Magnificent mile
A guide to the new features along the downtown riverfront.
Ben Zenitsky
Courtesy CDDC
Any venture through downtown the past couple years has meant navigating a speckled sea of orange barrels, chain-link fences and signs redirecting traffic. For a time, it seemed as if men wearing hard hats equaled the number of those wearing neckties.
From the demolition of City Center mall and its replacement with Columbus Commons to the opening of the new courthouse to the debut of the ultra-contemporary Main Street Bridge, things certainly are happening in the center city. Perhaps the crown jewel of it all, however, is the Scioto Mile redevelopment, a $44 million makeover of 11 acres of downtown riverfront that broke ground in May 2009.
Rejuvenating the rather unremarkable, flagpole-lined Civic Center Drive in front of the Ohio Supreme Court building, the Scioto Mile project aims to give the eastern riverfront something it has greatly lacked: usable, scenic space.
To tackle the design, the city—represented by the Columbus Downtown Development Corp.—turned to MSI, the firm behind the Arena District master plan and a number of other urban projects. “The mayor was adamant that he didn’t want just a green leafy park,” says MSI principal Keith Myers. “He wanted something really special that was going to activate the river, that was going to activate downtown and get people to come down here.”
Set to make its official debut July 7, the project not only is five months ahead of schedule, but under budget as well. To help guide you along the Mile, we’ve put together a map highlighting its main features and points of interest.
Phase One: Civic Center Drive
Cincinnati-based Messer, which previously worked with the city on a handful of Arena District projects, was hired to handle the construction. For Messer, the preliminary phase of Scioto Mile—which began in May 2008, a year before ground broke on the main construction and landscaping—involved narrowing Civic Center Drive from four lanes to two and turning it into a two-way street. The plan also called for adding granite sidewalks and planters for flower gardens that line the promenade.
Promenade
With the space gained from Phase One, a brick paver walkway replaced the flag pole-lined sidewalk, and a dozen trellises—some with benches and others with porch swings—were constructed along the retaining wall. Two pavilions standing on opposite ends feature chess tables, and children can run their hands through bronze “fighting fish” fountains. Additionally, visitors can enjoy free Wi-Fi supplied by Time Warner Cable. Myers says the promenade, which features European-style street lanterns, is the spot for those “late-night, romantic strolls along the river.”
Huntington Plaza
For the centerpiece of the promenade—and to complement the façade of the nearby Ohio Judicial Center—designers came up with the concept of Huntington Plaza. “We had to do something to respond to the Supreme Court building,” Myers says. “This is an unbelievable building, one of the best in the city.” MSI contracted with a firm in Topeka, Kansas, to build several bronze sculptures (four tons of bronze, in fact) of fish on lily pads to give each of the three small fountains here a unique touch. These fountains—collectively referred to as the Huntington Fountain—are framed by concrete benches and are sure to offer walkers and joggers a scenic respite.
River’s Edge
The retaining wall spanning the river from Town Street to Rich Street was in such crumbling disrepair, the developers opted to remove it. In its place, MSI designed a sloping green space, perfect for picnics and great views of the river. Additionally, this area, called the River’s Edge, is floodable, meaning it’s been designed to allow the rising and ebbing of the Scioto without damaging the landscape.
Town Street Prow
Where the Town Street Bridge once stood there is now an overlook, which the designers refer to as the “prow.” The 70-foot expanse features artsy chandeliers, a grove of birch trees and several dozen concrete benches for great downtown and river views. Myers says it will offer visitors “the single most valuable piece of Red, White & Boom! real estate in the city.”
Milestone 229
For the site’s restaurant, the city wanted something casual, but full-service and family-friendly. The result is the glass walled Milestone 229, named for its street address (229) and the fact it’s part of the Scioto “Mile.” The cafe is 1,364 square feet inside, while an outdoor patio adds another 1,996 square feet. “It’s a unique building in that it’s almost like a pavilion,” says Bob Valentine, principal with Design Collective, the firm behind the interior design. An egg-shaped roof was installed after designers mapped out the course of the sun, negating the need for tinted windows. Columbus Brewing Company was tapped to operate the space, which will feature a copper-clad, gas-fired pizza oven. “It’ll be a great place for a beer,” says Myers.
Fountains
A total of 58 underground pumps will propel roughly 110,000 gallons of treated and recycled water through the various fountains at Scioto Mile. Bicentennial Park alone features three unique types of fountains. In one, more than 1,000 tiny underground nozzles form what appear to be rows of corn—each shooting up to 10 feet in the air. Called the hedge rows, these fountains should delight of children of all ages, who can run through the dazzling bursts of water.
Additionally, five stainless steel “halos,” which rise anywhere from 13 to 24 feet above the ground, will boast more than 1,000 fog nozzles, shielding people inside with a thick cloak of mist produced by a fog system overhead as well as one underground.
The primary fountain in the center, called the Blossom, transcends them all. Four central nozzles combine to form a singular plume of water that can rise 70 feet. These nozzles are surrounded by nearly 100 curved stainless steel pipes in two circular layers—some spraying water in a radial pattern, others creating frothy white cascades that can propel 16 feet.
According to Myers, the fountains even have personalities. “In the morning, it’ll wake up and be fairly quiet, and then as the day moves on, it’ll be more and more active,” he says. And with the intense amount of fog, designers have something special in store. A projector, located in the cafe, will project what Myers calls “little vignettes” onto the heavy mist surrounding the Blossom. American Electric Power is sponsoring a competition at Columbus College of Art & Design, challenging students to create unique digital projection art. “We have seen a number of different preliminary concepts from CCAD, which include stills, animations et cetera,” says Darren Meyer, senior associate with MSI.
Parking
A block east of Bicentennial Park, the city constructed the RiverSouth garage on the corner of Front and Rich streets. Opened in 2009, the eight-floor, 770-space garage offers parking just a stone’s throw from the park. The weekday rate is $2 an hour, Saturday and Sunday it’s $3 for six hours.
Ben Zenitsky is an assistant editor at Columbus Monthly.
Email
Print
