FairOaks Community Development board members have appointed a committee to oversee design and planning for the mall’s redevelopment into a year-round community recreational and sports tourism complex.
Columbus Parks Board president Mark Levett was chosen to serve as chairman for the new Design and Planning Committee.
Others selected for the new committee are: Jeff Bergman, city-county planning director; Britt Brewer, community outreach coordinator for the J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program; Jim Bickel, Columbus Regional Health CEO; Mark Jones, Columbus Parks and Recreation director; Karen Niverson, Columbus Visitor’s Center director; Jim Roberts, Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. superintendent and Frank Miller, Columbus city councilman.
“We are now at the point where we have to determine how we are going to pursue activities to complete our vision of what this facility can become,” Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop said at a board meeting Monday.
Multiple uses will be considered in addition to sports and recreation that will include parks administration, appropriate retail like Dunham’s Sports, and possibly some services provided by Columbus Regional Hospital, Lienhoop said.
The city completed the purchase of the 35-acre mall property for $5.9 million in December.
The main task of the committee will be to seek requests for proposals regarding a design for the project, board members said. Also, part of this group’s responsibilities will be to provide opportunities for public input and comment, said Mary Ferdon, Columbus executive director of administration and community development.
In addition to setting up the committee, board members learned the mall is projecting a positive fund balance for the year. Ferdon said the mall is projected to have positive cash flow of $98,383 this year. That figure was included in an update provided Monday by finance committee chairman Brad Davis.
New procedures to lease space at the mall were also approved by the board.
If a tenant wishes to lease space for 12 months or less, terms of the lease must first be reviewed by the chairmen of the board’s facilities and finance committees. If both chairmen approve a renewal or new lease lasting less than a year, the board will given the authority to sign the lease agreement to mall manager Veritas Reality of Indianapolis.
But a different approach will be undertaken for new tenants wishing a lease greater than 12 months. Under those circumstances, the tenant would receive a combined review by the chairmen of three board committees: finance, facilities and planning.
If that tenant is approved, one of the chairman will have the authority to act at a signatory for the longer-term lease.
Meanwhile, answers are being sought for a lingering question among those who have used Fair Oaks Mall for special events in the past, Davis said.
“We’re going to work in concert with the city to make sure we are not competing with other rental spaces within the community, as well as make sure we at least covering our costs,” Davis said.
The committee is currently looking into matters such as insurance guidelines for those renting or leasing space, as well as establishing what type of amenities are going to be offered, he said.
In December, board members said the remaining mall tenants will notice few changes for the next year. For at least the next three years, retail businesses operating in the mall — which opened in 1990 — will have an opportunity to be part of the transformation, Lienhoop said. All existing tenant leases will be honored, the mayor said.
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The city announced in late August that it planned to purchase the 35-acre mall property at 25th Street and Central Avenue from New FairOaks Mall Owner LLC for $5.9 million through a partnership with Columbus Regional Hospital and a grant from the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.
The city plans to turn the mall into a community recreational and sports tourism complex, with the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department a likely tenant.
The city will pay $4,087,500, or 75 percent of the property’s $5.45 million appraised value, while the hospital will pay $1,362,500, which represents 25 percent of the appraised value. The Heritage Fund has also committed to providing $450,000, which reflects the difference between the agreed-upon selling price and the appraised value, according to the city.
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