Arena District
The Arena District is a mixed-use planned development and neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The site was developed through a partnership between Nationwide Realty Investors, Ltd., the City of Columbus and private investors. Interpretation of the boundaries of the district are evolving as the neighboring blocks around the original site have seen additional commercial and residential development. The Arena District is named for Nationwide Arena.
History
A Mingo settlement is known to have occupied part of the land along the Scioto River in the 1790s. With the rapid expansion of Columbus, the land subsequently became an industrial corridor. In the 1870s the northern land was mostly small houses and fields. Columbus Buggy Company built its first production sites in the area and continued to expand them until the company moved its production to Dublin Road in 1906. By the 1910s it was a light manufacturing hub home to Pabst Brewing Co., Ohio Casket Co., Stuart Lamneck Co. and the Columbus Auto Brass Co. In the 1930 it had been reduced to vacant houses and several businesses and by 1950 the industry there had mostly dried up.Three successive railroad hubs, named Union Station, existed on the site, with the first being built in 1850 at High Street and Nationwide Blvd. A second station replaced it in 1868, and a third was built to the west along East Goodale Street.
The Ohio Penitentiary opened on the site in 1834 and served as a large scale prison facility until 1984. The prison grew dramatically in size to house 5,235 prisoners in 1955. But it is also the site of a 1930 fire that killed 322 inmates, one of the worst fires in American prison history. The prison was vacant until it was demolished in 1998.
Arena construction
Around the mid-1990s the area was almost entirely abandoned and redevelopment opportunities were envisioned by the City of Columbus. Following the closure of the Ohio Penitentiary the land was owned by the City of Columbus and it courted various firms and investors for redevelopment plans. At the time of the project in 1996 then City Councilman Michael B. Coleman, who was later the mayor of Columbus, said that the Ohio Penitentiary site is the “most important and potentially most valuable single site in downtown Columbus.” After proposals were reviewed, the City Council approved the redevelopment proposal from Nationwide Realty Investors and sold the company the 23-acres of land for $11.7 million. NRI purchased an additional four acres from American Electric Power Company for $11 million.The Ohio Department of Development provided a $750,000 grant to help with cleanup on the land.
NRI worked further with The Columbus Dispatch Printing Company, private investors, and the city of Columbus to fund work in the district. NRI funded $450 million of the project, the Dispatch provided an additional $10 million, and other private investors provided $40 million more for the construction of buildings in the Arena District. Additional financing to construct infrastructure was provided by the city of Columbus; these included a tax increment financing district in downtown Columbus, and two tax incentive packages: one for downtown office development and another 10 year tax holiday for newly constructed residential properties.
Subsequent development
In 2009, there had been a proposal to construct the Hollywood Casino Columbus in the Arena District on the site of a former tool factory next to Huntington Park, estimated to cost $250 million including 5,000 slot machines and table games, but was met with opposition from landlords in the Arena District. The casino was eventually built in the city's western neighborhoods. In 2021, ScottsMiracle-Gro Field (formerly Lower.com Field, a soccer-specific stadium that is the home of the Columbus Crew, was built on the site and will be the anchor of the Astor Park neighborhood, which is currently under construction.By the end of 2013 construction began on the last phase of the Arena District, with an expected completion date of Summer 2014. The last major phase of construction includes the new headquarters for Columbus-based Columbia Gas of Ohio and completed second phase of the residential Flats on Vine.
Geography
The Arena District site is bounded by Vine Street to the north, Spring Street to the south, N. High Street to the east and Neil Avenue to the west. The commonly accepted borders of the Arena District are considerably larger, as evidenced by both the Arena District website and locals when referring to it. The expanded boundaries include Huntington Park, the Lifestyles Community Pavilion and Buggyworks to the west, and Nationwide's corporate headquarters to the east.Arena District is directly south of the North Market and Park Street Districts, north of Downtown and west of the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Generally, when walking west of High Street the land falls away towards the Olentangy River, and the grade is significant, especially alongside Nationwide Arena.
The neighborhood has several public spaces that are used for major events throughout the year such as McFerson Commons Park, Battelle Plaza and Nationwide Arena Plaza. These events include: The Arnold Sports Festival, Jazz & Rib Fest, Columbus Blue Jackets hockey games and concerts. There is also a pedestrian walkway and footbridge that extends from Battelle Plaza at the east side of Nationwide Arena to Vine Street where there are numerous bars and restaurants, and access to parking garages.