhood feel. They succeeded in making a vibrant, unique, urban district.

That is what I had hoped Campus Partners would do for South Campus.

I hope the Gateway center is a smashing success, I really do. I just think for the time and money, it could have been so much more.

 

OK, my rant is over.

The office buildings to be demolished in UA are among the ugliest I've ever seen. They're a set of 3-4 story concrete structures with big yellow planels on the sides. I can't wait to see them gone, especially since they don't match with anything in the surrounding area. I have to say though, it would be somewhat strange having dorms all the way out on Olentangy River Rd. like that if the Fawcett Center conversion is approved.

My mom stayed in the Fawcett Center during my OSU orientation.. I did't even know it wasn't a hotel anymore. It would work well as a dorm except for it being so far from central campus - it would be quite a hike for residents.

I could see a lot of AgE's living there since it's closer to the OSU farm in UA.

I still think for the money and time invested what resulted was pretty crappy, but oh well.  Columbus could always use another outdoor mall.

 

I am just hopinng it is better than I expect.

I've driven by it a few times but haven't had the chance to get that great of a look at the progress. Most if not all of the brick is up on the facades and it looks like they're doing a lot of interior work now. The South Campus Gateway will contain retail and restaurants on the ground level, everything else will be offices and housing. I haven't heard of any more new tenants going into the buildings being constructed other than the planned Barnes & Noble's, Drexel Theatre, and Barrister Club.

can we get some photos of this? fer cryin out load, we get one of every glass panel going up on the pinnacle in clevo! i'm not complaining of course just jokin. i wanna see what they tore down mustards and mamas for!

that area used to be cool in the early 90's when I lived on 9th..

The thing is, with Columbus relaxing attitudes, we don't need to take pictures of our progressive projects.  It goes without saying ;) (*cocky Columbusite rants*).

Mr. Coffee,

  I lived on 9th and Hunter in the mid '90's

  Ever booze at the stube?

This spring will be 10 years since Campus Partners took over the charred remains of Papa Joes.

OK, I hate the gateway center.  Instead of using the ten years and tens of millions of dollars to redevelop the whole neighborhood, they wound up building a few office buildings and a movie theater.

Instead of repaving the alley's, working with property owners to rehabilitate thier houses, etc. they spent all of their time trying to evict insomnia

ehh... could be worse, but not what I was hoping for as far as a big campus revitalization project.  It'll be nice to have that nasty south bar neighborhood gone, but on the other hand... it is a trendier version of a mall in some ways.  Movie theatre, huge honkin book store, etc... I could see it as a sliver of Easton or one of the numerous other Columbus shopping centers.  I was hoping for the city to use the gateway project as much more of a campus total area revitalization, as far as getting the housing stock spruced up and perhaps even bringing in some for sale housing, and the like. 

The thing is, with Columbus relaxing attitudes, we don't need to take pictures of our progressive projects. It goes without saying ;) (*cocky Columbusite rants*).

 

Maybe I could take a light-rail train there? Oh wait, I can't -- it's COWLUMBUS!  :finger:

 

KJP

i hate this project, and campus partners needs to die. thanks for nothing you bloody wankers.

 

The thing is, with Columbus relaxing attitudes, we don't need to take pictures of our progressive projects. It goes without saying ;) (*cocky Columbusite rants*).

 

Maybe I could take a light-rail train there? Oh wait, I can't -- it's COWLUMBUS! :finger:

 

KJP

 

You see, I would say "touche!" but then again, it's Cleveland.  It doesn't even deserve that. :D

I can take some pics one of these days when I am out for class.

This spring will be 10 years since Campus Partners took over the charred remains of Papa Joes.

 

 

I was kicked out of Papa Joes for underage drinking the weekend before it burned down, D'OH!

^ If I did not see E. Gordon Gee running away with a can of gasoline, I might consider you a suspect.

Just before it burned down, they had a great Monday night import special.  Draft Guinness for $1!!!

 

Screw Campus Partners

As you can see from the OSU students who have replied, we generally hate Campus Partners.  They took what was an admittedley blighted, grimy but very hopping bar scene and gave us.... Easton, OSU style.  It has really made the campus population hate the administration even more.

