Downtown Columbus on a roll, but is hungry for more

Heading into this weekend's Uptown Riverfest, Richard Bishop paused for a moment to reflect on how far downtown Columbus has come just in the past decade. He measured it in a fairly simple way, using an example that impacts just about everybody who visits the central business district.

"When I was deputy city manager, I could come to Broadway at lunchtime and get the same parking space every day. That's a fact and that's been 10 plus years ago," said Bishop, now president and chief executive officer of Uptown Columbus Inc. "That won't happen today. At lunchtime, you can't hardly find a parking space."

Oh, so true. And it's those events such as Uptown Riverfest that put parking at a premium, an indication that more and more Columbus-area residents are falling in love with downtown as it appears to have hit what some call a "tipping point" in its resurgence from a sleepy, languishing business and office area to a burgeoning powerhouse of social, educational, commercial and entertainment offerings.

Some say the redevelopment has exceeded expectations, while others aren't content with what has occurred and are hungry for more. Undeniably, more is on the way with Columbus State University now tearing down most of the former Ledger-Enquirer property to make way for a new nursing and health sciences school to go along with its other downtown facilities.

With the whitewater course on the Chattahoochee River heading into its third season -- picking up momentum with the new zip line attraction across the body of water -- there don't appear to be any limits to what can be achieved. New restaurants, fitness facilities and retail shops are steadily opening between the river and Veterans Parkway, the major artery connecting downtown to the city's north side.

In essence, the area is becoming a destination not just for out-of-town visitors -- and that number is already solid and poised for growth -- but for local residents who may not have fully rediscovered what the newly vibrant downtown has to offer.

Infusion of people welcome

Buddy Nelms, a pioneer of sorts after opening The Loft nightclub in 1992, at the trough of downtown inactivity, describes how he knows dynamics have changed and the rebound is now in full swing.

He now also operates two restaurants -- Downstairs at The Loft and Mabella -- a bicycle shop and, most recently, a smoothie business.

"I would go into my businesses and 80 percent of the people that walked in the door, I would know them, I would recognize them," he said.

"Now I don't even recognize 20 percent. I have left my house (on Broadway) and walked down to a festival in my hometown and not recognized anybody. So that rotation, that constant influx of people coming into the market, is there."

The seeds of that activity have been planted over the last several years, with another key element being the creation of loft apartments and condos in the downtown area, including the large Eagle & Phenix development in a former textile mill overlooking the river. That brought more people who began spending money for their needs, but also hopping on the Chattahoochee RiverWalk for bicycle rides and leisurely strolls.

The most recent major boost for the area has been creation of the whitewater and zip line courses, which are meant to draw both locals and visitors, giving downtown Columbus a growing reputation as a hub for outdoor enthusiasts.

Rafting, zip lining poised for growth

Whitewater Express, the official outfitter for the roughly two-mile river rafting and kayaking course, is positioned for another strong year, said Dan Gilbert, president of Whitewater Express.

After putting about 16,000 people on the river in the abbreviated opening year of 2013, his customer total grew to about 26,000 last year.

He anticipates reaching at least 35,000 before the main rafting season ends this fall, although Whitewater Express is open year round.

"We have worked hard," Gilbert said. "It has not been flawless or seamless. However, it's the best thing that I've ever done in outdoors. I worked on the Olympics (whitewater course in Tennessee) and, before I came to Columbus, that was the coolest thing I ever did, working on a project like that. But coming to Columbus, very similar in scope, and developing the whitewater course has been so much fun. It's been challenging, but it's just been very rewarding seeing the guests come in and have so much fun."

Gilbert added the Blue Heron Adventure zip line last September and has had more than 6,000 people soar above the river from Columbus to Phenix City since then.

He and Uptown Columbus also are now developing a nighttime attraction that will use lights to allow rafting, kayaking and surfboarding after dark near the small island that serves as a viewing area near the largest whitewater waves.

"It's not finished yet. We're tweaking it a little bit as we go. We want to make sure it's perfect as we can get it," Gilbert said. "But the water's beautiful because it's all lit up on the island. The river's just gorgeous at night and the waves are so pretty. It's very unusual to have nighttime rafting."

CVB now have more to sell the city

The river adventure, added to the other attractions in the city -- including museums, performance halls, softball facilities, the RiverWalk and the overall buzz of activity downtown -- have made Columbus a much easier sell for Peter Bowden, president and CEO of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We like to think that whitewater is one more experience for the visitor regardless of what their interest is," he said.

"It certainly is our newest and most exciting attraction, and I say that because most of our audience now are either looking for adventure or they want to watch people do those activities."

Bowden also threw out an example of how his office's event recruiters, who seek groups large and small for meetings and reunions in the city, now can use those multitude of attractions to nail down business here.

