People line up at Gateway Film Center on High Street for a ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Party the evening of Sept. 29. Credit: Ritika Shah / Asst. photo editor

People line up at Gateway Film Center on High Street for a ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale Party the evening of Sept. 29. Two new businesses recently signed leases to move into the Gateway area.
Credit: Ritika Shah / Asst. photo editor

Some of South Campus Gateway’s vacant storefronts look as though they’ll soon light up again.

After at least four tenants moved out of the area within a span of 10 months, two new businesses have recently signed leases – Simply Vague and Oxley’s Bar and Grill.

Simply Vague, a store that sells products from local artists and food producers, is slated to move into the space Ohio Art League previously occupied at 1552 N. High St., and Oxley’s is set to move into the spot Kildare’s Irish Pub once filled at 1576 N. High St., Amanda Hoffsis, president of Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment, said in an email Thursday.

Campus Partners is a private nonprofit corporation that works on community planning in the Ohio State campus area alongside OSU and the city of Columbus. South Campus Gateway LLC is a subtenant of Campus Partners.

Hoffsis added those might not be the only announcements, either.

“We are working hard on some additional deals,” Hoffsis said.

She did not provide information about when and why Ohio Art League and Kildare’s closed, how much the new leases are worth, when the leases were specifically signed and when the new businesses will move in by Thursday evening.

Esther Hall, gallery manager at Ohio Art League, said Ohio Art League is leaving Gateway because “the people who own our lease agreement have decided to terminate early.”

She said the lease agreement is owned by South Campus Gateway and managed by Colliers International, a real estate company.

Hall said the store, which has been in the Gateway since 2009 and does not pay rent because it was donated, was notified Tuesday.

“We are going to move out of this location in the beginning of March,” Hall said. “It’s unexpected … We knew that this was a donated space to us by the previous landlords, so we knew it was always a possibility.”

Kildare’s and Simply Vague representatives were unavailable for immediate comment Thursday.

Charlie Bear: Land of Dance, Gooeyz and Finish Line, the former two of which announced their leaves via Twitter in November, have also closed their doors since the beginning of summer 2013.

Finish Line was located at 1624 N. High St. and closed Jan. 11. Two of the others relocated – Charlie Bear, a dance club, relocated to 2885 Olentangy River Road. Gooeyz, a restaurant specializing in grilled cheese, reopened at a different location in Woodland’s Backyard at 668 Grandview Ave.