A New Era for the Heart of Mill Street
In 2003 the City issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the redevelopment of a large tract of City-owned land approximately in the center of Mill Street's north-south span. The RFP required that the developer continue the practice of linkages to Creekside, along the lines of the Pour House/Old Bag of Nails project. A primary challenge for the developer is to accommodate vehicles with ample parking without detracting from the evolving urban and pedestrian atmosphere in the area. The City also emphasized its desire for true mixed-use development, with all uses taking advantage of Creekside views.
A Little Background
The Stonehenge Company (developer) and the planning firm Bird Houk Collaborative, answered the City's call for Olde Gahanna's future mixed-use project. The development team proposed a multi-story development with first-floor retail facing Mill Street and Creekside Park. Upper levels contain office space and condominiums. Most impressive is the proposal to "hide" the parking areas in an underground garage and in the interior of the wraparound building concept. The project will create about 389 new public parking spaces. The three buildings consist of almost 200,000 square feet of new mixed use development. In 2003, the City expressed its initial commitment to the broad concept and then entered over 18 months of negotiations between the developer, the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC), and the City. The process involved the public in a series of public forums for the project and through several City boards and commissions.
In addition to the high-quality design and architecture, the City chose the Stonehenge proposal because of its ability to incorporate unique shopping and eating tourist attractions into a vital neighborhood that the City is committed to sustaining into the future. By including residential and office units, the project has the potential to become an area that is much more than a weekend destination spot. Mill Street can truly become an area where people live, work, play, and retire.
An important issue is the continued viability of the rest of Olde Gahanna. In places like San Antonio, water focused development turns its back to the surrounding neighborhood. The City's emphasis on visual and pedestrian connections into Creekside Park should avoid this redevelopment problem. The project will spur redevelopment throughout the neighborhood, not just along the Creek. While the Stonehenge Co. project will be an exceptional town planning accomplishment, its human-scale and environmental elements will allow it to merge seamlessly into an overall Olde Gahanna redevelopment scheme.
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