OSU'S WEST CAMPUS; Modified 315 tech corridor in works; Coleman, Gee OK preliminary ideas for smaller project
BYLINE: Debbie Gebolys, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A year and a half ago, Columbus announced plans to turn 10,000 acres along Rt. 315 into a place that would attract research and technology companies.
The so-called 315 Research & Technology Corridor would bring 50,000 jobs to an 8-mile stretch along the freeway between Riverside Methodist Hospital and Downtown, with areas for people to work, live and play.
But the project stalled -- "never got fully formed" is the way Ty Marsh, president of the Columbus Chamber, put it.
Now, the city is pulling back its focus to the west side of Rt. 315 between Kinnear Road and Lane Avenue, where Ohio State University has been working to develop a technology park.
Mayor Michael B. Coleman and OSU President E. Gordon Gee met recently to set priorities for building a 21st-century version of North Carolina's Research Triangle Park.
The area of interest is mostly undeveloped and needs utilities and roads, which Columbus could supply. But it is on OSU's West Campus, offering the resources of the university as well as its research hospitals, and is close to Battelle and Chemical Abstracts Service.
Gee and Coleman discussed "a focused and defined strategy that will result in technology businesses and tech jobs proliferating in an area that is currently undeveloped," the mayor said.
"The city and Ohio State are shaking hands here. We're going to take this to the next level, so you can visibly measure results over time."
Gee promised that something will happen this year.
"What the something is, we're still trying to figure out," he said. "The university has had a long-standing plan in the sense that we are aggressively committed to build a very fine science and technology park there. But the truth of the matter is, we haven't put together as comprehensive a plan as we should."
The concept for the 315 Research & Technology Corridor surfaced about 2 1/2 years ago when then-City Council President Matt Habash pushed for a $138,000 study that came up with the name and the boundaries.
Since then, Habash has resigned from the council and Gee has returned to Ohio State.
Coleman said he's optimistic that the city and Ohio State can reignite the research-corridor idea, even though it will be pared down.
With the country on the verge of a recession, the mayor noted that one way to to help the economy is to "create quality jobs, and that's what we're doing."
Others began meeting a few months ago to discuss where and how to start the development, said Ted Ford, president of TechColumbus, a technology-business incubator on Kinnear Road that manages OSU's tech campus.
"What we anticipate is a higher-density development," he said, with workplaces, homes and entertainment areas connected by paths for bicyclists and pedestrians.
"Very few companies want to be in a sterile environment where they don't have access to amenities," Ford said. "We're not talking about re-creating Research Triangle Park. We want something more human scale, more accessible. We believe that's the wave of the future."