 

 

And hey ColDayMan,  why don't you hop on your AMAZING COTA system that doesn't go anywhere useful on a regular basis except up and down high street.  Hehe not trying to start a flamewar, I'm just representing and defending my Cleveland pride!  8-)  I live in both cities and sorry, no comparison.

hehe

 

Don't worry.  I find that most Clevelanders that move to Columbus A). never ride COTA except for the #2 and B). are too delusioned to care about the city they moved to get educated in and instead go to UrbanOhio to see their declining city build fancy fixtures on an alleyway.

 

Thus, C). they are twits.

 

;)

^speaking of goofy things like strands of lights above streets, the 2 northernmost short north arches have been lit up recently. they are trying different ways of doing it that will actually work.

 

and nearly all bus routes other than the 102("number 2 north high route") are sad. if i go downtown i just walk because its quicker than waiting for the number 4, unless i can actually see the damn thing at my stop.

but we're not in a place like europe, so i can't really expect much better....

 

i find it hilarious when i see people stand at a bus stop for nearly half an hour, pay the fare then get off 4 blocks down.

 

 

 

 

so how easy is it to take a bus from legacy village to crocker park?  :-D

It would be nice if those arches were light up correctly.  So did they abandon the whole fiber-optic deal?  Or are they trying to fix the original system itself. I seem to remember hearing the company saying they had no clue what the problem was, which is always a good sign in knowing how to fix it haha.

 

Hey now, "Lifestyle centers" aren't quite a Cleveland phenomenom. There's that little mall called Easton.  I hate em though.  Fake urban settings just don't make a whole lot of sense.  God forbid the yuppie shoppers go to the real downtown urban areas.  Downtown retail in Cleveland and in the real cities in general needs a real shot in the arm.  Columbus experienced it with lazarus closing, and cleveland hasn't had downtown department stores since the May Company and Higbee's/Kaufmann's closed up shop.  If Lazarus wasn't based out of Cinci they'd close the downtown store there too.  What can be done, I don't pretend to know...

 

 

My point exactly on COTA.  It blows.  Plain and simple.  As Summit said, if you aren't going southbound to downtown or north out of it, don't bother waiting and just walk it.  I have lived here going on 4 years now during the school year and have friends who are born and raised and would readily agree with me.  Most everyone I know says COTA is useless.  I imagine the problem is that the majority of the population lives in the surburban-style areas of the city and wants to drive everywhere, thus won't pay for a) increased service or b) any type of rail system. 

 

Fancy fixtures on an alleyway?  If you are referrring to east 4th street/Euclid Ave, you are sadly mistaken if you think that's all that is going on there or that is our idea of urban renewal.  East 4th is a catalyst for changing the entire climate of lower euclid.  MRN Ltd is turning that into a residential/retail/nightlife neighborhood that will be a model for the rest of downtown to follow.  Don't be calling me a twit without doing your homework first there.   :-D   I'm just messing with you anyway, I don't hate Columbus, I just think it's obvious which of the "big 3" are more urban and which are more suburban/car-oriented.  In it's defense, most of the cities "gaining population" lately are ones setup like Columbus, where the central core is acutally losing population and the city is moving outward, not becoming more dense inward.  Don't forget that Central Columbus's population was around 220,000 in census 2000 and is going down in population.  Thus the urban area of the city faces the same decay and flight problem that Cleveland does.

 

Anyway, off my soapbox for now. 

Oh, we all know COTA blows.  I never take it (though I should).  I never denied that.

 

Quiet, twit.  East 4th is essentially a bootleg version of the Backstage Alley of Cincinnati...minus the whole "Uno's" thingie ;).  I'm, as always, joking too.  But I will say this; Central Columbus, while it did decline mucho as of late, it is still Ohio's second most sizeable urban area (re: walkability; structurally; etc) outside of Cincinnati, plain and simple.  While it would be nice for LRT to come to Columbus, I'm not going to cry rivers like Justin Timberlake over it.  The city is still fairly healthy, fairly urban (well, the old 51sq mi of it), and fairly progressive.

 

Soapbox...destroyed! :D

so how easy is it to take a bus from legacy village to crocker park? :-D

 

Board RTA #32 bus at Legacy Village (runs every 15 minutes during rush hours, 30 minutes off-peak;  first bus is 4:30 a.m., last bus is midnight);

 

Transfer to RTA #66X Rapid at University Circle Station (runs every 15 minutes, from 3:44 a.m. to 12:12 a.m. from UC);

 

Transfer to RTA #46 bus at Triskett Station (runs every 30 minutes during rush hours - 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., with evening service every hour until 10 p.m. Midday service provided by the #808 Community Circulator every hour from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. to the Westgate Transit Center where transfers can be made to the 22, 55, 326 and other routes to reach the Rapid or go downtown).

