$80M plan for Columbus' City Hall campus

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Columbus will spend up to $80 million to improve the City Hall campus Downtown under a plan to be announced this week.

A 94-year-old building just north of City Hall will be torn down and replaced with a 135,000-square-foot office building that could rise up to eight stories. The building would be under construction by summer 2015 and completed by early 2017.

The city also is negotiating to acquire nearby land that could be used for a 600-vehicle parking garage to serve the new building.

Demolished to make way for the project would be 109 N. Front St., a 94-year-old building that is valued by the Franklin County auditor at just under $4 million. The city bought the four-story, 76,000-square-foot building in 1983 from Columbia Gas for $2.6 million.

Under the plan, three other city buildings would be vacated and sold, including one the city tried to unload in 1983 to help pay for the Columbia Gas building but which had no bidders.

The city plans to announce this week that about $57million will be included for the project in the upcoming capital budget, said Paul Rakosky, the Columbus director of finance and management. The city council has been kept in the loop and supports the project, which also will include a small park between the new building and City Hall, officials said.

Its part of the transformation of Downtown that includes a renovated Scioto riverfront and improvements to Gay Street, said John Ivanic, spokesman for city council President Andrew J. Ginther. Its an important part of the overall vision.

The plan makes more sense than spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade the current buildings and follows a 2006 master plan for the City Hall campus, Rakosky said. This will really complete the plan.

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$80M plan for Columbus' City Hall campus