The University Impact District Review Board heard a proposal this week to build a temporary park at the corner of East 14th Avenue and North High Street.
Currently occupying the corner is a gravel parking lot, the base of a construction crane, and two adjoining buildings – the last two structures standing after all other buildings lining the east side of High Street between 14th and 17th Avenues were demolished to make way for the 15th and High district.
The first of the new buildings to be constructed was the Wellington, a mixed-use building with a first floor Target that opened in 2018. In 2021, WOSU’s new headquarters building – located at 14th and Pearl – opened, as did University Square North, which holds offices as well as Barrio and other restaurants on its first floor.
And scheduled to be completed early next year is University Square South, the twin mixed-use building on the other side of the district’s central public plaza (now called University Square).
The proposed park would occupy a block where another office and retail building was planned, although now it appears as if it will be a least a couple of years before anything is built on the site; hence the idea to transform it into a usable public space with seating, public art and a food truck plaza.
That was the message delivered to the review board Monday night by a group of City and Regional Planning students – they had been tasked with coming up with ideas for the site by Campus Partners, the OSU-affiliated nonprofit that has headed up the 15th and High project.
Renderings presented by the students show a small open-air theater, an “educational prairie” area, and a yet-to-be-designed art piece that would be installed around the crane base.
All of the trees and bushes shown in the drawings would be in planters, so that they could be easily removed and placed elsewhere when the lot is eventually developed, the students said.
The response from the board was largely positive, although one advised against the prairie idea, since native prairies can be hard to establish. Another suggested a dog park element be added to the concept.
The proposal was reviewed conceptually, meaning that Campus Partners will need to return for a vote of approval for the project in the future.
Apart from the 14th and High parcel, there is one other large piece of the 15th and High district that has yet to be built. A hotel and parking garage have long been planned for the area due west of University Square, a site that was cleared and fenced off years ago but has only been used for material storage by construction crews working on the other buildings.
Campus Partners President Matthew Hansen declined to provide any new details, but told Columbus Underground that the hotel and garage are “still in the planning stages, but we are making progress.”
For more information on the University Impact District Review Board, see columbus.gov.