Sumbitted illustration
An artist’s rendering of NexusPark as shown from 25th Street.
Image provided
City actions last week pushed forward the ongoing redevelopment of NexusPark, the revitalization of the former FairOaks Mall into an athletics and health-care focused community center. We’re also beginning to see what promises to be a novel reuse of a prime location and a premier drawing card in Columbus for years to come.
Incremental change so far is notable in Columbus Regional Health beginning demolition on the former Carson’s location in what will be an ongoing combination of demolition and construction.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission last week contracted with the MKSK design firm to complete the exterior master plan and design and draw up blueprints, allocating a little less than $500,000 in tax increment finance funds for that purpose. The vision we see in artist renderings like the one above are a stunning vision of possibility for a property that otherwise would continue a long, steady decline.
We believe the best way to view NexusPark is as a gathering place owned by the community for the use, enjoyment and benefit of future generations. Just as FairOaks was a gathering place for boomers and Gen-Xers, Nexus will become a destination for years to come.
But we also should look at NexusPark in another way. In many communities, “zombie malls” have left gaping holes where once-vibrant marketplaces and gathering spots thrived. It’s to the credit of local stakeholders that this will not happen here. The city and CRH, with broad buy-in from the community, saw an opportunity to do something forward-looking for the property as well as the region.
But first, much hard work has to happen, and it’s going to take a while. The Republic’s Jana Wiersema reported that Columbus Director of Administration and Community Development Mary Ferdon told the Redevelopment Commission the city wanted to line up MKSK even though the exterior work will be among the later phases of construction. The company has long been involved with the planning process, including guiding stakeholders through the process of defining how Nexus will fit in with nearby recreational properties.
“We’re trying to change the whole layout of that mall,” Ferdon said. “We want it to be a welcoming place. We want it to have green space. And we wanted it to look less like a mall and more like a community center.”
Also last week, the city took a step toward finding a contractor for the largest portion of the interior work, construction of the 150,000-square-foot fieldhouse. The Board of Works released a request for proposal to the two contractors that replied to a public request for qualifications, Force Construction Co. of Columbus and Runnebohm Construction of Shelbyville. Bids are due by April 12.
An aggressive construction schedule would have major construction work underway this fall and completion a year later, if supply chain kinks are worked out by then. It’s early yet, but the vision of a remarkable redevelopment is inching closer to becoming reality.