"I just had a (site selection) team in 30 minutes ago and they gave us their itinerary and I said you need to add this and this and this, and I gave them another half dozen things to do," he said. "They said there's no way we could possibly do this in a day and I said, exactly. That's what helps position Columbus for this new visitor experience is that you simply can't do it in a day."

The goal has been and always will be to bring individual visitors and groups into Columbus for overnight stays, thus filling the hotels and restaurants, while contributing to the city's tax digest that supports overall operations.

Reunions, events fuel visitation

This past week, one such group that fit that bill perfectly was the Aerial Rocket Artillery Association. The Vietnam-era group of military veterans and retirees have met in recent years in Branson, Mo., Hershey, Pa., Portland, Ore., and Charleston, S.C. This year, with it being the 50th anniversary of the 1st Cavalry Division's deployment from Fort Benning to Vietnam, they chose Columbus.

Retired Army Maj. Jesse Hobby, this year's reunion host from Cairo, Ga., said that 88 people here for the gathering arrived Wednesday and would leave today. That's after spending four nights at the Hilton Garden Inn, visiting Fort Benning, the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center, Callaway Gardens and Warm Springs, Ga., then holding a banquet Saturday evening at the Port Columbus Civil War Naval Museum and placing a memorial wreath for fallen comrades in the Chattahoochee River.

"When we were booking things and (the CVB's Ashley Woitena) brought out that this was going to be Riverfest week, and we said it sounded like a good time to come," Hobby said Thursday.

"After we hold our business meeting on Saturday morning, the wives are going to go downtown. They have a coffee and luncheon and sightseeing to do."

Similar reunions and events contributed to the city welcoming 1.7 million visitors in fiscal year 2014, Bowden said.

That's about on par with 2013, according to numbers compiled by CSU's business school. Those visitors generated $348 million in expenditures on hotels, dining out, shopping and tourist activities, saving an average of $521 in taxes for each Columbus household.

There were 4,327 people employed due to the visitation, with an estimated payroll of $119 million.

Bowden said creation of new activities and attractions, along with refining what already is in place, has been a welcome development in the city's overall evolution and the resurgence of the downtown area.

"All of the product that's been introduced and has come on line has certainly exceeded our expectations and has given us something really strong to promote," he said. "A lot of cities don't have that selection of infrastructure or events."

'Perfect' so far, but keep momentum up

Another downtown pioneer, who opened his Country's Barbecue restaurant in a former Trailways bus station on Broadway back in 1988, said it's still a bit hard to fathom the progress that has been made over the last two decades.

"I love downtown. I think the direction we're headed for me is perfect," said Jim Morpeth, who founded Country's on Mercury Drive 40 years ago.

"But I don't want to see us overdo it. I think it needs to remain eclectic, fun for young people, and you've got attractions for older people with all of the plays and music. What can you say? Recently, I went to the songwriter series. That was amazing."

Morpeth, who grew up working in the old Sol and Harry's dry goods store downtown when he was a teenager, said he once had doubts about what could ultimately be achieved.

But his downtown eatery, which relied heavily on mill workers early on to survive, has seen traffic evolve to include a range of business people, students, tourists and blue-collar workers.

"It's just been phenomenal, really, with all that's happened downtown. I would never have thought you would sit in a sidewalk café in Columbus, Georgia," he said.

Morpeth said while things are going well, he would like to see more people living downtown.

They will help support restaurants like his and two dozen or so now doing business in the area. He also thinks the district could use a grocery store and a pharmacy.

"I think that would encourage more people to live down there, because the attraction of living downtown is to have everything right there," he said.

"I know so many people who live downtown and they're always bragging about riding their bike to work or walking to the restaurants and all of that."

Bishop at Uptown Columbus strongly believes that there is much more to be done in the area to make it more livable and a better place to visit and hang out and enjoy. In essence, he and others don't want to slow the momentum now flowing through downtown's streets and venues.

"Collectively, I think that's what everybody believes who's involved in it," he said. "There are other things we can do to enhance activity in the river, and there are certainly other things we can do in Uptown to make it more of a destination. Those are the things that we will work on in the next few years."

Bishop said he would like to see more housing, restaurants, retail stores and hotel rooms in the downtown area to serve the growing number of residents and visitors.

And he has no doubt that more events such as Uptown Riverfest, with its music and dragonboat races and food vendors, are needed and will materialize bigger and better in the future.

Nelms wishes local residents from all parts of Columbus and Phenix City should get out of their comfort zone and spend more time downtown exploring and soaking up the environment to truly enjoy it.

He said there has been a tipping point where the district is not just a place to go, but the place more people now want to be. But that's still not enough.

"People from out of town are more embracing. They'll come and wander all over stuff because they're tourists," Nelms said.

"If Columbus people would act like tourists in their own town, then it would be a discovery for them. They think they know what's going on, but you don't unless you're submerged in it."

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Downtown Columbus on a roll, but is hungry for more."