Campus Partners was developed by Ohio State in 1995 for the sole purpose of promoting “improvements to the neighborhoods around the university,” according to its Web site. But now in its seventh year, the physical results of Campus Partners’ work on the Gateway project has left nothing more than 7.4 acres of wasteland in the south campus area.
The University Gateway Center is still without a developer, although spokesman Steve Sterrett vaguely said an announcement would be made in the next few weeks. The former developer, The Druker Co., was selected to construct the center after a lengthy negotiation process of nine months. The work that Druker had contributed to the project is supposed to be used by the new fee-based developer Campus Partners selects.
Sterrett made a statement in August saying that Campus Partners had switched to a fee-based developer because it “made it much easier for Druker to get the Barnes & Noble contract signed. Barnes & Noble probably wouldn’t have gone into Gateway if they had to compete with the University Bookstore and Long’s Bookstore.” Sterrett’s claim is unwarranted, because Barnes & Noble owns both stores. You would think the monopoly they have created on campus is beneficial for the bookstore super-giant; not a reason to avoid a deal in what will be a $120 million project.
The question everyone has to be asking OSU and the city of Columbus is why are you dragging your feet in breaking ground on this project? Campus Partners has bought the plans from Druker and has said it will use them for the project. Campus Partners has also said it would take only a month to decide on another developer after Druker left. Six months later — still nothing.
It is reasonable to expect the long process it took to acquire all of the properties in the area but once all was obtained, what is the reason for the hold-up? Is there not a urgent need to get this now six-year project underway that is estimated to take another three years once started?
The university and the Board of Trustees need to reevaluate their priorities on the matter. Immediate action needs to be taken. South campus is an eye-sore and some are now starting to blame OSU for off-campus violence because it has eliminated supervised drinking holes. If the university is content with the condition of campus now, what is to stop it from continuing this trend and completely destroying the worth of an OSU degree?
