Downtown braces for parking impact as Columbus State expansion opens

Those who park in downtown Columbus are bracing for the impact certain to come when Columbus State University relocates a large portion of its College of Education and Health Professions early next year.

A new $27 million complex at the former Ledger-Enquirer site at the corner of Broadway and 12^th Street is scheduled to open to students on Jan. 9 when the Spring semester begins. The university hopes to begin moving faculty and staff into the building, a combination of new construction and renovation of the historic newspaper offices, in December, said John Lester, CSU associate vice president for university and government relations.

“We have been working with Uptown Columbus and its president Richard Bishop and our neighbors downtown, because we want to make sure they are not negatively impacted by our move,” Lester said on Monday.

According to a CSU study, here is the expected impact:

▪  There will be 94 faculty and staff moving to the new downtown facility.

▪  On Mondays and Wednesdays before 5 p.m., there will be 800 students in the facility.

▪  On Mondays and Wednesdays after 5 p.m., there will be 160 students in the facility.

▪  On Tuesdays and Thursday before 5 p.m., there will be 800 students.

▪  On Tuesdays and Thursday after 5 p.m., there will be 220 students.

▪  On Fridays before 5 p.m., there will be 120 students.

How the university plans to deal with parking issues:

▪  There are 43 faculty/staff parking places on the 12^th Street and Broadway property adjacent to the facility.

▪  CSU is in tentative negotiations with the W.C. Bradley Co. to lease an unspecified number of spaces in the Synovus parking deck, If secured, those would be used faculty and staff. Those will be for use by faculty and staff. Not all 94 faculty and staff will be in the building at any one time because of its split use for daytime and nighttime students.

▪  CSU has 600 available parking spaces downtown, a large portion of them in Front Avenue parking deck in the 1000 block at the center of the downtown RiverPark campus. There are about 300 of those spaces available at any given time.

▪  CSU runs shuttle buses throughout the day and evening for its students. The buses connect the University Avenue main campus with the downtown campus, but also can be used to get from place to place downtown. The Front Avenue garage and the new College of Education and Health Professions building will be stops on the route. Students will be encouraged to use the shuttles.

▪  Columbus Council has approved making the RiverCenter parking deck in the 900 block of Broadway free beginning early next year. This will be available to anyone coming downtown, including CSU students. It is about a 5-minute walk along Broadway to the new College of Education and Health Professions building.

▪  The Synovus parking deck is open to the public at night, and those will be available to night students.

▪  There will be on-street parking surrounding the building on Broadway, 12^th Street and Front Avenue, similar to what was in place before the construction project started in 2014. “We are going to encourage our folks to not park on Broadway, but if they do, they will be subject to the time limits and city regulations,” Lester said.

As CSU puts more faculty, staff and students downtown, Bishop has been working to educate those who work and frequent downtown about parking. In a plan presented to council last month, he pushed the proposal to eliminate the $2 fee paid by those who used that city-owned deck.

“What we are trying to tell people is there are spaces available downtown, and they are in the decks,” Bishop said.

Uptown Columbus Inc. will begin a marketing program before the end of the year educating those who work and frequent downtown where the available spaces are located, Bishop said.

Columbus developer John Teeples is a businessman and property owner in the 1200 block of Broadway, the area likely to feel the immediate impact of the CSU influx.

“Parking is already an issue in that area,” said Teeples, a co-owner of Big Dog Running Co., kitty-corner to the new CSU facility. “You can walk out to the 1200 block, and there is not a space out there right now. What I am being told is the impact will be at night.”

Lester points out the nature of the students attending classes in the new facility will spread out the demand.

“The number we are looking at is about 1,600, but everybody won’t be there Monday-Friday between 9 and 5,” he said. “There will be a lot of students there in the evenings based in the classes involved. A lot of these are students looking to get into different careers, or they will be teachers and educators working on advanced degrees.”

As CSU opens its new facility, there will be expanded construction and development in the 1200 Broadway block directly to the north. Two local hotel operators have announced plans to build new hotels within 500 yards of the CSU building. A new Hampton Inn at the corner of Broadway and 12th has been proposed by the Jack Pezold companies, and RAM Hotels has announced plans for a high-end Marriott property mid-block. Both will be on the west side of Broadway.

A new liquor store is about to locate in that block, as well as a new restaurant and chocolate and candy store.

Teeples, who owns the former Raymond Rowe building at the corner of 12th and Broadway, where Big Dog is located, plans to add a fifth floor and use that building for retail, restaurant office and possibly some residential.

“The big question right now is how all of this is going to impact day-to-day parking?” Teeples asked. “Just look at all the activity in the 1200 block. It is a genuine concern, but it is a great problem to have. I know there are many conversations among all parties to address the parking concerns on the northern end of Broadway.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Downtown braces for parking impact as Columbus State expansion opens."