 

Total travel time from Legacy Village to Crocker Park for the 32-66-46 routes, with maximums allowed for just-missed connections, is one hour, 23 minutes -- not bad considering it's a 30-mile crosstown trip.  :wink2:

 

KJP

But doesn't every mall in Ohio have bus lines?

But doesn't every mall in Ohio have bus lines?

 

Probably. But how often do they run and how late into the evening? Do they go right up to the front doors of the mall or, as often happens, serve the mall from the nearest busy street which is on the other side of a huge parking lot that's not safe or attractive for pedestrians? That's the case at Legacy Village, but not at Crocker Park where the buses go right down Main Street in the middle of the development. It's pretty interesting to see the 50-foot buses negotiate those narrow streets, but the smaller Community Circulators do a lot better.

 

Mall owners say they don't want the buses on their properties because of the damage they can do to the asphalt pavement. But many contend there's racism/elitism at work in that anti-bus thinking.

 

KJP

The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned in regards to whether Campus Partner's South Campus Gateway will be/is a good thing. As I mentioned in a previous post that while it would have been nice to convert and build on what was already at the intersections of 11th, Chittenden, and High St., this could serve as a huge catalyst for the entire area, finally creating an entertainment district stretching all the way from Clintonville to German Village. I will take the opportunity to address some of the comments posted in this thread though.

 

Instead of using the ten years and tens of millions of dollars to redevelop the whole neighborhood, they wound up building a few office buildings and a movie theater.

 

The neighborhoods that need the most help are south of Chittenden and east of High, for the most part out of Campus Partner's domain. The area where the gateway is going up was going no where fast and without some kind of intervention, most likely would have gotten much worse, taking some of the better areas of the neighborhood along with it.

 

I was hoping for the city to use the gateway project as much more of a campus total area revitalization, as far as getting the housing stock spruced up and perhaps even bringing in some for sale housing, and the like.

 

I think it is. The city is working vigorously in revitalizing much of the Weinland Park neighborhood, which most certainly needs the attention. There are signs of local investment in buildings along High St. now too, such as a gorgeous set of rowhouses off High that are finally being renovated as well as the completely renovated High Five bar and club at the intersections of High and 5th. Something tells me these projects would not have happened without the investment currently going on at the South Campus Gateway. Hopefully as more interest is gained in the area, futher investment will occur along the corridor and in surrouding neighborhoods.

 

i hate this project, and campus partners needs to die

 

The project may be controversial, however Campus Partner's most recent plans are definitely positive. What is especially interesting is their recent purchase of the former Columbus Coated Porducts plant, located in a seedy area off 5th. The whole area is in need of attention, and I'm glad that they are pulling their resources together to come up with a new use for it. While I'm not too familiar with Weinland Park, Campus Partner's plans for neighborhood revitalization there do sound promising.

 

Maybe I could take a light-rail train there? Oh wait, I can't -- it's COWLUMBUS!

 

Well that one came way out of left field. This thread has taken a bit of a detour and is now focusing on COTA's problems, but that's alright. Just for everyone's information, the South Campus Gateway was designed to allow space for light rail if/when it ever comes to High St.

 

As you can see from the OSU students who have replied, we generally hate Campus Partners.  They took what was an admittedley blighted, grimy but very hopping bar scene and gave us.... Easton, OSU style.  It has really made the campus population hate the administration even more.

 

From the sounds of it, most people that have replied are former OSU students. As a current student that began classes in 2001, South Campus was of little interest. Most students in the dorm went to Lennox or Alcatraz on north campus for fun close by. Many heard stories of South Campus' former glory as a great place to get shitfaced for a great price, but it wasn't a source of resentment. I still don't think the South Campus Gateway is going to be a carbon-copy of Easton just because it's going to have a Barnes & Nobles (B&N already owns the official campus bookstore and Long's).

