The FairOaks Community Development Corp. Board continues to prepare for the next phases of repurposing FairOaks Mall, Donner Center and the surrounding area, even as the project remains “on pause” due to the pandemic.
The board, which includes Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop and Columbus Regional Health CEO Jim Bickel, approved a $69,800 contract with True Scan to perform a laser scan of the mall property to help gather more detailed information about its structure before considering any renovations.
The city is responsible for $43,500 of the total price tag, with CRH paying the remaining $26,300.
The board also accepted the final master planning report from the design firm hired to guide the city and hospital system through the process of redefining the mall, Donner Center and surrounding areas.
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The 84-page document lays out broad concepts for facilities that design firm MKSK believes could be feasible on both properties and phasing recommendations, but “does not represent a design.” No specific facilities have been decided on and no architectural plans have been drawn up.
The report includes recommendations on several types of spaces at FairOaks Mall and Donner Center, including potential adaptive recreational spaces at the mall, retail facilities, Columbus Parks and Recreation office spaces, a multipurpose sports fieldhouse, among other ideas.
The report was unanimously approved by the FairOaks Community Development Corp. Design Committee Thursday morning.
The project seeks to transform FairOaks Mall into a community wellness, recreation and sports center, and determine new potential uses for Donner Center and connectivity with the surrounding areas, but has been paused over the past few months as the city and Columbus Regional Health evaluate how to navigate economic and public health uncertainties due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MKSK is a collective of architects, urban designers and planners with studios in Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis and West Lafayette; Detroit, Michigan; Greenville, South Carolina; Louisville, Kentucky; and Cincinnati, Ohio.
However, the city plans to take “the next six-plus months” to review the report “from a new perspective and a different lens” as city officials continue analyzing the revenue forecasts and potential “tweaks” to proposed spaces at the mall property in the event the COVID-19 pandemic alters behaviors and social gatherings long-term.
“We want to remind people that the city is still very excited about this project,” said Mary Ferdon, executive director of administration and community development for the city of Columbus, during the meeting. “Even though we’re able to do very little on it right now, all of the needs that we saw a year ago, even six months ago, still exist and will still exist on the other side of the pandemic. We’re taking a pause and we’re not sure on the timeline but we still intend to go ahead with the project.”
CRH has shifted its focus to responding to the pandemic and also has paused its part of the project, Bickel said.
MKSK’s report shows CRH tentatively occupying the former Carson’s space and potentially part of other retail or restaurant spaces next to the former department store on the west side of the mall.
However, CRH officials are not sure what financial implications the pandemic will have on the hospital system and expect to take “at a minimum” the next three months through the rest the year to reevaluate the project’s timeline, Bickel said during the meeting.
“Even though we’re at the core, the center of the response (to the pandemic) in the community, it has had its own economic implications on us as we were required to postpone a lot of procedural work (earlier this year),” Bickel said. “…I’m sure all of you read the reports coming out about the hot spots around the country. Fortunately, locally that’s not yet the case here. We don’t know yet what those implications are going to be both regionally and here locally.”
City and CRH officials said the pandemic will likely continue to have a “severe and intense impact” on society and have been talking with each other frequently about how that might impact the mall project going forward.
On Dec. 14, 2018, 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% of the property’s appraised value.
CRH contributed $1.3 million, or 25% 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.
Though the city and CRH still plan to pursue the project, the timeline remains uncertain. City officials previously had expected to break ground on the project sometime in early to mid-2021.
“(The pandemic) is impacting economic activity, human health and our social relationship and how we interact with people and all of those pieces are an integral part of the kind of facility that we want to have here,” Ferdon said.
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Visit reimaginefairoaksmall.com for more information about the project.
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