- Creekside Gahanna
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Creekside Gahanna, more formally called Gahanna-Creekside, is a mixed-use development located in downtown Gahanna, Ohio (also known as Olde Gahanna).
Contents
About
Creekside Gahanna encompasses 240,000 square feet (22,000 m2) of property along Gahanna's Big Walnut Creek. The development features 71 luxury condominiums, 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of commercial space in three separate buildings, and amenities designed to incorporate the area's natural landscape. Current retail businesses include Bread Basket Family Bakery(CLOSED), Casabella Interior Design, Jewels & More, Mezzo Italian Kitchen & Wine, Cold Stone Creamery, and The Wine Guy Wine Shop, Wine Bar and Bistro, Creekside Conference and Event Center, Golden Nail and Salon, and others. Other significant business tenants include, Bird-Houk Collaborative, C-Suites Executive Offices, and the Metropolitan Emergency Communications Center, a 911 dispatch center which handles fire and EMS requests for Gahanna and other portions of eastern Franklin County as well as part of Fairfield County.[1]
History
In 2003, the city of Gahanna issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the redevelopment of a large tract of city-owned land in the center of Mill Street's north-south span. The RFP required the developer was to accommodate vehicles with ample parking without detracting from the evolving urban and pedestrian atmosphere in the area. The city’s request also emphasized its desire for a true mixed-use development, with all uses taking advantage of views of the adjacent Big Walnut Creek.
The Stonehenge Company, then of New Albany, Ohio and later of Gahanna, partnered with the professional architecture and planning firm Bird-Houk Collaborative to propose a multi-story development with first-floor retail facing Mill Street and what would become Creekside Park. Upper levels would contain office space and residential condominium units. Public parking would be hidden in an underground garage with parking for the condominium residents provided inside the “wraparound” residential building. Approximately 389 new public parking spaces would be created.
The city expressed its initial commitment to the broad concept, selected Stonehenge as the developer, and then entered more than 18 months of discussions with Stonehenge and the Community Improvement Corporation. The process involved the public in a series of public forums for the project and passed through several city boards and commissions.[2]
Groundbreaking occurred began in May 2005 and the development celebrated its official grand opening on May 1, 2008.
- Summer 2011 many of the original tenants have left the project the latest is Bread Basket!
Construction timeline
- Spring 2005
- Demolition of existing structures
- Summer 2005
- Site Excavation (Completed October 2005)
- Construction of underground garage
- Fall 2005
- Construction of garage cap
- Winter 2005
- Completion of architectural & engineering plans
- Construction of buildings shells
- Spring 2006
- Construction of above ground garage
- Winter 2006
- Construction of Creekside Park
- Construction of public plazas
- Winter 2007
- Project completion
- Spring 2008
- Grand Opening
- Spring 2011
- Property Into Receivership
Creekside facts
- According to city officials, the Creekside revitalization project was inspired by the San Antonio River Walk project.[3]
- The development features an elaborate water wall, a lagoon supported by imported natural limestone, two waterfalls, a performance stage, and public plazas and parks.
- The natural stone wall in the center of the development uses large pieces of natural limestone to create walls defining the public plazas of the project. Each stone—weighing between 15,000 to 32,000 pounds—was shaped by hand on-site in order to create an interlocking wall system holding the natural earth below the upper plazas and accentuating the elevation variations of the project site. The walls use more than one million pounds of limestone from throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Kansas.
- Creekside won the 2007 National Showcase Award from the Council of Development Finance Agencies recognizing the national best Tax increment financing program. Finalists included the City of Gahanna, City of Kansas City, City of San Antonio and Washington, D.C.[4]
- In 2007, MONEY Magazine ranked the Gahanna as one of its top 100 “Best Places to Live” in America, citing the Creekside revitalization as a notable component in its ranking.[citation needed]
- Creekside is currently host to the Glenna Goodacre sculpture “Basket Dance.”
See also
References
- ^ Downtown Gahanna reborn at Creekside. The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
- ^ The Creekside Story: The New Creekside Project. City of Gahanna. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
- ^ Residents, community leaders turn out for development's grand opening. Rocky Fork Enterprise. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
- ^ Gahanna TIFs rank tops among community financing tools in U.S. Columbus Business First.Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/08/creeksides-woes-continue-as-bread.html
External links
Categories:- Buildings and structures completed in 2007
- Buildings and structures in Franklin County, Ohio
- Gahanna, Ohio
- Visitor attractions in Franklin County, Ohio
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