 

 

I won't quote the comments concerning COTA since there are quite a few of them. COTA definitely has its problems, especially with an inept management team the gave themselves pay raises while focusing only on getting light rail established instead of working on improving current bus service. Things are changing though, with Mr. Lhota now in change, who has done wonders at the Columbus Regional Airport Authority and has made putting COTA back in black ink his main priority. Light rail is still on the drawing board, but it's on the back burner now. Also, it seems as though most people on here have used the system for little other than transportation along High St. It's no question that the #2 is COTA's busiest route, with buses running along High almost every minute during peak times. However, living off way off campus along Henderson Rd., I decided to take the Kenny Rd. Local route #18 to school once. I was definitely surprised to have the bus completely full for just about all my ride from Bethel, to Kenny, to Olentangy and into Campus. I also took the East Broad St. route several times in high school and the busses were also full. Now I also used to take the #84 from Campus to Upper Arlington and the #19 from downtown to Upper Arlington all the time, and those routes were always empty. So it definitely depends on the route and your willingness to take public transportation, much like many other cities in the region.

Quiet, twit.  East 4th is essentially a bootleg version of the Backstage Alley of Cincinnati...minus the whole "Uno's" thingie .  I'm, as always, joking too.  But I will say this; Central Columbus, while it did decline mucho as of late, it is still Ohio's second most sizeable urban area (re: walkability; structurally; etc) outside of Cincinnati, plain and simple.  While it would be nice for LRT to come to Columbus, I'm not going to cry rivers like Justin Timberlake over it.  The city is still fairly healthy, fairly urban (well, the old 51sq mi of it), and fairly progressive.

 

Question for you ColDay... when you say second most sizable urban area, do you mean the cohesiveness of the central city?  As in the neighborhoods such as Victorian Village, German Village, "central" downtown, Short North, etc.?  I guess I'm just not seeing what area we are specifically talking about.  The 50s boundary as I see it is all of that, campus, east and south of downtown, etc.   So if that's what we are talking about, I can't see that being larger then Cleveland's downtown (largest and most developed by far of the three Cs), Tremont, Ohio City, and central neighborhoods.  Cleveland is still 77 square miles today remember, and I would venture those 77 square miles are denser then 1950s-boundrary Columbus's 51 sq miles considering Cleveland's population is 480,000 something within 77 sq miles and Columbus is 220 within 51 sq miles.  Just my thoughts anyway.

can't we all just get along? hehe.

 

back to my request, can we please pretty please get a photo thread up on the new stuff going up around osu there? if its not too much trouble? i'd really like to see it and i bet other ex-columbusters would as well. thank you very much somebody whoever you will be!

 

I think it is. The city is working vigorously in revitalizing much of the Weinland Park neighborhood, which most certainly needs the attention. There are signs of local investment in buildings along High St. now too, such as a gorgeous set of rowhouses off High that are finally being renovated as well as the completely renovated High Five bar and club at the intersections of High and 5th.

= While I'm not too familiar with Weinland Park, Campus Partner's plans for neighborhood revitalization there do sound promising.

 

 

the high five bar had nothing to do with campus partners. the owner renovated then sold after there was the fire in a nightclub in connecticut or something.

the old bank building at the corner has plans to have something done to it, i saw a sign up looking for leasers.

 

as for weinland park, campus partners wants to make it a place where all the students aren't afraid to go anymore...as in they want to kick out the current residents.....mostly poor blacks.

 

campus partners is trying to completely take over the area, and is pressuring everything in the neighborhood to sell. i personally know people who have had lives misplaced so they can have their way. they wanted to take down the newport, they wanted to take everything down as far north as they could.

 

more things:

 

"Recommendation 14.4.4: Assure the parking requirements are maintained during the review process to require the following parking space for new developments: 3.0 spaces per 1,000 square feet of retail space, and 2.5 spaces per 1,000 square feet of office space."

 

"One situation that would be a candidate for this type of conversion would be blocks where adjacent on-street parking would be removed to provide additional traffic lanes or to convert one-way streets to two-way operation. In this scenario, off-street parking spaces would be developed behind the residences to replace lost on-street spaces. Candidates for this type of parking conversion could include blocks along East 11th Avenue, West 10th Avenue, and selected blocks along East Woodruff, Indianola, and East 12th Avenues."

 

<i>fuck parking lots, we have plenty already. </i>

 

"Downzoning: In 1979, much of the University District was downzoned to protect existing neighborhoods and limit inappropriate development. With the adoption of the second University District Overlay in 1992, the area was effectively downzoned again. While the underlying zoning classification in many areas is still R-4, the Overlay?s FAR limitations effectively creates densities more consistent with the R2-F classification. The recommendation for further downzoning is meant to formalize what the Overlay has successfully started, while at the same time increasing the desirability of these neighborhoods for new single-family ownership. The reduced zoning will assure buyers their property values will be preserved."

