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WWW.URBANLAND.ULI.ORG • JANUARY 2007 Entertaining Entertainment david f. stein Districts A number of U.S. cities are banking on Communities once assumed that if There are many reasons why this they new sports facilities to create vibrant built sports facilities, developers desired chain of events does not occur, would create commercial spin-offs and a including times and patterns of use, access, entertainment districts with a mix of critical mass of mixed uses around them. investment climate and financing, and the residential and commercial uses. But this line of reasoning can fall short of economic and social life cycles of individual expectations. cities and settings. However, the overriding reality is that major league–level sports facilities occupy large chunks of land, yet Entertaining Entertainment Districts are dark and inactive much of the time. owner had vowed to move to another city, used as key components of a downtown In contrast, the restaurants, bars, and or at least to the suburbs, if the city didn’t revival. Columbus’s Nationwide Arena, other retail services that make up a true help with a new Seattle home for the team. which ultimately did not rely on any public entertainment district require a steady, In response, public activists were able to subsidies, demonstrates the value of entity- year-round clientele to prosper. Sports place the initiative on the ballot—and pre- controlled, mixed-use master planning that facilities can serve as a catalyst for devel- vail with voters. It is conceivable that can result in a critical mass of sports, oping an entertainment district, but the other municipalities will follow suit, rein- entertainment, commercial, and residential creation of a true neighborhood with a forcing the responsibility that team owners uses, along with vehicular and pedestrian complementary mix of uses is far more and developers have in proving that any access and parking. important to its long-term success. proposed stadium or arena is a good civic Central Ohio’s desire for a National Large-scale, mixed-use urban develop- investment. Hockey League (NHL) team served as the ments are extremely complex and expensive Some cities believe that they have a impetus for the Nationwide Arena and the and can take years to complete, making it successful plan in place. Kansas City, encompassing Arena District, which is imperative for developers and communities Missouri, for instance, is betting that its located in downtown Columbus. The to work together, commit to a plan and new Sprint Center, scheduled to open next greater Columbus area had the population, process, and be willing to build and main- October, will catalyze economic develop- corporate concentration, economic base, tain an ongoing public/private partnership. ment for the city’s laggard downtown. This sports fans, and overall ambition to join up Not every community is sold on helping new facility comes in advance of a major with a professional sports franchise. pay for stadium development as a means to league sports franchise commitment in a Despite these resources and sentiments, improve downtown economic health. For city that already has both National Football voters ten years ago rejected a bond pro- example, this past November, by a three- League (NFL) and Major League Baseball posal to fund the arena. These events to-one margin, Seattle voters passed (MLB) teams. motivated Nationwide Realty Investors’ Initiative 91, which restricts public subsi- In Pittsburgh, the downtown environs (NRI) parent company, Nationwide, to step dies for professional sports teams. have been extended—in a planned man- up and commit to the private development The Seattle Supersonics’ (NBA) new ner—at Continental Real Estate of the $155 million multipurpose arena and Development’s North Shore mixed-use proj- to the $750 million Arena District. ect. With Heinz Field (Steelers) and PNC The next step was a comprehensive Park (Pirates) already in place, this expan- master plan, one that anticipated an inward sion of the city’s downtown commercial shift in urban growth. The development of and residential space includes offices, mul- Nationwide Arena was seen as a means to tifamily housing, restaurants, and an enter- help initiate the transformation of down- tainment district as well as amenities, in town Columbus into a “24/7” neighborhood. the form of walkways and parkland, that In 1950, the city’s peak, more than tie it all together. 