The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce opened its board meeting to its membership to learn more about upcoming city projects, including a proposed downtown hotel conference center and the revamp of the FairOaks Mall.
Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop and other city officials discussed several of the city’s major projects Wednesday at Columbus City hall, welcoming about 85 chamber members to the event.
Lienhoop talked about the Envision Columbus downtown strategic plan, followed by presentations on three projects by Heather Pope, Columbus redevelopment director, and Mary Ferdon, executive director of administration and community development, who spoke about the mall project. After the presentations, Lienhoop took questions from chamber members.
Lienhoop talked briefly about how the city’s new downtown strategic plan, Envision Columbus, has been completed.
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The mayor said he and some members of his administration determined in 2016 that the previous downtown redevelopment plan, Vision 2020, had “run its course” and the city “needed to engage in another round of planning.”
The initial focal points of the plan, unveiled Monday during the Columbus Redevelopment Commission’s meeting, include a potential hotel conference center with performance venue opportunities downtown, an urban grocer, the addition of townhomes, neighborhood revitalization, among other ideas.
The goal is to spur additional investment and an active downtown environment, according to the plan.
“The city of Columbus has, for some time, engaged in a series of very deliberate planning processes,” Lienhoop said during the meeting. “There was Focus 2000, Vision 2020 and now we have Envision Columbus. The whole notion (of Envision Columbus) is that an excellent community doesn’t happen by accident. You have to sort of think a little bit about where you want to go and how you’re going to get there.”
Riverfront project
One of the projects presented to chamber members was a proposed $8.6 million riverfront redevelopment.
The project seeks to improve the appearance, recreational function, environmental quality and economic benefit of the riverfront area between the Second and Third Street bridges.
The project could include, among other things, the removal of the lowhead dam in the East Fork of the White River, maintenance and repair of the river banks, connections to the People Trail system and an in-water recreation area.
City officials told chamber members that they expect to file an application this week with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for the proposed riverfront redevelopment.
“We’re hoping to get our permit from DNR in April,” Pope said. “It will take us awhile to put construction documents together, put a bid packet together and put it out for bid and by this time next year, hopefully, have a contractor under contract under contract and ready to start construction.”
The city estimates that it will take nine to 12 months to finish construction, Pope said.
Hotel conference center
Pope and Lienhoop also spoke about a proposed hotel conference center in downtown.
The hotel conference center could include 140 or more guest rooms, a 9,000-square-foot divisible ballroom, 4,000- to 5,000-square-foot of divisible breakout meeting rooms, dining capacity for 600 people, among other amenities.
City officials are looking at two potential developers, Pope said during the meeting. The Columbus Redevelopment Commission is expected to announce a recommendation for the selection of a developer for the project during its Nov. 7 meeting. The meeting will be at 4 p.m. at Columbus City Hall council chambers, located at 123 Washington St.
Lienhoop said the potential hotel conference center could be a precursor to attracting an urban grocer to the downtown area.
“The urban grocer doesn’t come find behind (the hotel conference center). …We’ve got to have some more people (downtown) before we can attract a grocer to the downtown area,” Lienhoop said. “We’ve bumped up the residential reinvestment in that area. A conference hotel might provide some additional foot traffic that could be attractive to a grocer.”
Mall project
Ferdon spoke about the scope of the FairOaks Mall project and gave some updates on the design process.
The design firm the city hired to help guide the city through the process of defining the future of FairOaks Mall and Donner Center is starting to analyze public input and is working with the FairOaks Community Development Corp. to look at what kinds of facilities could be built at different locations on the mall property and at Donner Center.
The firm, MKSK, has partnered with Perkins+Will, Greenstreet and Moss.
Ferdon, however, cautioned that the project is still in the design phase and that no architectural renderings are being drawn up at this point in the process.
“You’re not going to see in the next few months beautiful architectural drawings of what it’s going to look like,” Ferdon said during the meeting. “This is a design process, and so what we’re really looking at is what can be there, what fits there? At some point in time, we will turn it over to an architect.”
On Dec. 14, the city finalized the purchase of the 35.36-acre mall property at 25th Street and Central Avenue for $5.9 million. The city put up approximately $4 million, or 75 percent of the property’s appraised value.
Columbus Regional Health contributed $1.3 million, or 25 percent of the appraised value. Additionally, the Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County committed to providing $450,000, which is the difference between the selling price and the appraised value. Under state law, the city could not pay more than the appraised value.
The impetus behind the purchase is to transform FairOaks Mall into a community wellness and sports tourism complex. The overarching project, however, includes repurposing the aging Donner Center and looking at the connectivity between the two sites and the surrounding area.
Two public engagement sessions for the mall project have already been held. The next public engagement session for the project will be at 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at the mall, Ferdon said.
A fourth public engagement session is expected to be held in early 2020.
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For more information about Envision Columbus, visit envisioncolumbus.org.
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