 

<i> yeah, making everything single family holmes will really help add urbanity? if columbus didn't ban surface lots between structures and high street now, i would imagine they would be all over that </i>

 

 

 

<i>here are some of  the campus partners reasons for university district decline...</i>

"Elements of Decline: A review of past and current conditions in the University District has led to the identification of ten key elements contributing to the decline in the University District?s quality of life:

 

A 40-year evolution of the District into a high density, student-residential core without adequate modification or expansion of supporting infrastructure, public services, parks, or open space.

 

Disorganized and insufficient parking; constrained service access; inefficient and poorly maintained retail spaces; and non-existent street maintenance all preclude a vibrant, diverse business corridor.

 

Over-concentration of liquor licenses within the south High Street bar district at the High Street ? 11th Avenue intersection. The negative image of the area is worsened by the highly visible police patrols required on weekends to manage crowds frequenting the bars.

 

The perceptual barriers of Ohio State University that the physical campus and hence the institution's responsibility stops at High Street.

 

The intense concentration of subsidized housing in the area, especially in the southeast corner of the District, and a fragmented approach to human service assistance, delivery, and support."

 

 

<i>time to get hypocritical, eh? where is the chittenden hotel now? jack nicklaus is probably in tears</i>

"Recommendation 15.2.1: Encourage conservation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings."

 

"Locally Owned Business Retention and Encouragement: Existing merchants are an indispensable component of High Street?s future. Considerable effort should be made to assist them in realizing a long-term place in the community?s revitalization at the same time helping them to develop a more prosperous future."

 

 

<i> there are a group of rowhouses off 4th street that were section 8...campus partners says they will be renovating them, although i fear that they will screw it up..

 

i used to be able (i changed homes) to look out my bedroom window and see a big ass pile of dirt from what the neighborhood used to be. at least the taco bell is still there</i>  :roll:

 

 

 

okay i've rambled enough for now

Hey Summit, where'd you live when you were on campus?  I have lived on the Chitt (Chittenden Ave), and am currently on W Norwich.  The big dirt piles were oh so fun to manuever around when I was trying to get places.

mrnyc: i made a thread a couple months ago with some pictures of the gateway, i don't know where it is now...you could do a search function and it should come up

 

 

and to clarify, central city columbus has 250,000 people right now. in 1950 it was 376,000 in those 50 sq. miles

summit and 11th.

now i live 2 streets north and 1/2 mile east of you

^Oh, this might take a while.

CMH, Do you work for Campus Partners?

Second, you have kind of proved my point; you never had a south campus.  Sure, it was a great place to get shit faced, but it was also a great place to bank, buy music, buy clothes, buy food, get coffee buy whatever Sandro's called pizza, scales so you would not pay too much for postage, etc.  In short it was a community center.  We had our own BW-3's for crying out loud.

Did it need help, sure.  Did it need to be bulldozed and left abandoned for the better part of a decade, absolutely not!

 

Take a look at the turnaround the Short North had.  (By the way, High Five is part of the Short north gentrification wave, now that Skully's moved nearby.  Skully's used to be in South Campus) In the early 90's the Short North was a very dangerous place.  Ask any of the older regulars at the short north tavern.  Most guys would be packing heat.  I worked at Mac's cafe, and waitresses would be mugged walking home.  As funny as it sounds now, you did not want to run into a member of the gang called the short north posse.

What happened?  Was there a big pseudo-government agency that bulldozed all of the buildings on High street and suddenly it became a great area.  No.  The Short North merchants association was born.  They planned community events, like the doo-dah parade and Com-fest.  They worked with their councilperson to get rid of graffiti, clean up the streets, etc.  Later they pushed for the Victorian Gate apartments to be built.  They not only helped out on High Street, they helped the entire neighborhood.

 

Campus Partners should have been just that, partners with the property owners in the area.  There were, and still are, good property owners in the area.  If they would have treated these people like the stakeholders they were in the area, and partnered with them, established a South Campus 'stakeholders' association and continually improved the area, High Street and all the surrounding houses.  South Campus could have been a national model for how to strengthen a campus neighborhood.  But they chose to evict the property owners from the area.  They used eminent domain to remove one owner of a business, say a bar or a record shop, and replace them with an owner of their choosing.  They said they had to do it this way because trying to improve the neighborhood would take too long, at least that is what they said 5 years ago, 5 years into the project.

