Making downtown Columbus a more attractive place to live, work and play has been a focal point for development since the turn of the century.
In 2004, city officials put into place a process to define the future of downtown, called Vision 2020. After a year of planning, soliciting public input, among other activities, city officials approved the 2005 Strategic Development Plan.
The plan, among other things, sought to redefine the Commons Mall, add a multi-level parking garage and a hotel, add office and commercial space downtown, among other goals, according to the plan.
The plan yielded projects such as the redeveloped Commons, Hotel Indigo, The Cole apartment complex, the redesigned Fourth Street, three parking garages and the Cummins downtown office space.
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The return on investment was $4.06 for every dollar the city contributed, according to the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce.
“It was a very successful plan and we were able to accomplish in about five years much of what we had projected to take place in 10 plus years,” said Tom Vujovich, who was president of the Columbus Redevelopment Commission when the 2005 plan was put into place.
However, not everything in the plan was accomplished.
Two amateur sports complexes proposed for the downtown area never materialized, Vujovich said.
“The indoor/outdoor sports complexes were not able to be fulfilled, he said. “We addressed the needs for parking garage, which had been a 50-year discussion with no action. We not only got one parking garage built, we ended up with three.”
By 2018, city officials said many of the 2005 plan’s objectives had been achieved, and the Columbus City Council adopted a new plan, Envision Columbus.
Led by DAVID RUBIN Land Collective of Philadelphia and initiated by the Heritage Fund, Envision Columbus is addresses the commercial area of downtown Columbus, as well as nearby neighborhoods and parks.
The plan encompasses a geographical area bounded by farmland south of downtown to Donner Park to the north, and from Mill Race and Noblitt Parks on the west to California Street on the east.
Initial focal points of the plan include a potential hotel/conference center with performance venue opportunities downtown, an urban grocer, townhomes, neighborhood revitalization, among others.
For Vujovich, who left the redevelopment commission in 2012, revitalizing and maintaining downtown Columbus requires ongoing work.
“It’s not as though you can address the downtown one time and consider it finished and walk away,” he said. “That’s just not the case. Like any investment it requires consistency, keeping your eye on it and continually working to improve it. As a community, I think we need to keep in mind what it takes to have a healthy downtown and what we are willing to put in to make that happen. Once you take your eye off it, the problems start to set in and start to multiply.”
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Visit envisioncolumbus.org for more information about Envision Columbus.
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