29,000 people resided in the downtown There also are urban-styled and urban- area of Columbus. The city was alive with sited major league stadiums that have residential, retail, and entertainment uses. stimulated nearby development, independ- However, the mobility and opportunities ent of master-planned mixed-use develop- made possible by the freeway system ments. Examples include Baltimore’s Camden proved to be too great for the small down- Yards and Denver’s Coors Field, but these town. By 1990, the city’s population had may be exceptions rather than the rule. declined to fewer than 3,500. In Columbus, Ohio, a new major league In negotiations with the city in 1997 sports franchise and an arena have been for a 13.5-acre (5.4-ha) downtown site that had been occupied by the Ohio State As part of a plan to encourage people who Penitentiary between 1835 and 1984, worked in the city to live downtown, a commit- ment was made to build downtown housing municipal officials pledged $35 million in units in Columbus’s Arena district. Among the infrastructure improvements to NRI in return projects are an early 20th-century bakery ware- for a commitment to build 350 downtown house that is being converted into 21 lofts and an adjacent new 20-story lass and steel tower housing units in the Arena District. that will contain 88 condominiums. At the time the arena was announced URBAN LAND JANUARY 2007 A $55 million ball- in 1997, the market opportunity in Columbus park is planned for was office, not residential, as most of the the Arena District 100,000 people who worked in the city by for the columbus clippers, the minor day returned to their homes in the suburbs league Triple A affil- at night. However, the city’s land was iate of the New York needed to complete the assemblage of the Yankees; the park is scheduled for com- 75-acre (30.3-ha) area that would consti- pletion in 2009. tute the Arena District, so NRI made the Locating the ball- park elsewhere in commitment, purchased the property, and the city to seed moved forward with the project. redevelopment was By late 2001, however, the downtown considered, but he decision was made office market was beginning to soften and to pair the facilities NRI needed to decide whether it would together to expand move the project forward by building spec the Arena District’s critical mass. office space or start on the district’s resi- dential component. NRI, recognizing the opportunity in downtown housing, began ing suit with projects of their own in and stabilizing the office market; creating new construction on the 252-unit Arena Crossing around the area. downtown neighborhoods on Gay Street Apartments in early 2002. Currently the Long & Wilcox is renovating the his- and in the River South District; developing largest apartment project ever built in toric Brunson Building, a 40,000-square- a riverfront park system; and making infra- downtown, Arena Crossing is 100 percent foot (3,721-sq-m) early 20th-century structure improvements that address park- leased with a waiting list. Chicago-style high-rise office building, into ing, traffic flow, public transportation, and Soon after the apartment project began, 22 luxury urban loft condominiums. pedestrian orientation. NRI then moved to plans for Burnham Spectrum Properties is working on an addi- “With new housing, there is a more Square Condominiums, an eight-story proj- tional 117 units in two projects downtown positive vibe for the future in all of down- ect consisting of two buildings surrounded and City Space’s Sixty Spring project will town,” McLaughlin continues, noting that by park space. add 108 more. In all, there are 21 condo- since 2000, more than 3,600 downtown The creation of a residential neighbor- minium projects currently under construc- housing units have been completed or are hood helped activate the Arena District tion in downtown. in the pipeline. “Up until 2001, employers 24/7 and increased traffic to the restau- The Arena District’s impact on the city were leaving downtown, no one would live rants, entertainment venues, and service has been more profound and far reaching there, and it was one of the last places retailers. There was then demand for addi- than expected. “What Nationwide did in a people would go to be entertained,” he adds. tional downtown housing, a driving force 1.3-square-mile area changed the reality of “Having a district with great restau- in the reversal of a 55-year population what downtown can be for many people,” rants and entertainment right across the decline in the city. This growing demand says Bob McLaughlin, director of the City street from the expanded convention cen- for downtown residential led NRI and other of Columbus Downtown Redevelopment ter gives Columbus a real distinction in the developers to expand beyond the Arena Agency. “It has been very much a catalyst national marketplace,” says Joe Marinelli, District’s original footprint; projects are for the rebirth of downtown Columbus.” senior vice president for sales at Experience now rising on the periphery, extending the Since 2000, downtown Columbus has Columbus, a not-for-profit group that boundaries on all fronts. One project cur- attracted $1.2 billion in private investment organizes and books events in downtown rently underway is Condominiums at North capital.

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