 

So after 10 years and I think $100,000,000.00 south campus will have a garage, a movie theater and a few building with street level retail that have all of the charm of a minimum security prison.  And not one thing was done to improve the housing of south campus.

 

I have said it before, I hate campus partners! :shoot:

 

pcforsgren, I lived in the second to last apartment building on Norwich facing the park.  I LOVED that building. 

That 7-11 always had the best coffee.

 

I am coming down now from my Campus Partners rage.

Hey punch, that's cool.  I live in 200 w norwich which overlooks Tuttle Park and that big graphtti wall. 

 

MrNyc et al, just engaged in a little friendly debate over which central city is most urban.  I appreciate all of Ohio's cities but of course I have my favorite (cleveland of course) which I will defend vigorously as the greatest of Ohio's cities.  :-D

Quiet, twit.  East 4th is essentially a bootleg version of the Backstage Alley of Cincinnati...minus the whole "Uno's" thingie .  I'm, as always, joking too.  But I will say this; Central Columbus, while it did decline mucho as of late, it is still Ohio's second most sizeable urban area (re: walkability; structurally; etc) outside of Cincinnati, plain and simple.  While it would be nice for LRT to come to Columbus, I'm not going to cry rivers like Justin Timberlake over it.  The city is still fairly healthy, fairly urban (well, the old 51sq mi of it), and fairly progressive.

 

Question for you ColDay... when you say second most sizable urban area, do you mean the cohesiveness of the central city?  As in the neighborhoods such as Victorian Village, German Village, "central" downtown, Short North, etc.?  I guess I'm just not seeing what area we are specifically talking about.  The 50s boundary as I see it is all of that, campus, east and south of downtown, etc.  So if that's what we are talking about, I can't see that being larger then Cleveland's downtown (largest and most developed by far of the three Cs), Tremont, Ohio City, and central neighborhoods.  Cleveland is still 77 square miles today remember, and I would venture those 77 square miles are denser then 1950s-boundrary Columbus's 51 sq miles considering Cleveland's population is 480,000 something within 77 sq miles and Columbus is 220 within 51 sq miles. Just my thoughts anyway.

 

Cleveland's downtown is not the largest by area, Columbus is (though with all the parking lots, no one would've known that).  Most developed, Cincinnati, easily (we all know that).  When speaking of density, one shouldn't soley rely on density tracts, seeing how a highrise in a park has more population density than a more cohesive street corner with rowhouses, etc.  As far as old city, Columbus is "denser" structurally but as with Cleveland, it's fringe older neighborhoods are suburban.  But in general, inner city Columbus is more "urban" overall than Cleveland except in Columbus' sprawltastic parking lot aka downtown, in which Cleveland annihilates.

Ah ok, that makes sense. I was just wondering what we were comparing, exactly.   Cleveland does have a pretty infilled downtown, with a few glaring exceptions (public square parking lot/former site of Ameritrust anyone?).  I would have to agree that the parking lots all over downtown cbus make it look small by comparison, driving by on the freeway with the "city view" you can see the surface parking quite well.  I would say Cincinnati's downtown is the infill leader though since it is quite compact and developed, as you said.

 

Bingo.  That is what Columbus' huge issue is is the fact that downtown doesn't feel "that large" due to the fact that it has vast open spaces (re: PMI parking lots) in which deregulates the downtown feel of the city.  Once you get outside of the downtown loop (I-71/70/670/315 ring), it is much more urban.

 

BTW, you go to OSU, eh?  We should have an OSU meet sometime!

That's what I was thinking as far as the urban neighborhoods, but wanted to make sure we were on the same page. 

 

Yeah I'm a year 4 student here (Though i'll be here for 5 haha).  From the previous posts in this thread seems a fair amount of people on here are grads and/or students from OSU.  I'd be all for an OSU meet.

 

It's my fourth year as well.  What is your major?!

All you buckeye's and no pics of the development?

Shame..

Hey it's been raining every day!  I'm hoping it will be nice Friday afternoon.  I'll have a little time after class and don't have to work that day.

 

I got here in fall '99 and most of that south campus stuff was already closed & gone.  I found it kind of scary to walk past those few blocks.  Yeah Campus Partners probably didn't go about things the right way, based on what everyone says, but... it's too late! Complaining about it forever won't bring back those businesses and buildings.  I just want to see the end result.

I lived on west 8th and west 9th for a few years back in early 90's it was great back then before they burnt down papa joes