Columbus City Center (known locally as City Center) was a , three-level shopping center in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
. It was located in the city's
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
, near the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the List of state and territorial capitols in the United States, state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, ...
, next to the
Ohio Theatre, and connected to a
Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
hotel. The mall had a large parking structure attached that, despite the mall's closure in 2009, is still used extensively by downtown workers. The parking structure has been joined, directly or via bridge respectively, to two 12 story structures, 250 S. High Street (completed in January 2016) and 80 on the Commons (80 East Rich Street), both of which feature lower level office spaces with residential spaces on the upper floors.
At the time of its opening, City Center was Central Ohio's largest and most upscale shopping mall. However, a combination of factors soon stripped it of this status.
History
Columbus City Center was developed by the city as part of the Capitol South development, opening on August 18, 1989.
Lazarus, already open since 1851, was made one of the original anchor stores by connecting it with the mall via an enclosed bridge across High Street. The Lazarus store by City Center was the flagship Lazarus store. The other original anchor stores were
Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...
and
Jacobson's
Jacobson's was an American regional department store chain. Based in Jackson, Michigan, the chain operated primarily in Michigan and Florida, but also had stores in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Kansas. Jacobson's focused on apparel, fine jewelry ...
.
Taubman Company leased and managed the building until control was later taken over by
Mills Corporation
The Mills Corporation was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States, acquired on April 3, 2007 by an investment group composed of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. Th ...
. Early leasing efforts were substantially enhanced when Limited Brands (now known as
L Brands
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $11.9 billion in revenue in 2021, and wa ...
), a locally based dominant specialty retailer, announced that all of its brands would have a presence at the center.
["Taubman still plans fourth anchor for City Center mall"](_blank)
Retrieved February 7, 2007.
In 2003, the Marshall Field's store became a
Kaufmann's
Kaufmann's was a department store that originated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Summary
The store was owned in the early 20th century by Edgar J. Kaufmann, patron of the famous Fallingwater house. In the post-war years, the store became a regi ...
. It was later rebranded as
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
following the
Federated-
May
May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...
merger of 2005.
Decline
During its last decade of operation, City Center's positioning as the premier shopping destination in Columbus was eliminated, due primarily to the opening of the three shopping centers across the northern end of Columbus, and the closing of its key anchor tenants. At the mall's peak in 1992, it had 144 tenants occupying of retail space; just 17 years later, in 2009, there were only eight small stores open for business, occupying .
Competition from new shopping centers
In July 1997,
The Mall at Tuttle Crossing opened on the northwest side of Columbus. The developers of City Center also built Tuttle. Though its opening had a much more devastating effect on the nearby
Westland Mall, Tuttle presented an attractive alternative for upscale shoppers in the surrounding area who would have otherwise shopped at City Center. However, Tuttle alone did not have the capacity to decimate City Center, as City Center was still a convenient destination for wealthy residents in eastside suburbs such as
Bexley
Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Char ...
,
Pickerington,
New Albany, and others.
The opening of
Easton Town Center
Easton Town Center is a shopping center and mall in northeast Columbus, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1999, the core buildings and streets that comprise Easton are intended to look like a self-contained town, reminiscent of American towns and cit ...
in June 1999 dramatically changed the outlook on shopping centers in Columbus. Located near the intersection of the
I-270 Outerbelt,
I-670, and
SR-161 on the northeast side of Columbus, Easton presented a unique
mixed-use
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
format that was instantly successful. The combination of Easton and Tuttle gave nearly all wealthy suburban shoppers throughout Columbus more convenient shopping options. In conjunction to driving significant retail traffic away from downtown, Easton also hastened the downfall of nearby
Northland Mall
Northland Mall was a shopping mall located on the north side of Columbus, Ohio, at the intersection of Morse Road and Karl Road. It opened in 1964 as an open-air shopping center. Northland was the first of the four directionally-named shopping ...
.
To make matters worse for City Center, Glimcher Realty Trust opened
Polaris Fashion Place
Polaris Fashion Place is a two level shopping mall and surrounding retail plaza serving Columbus, Ohio, United States. The mall, owned locally by Washington Prime Group, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway in Delaware County just to t ...
in October 2001. The mall was built on the far northern end of Columbus to capture the corridor of suburban development in the Columbus suburbs of
Powell and
Worthington
Worthington may refer to:
People
* Worthington (surname)
* Worthington family, a British noble family
Businesses
* Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's
* Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...
, as well as the rapid population growth in nearby
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
and
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
counties. With this trifecta of new shopping centers across the wealthy northern end of Columbus, tenants fled City Center and Northland Mall (closed 2002).
Loss of anchor tenants
In the face of competition from new shopping centers, City Center lost two key anchor tenants over the next few years. Jacobson's went bankrupt in 2002 and closed all of its stores, creating the first hole in City Center's anchor lineup. Lazarus, after 153 years of tenancy in downtown Columbus, closed in mid-2004. This left City Center with just one anchor, Kaufmann's, which was about to be rebranded as Macy's. Declining sales at the City Center location prompted its closure in late November 2007.
Final days
Shortly after the Lazarus closing,
Mills Corporation
The Mills Corporation was a publicly traded real estate investment trust headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States, acquired on April 3, 2007 by an investment group composed of Simon Property Group and Farallon Capital Management. Th ...
, through a 50/50 partnership with
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
, purchased a large portion of Taubman's holdings, including Tuttle and City Center.
["Mills Corp. to be acquired"](_blank)
Retrieved February 13, 2007. Mills, with extensive experience in converting aged malls into revitalized structures emphasizing fresh entertainment and dining options, was seen by many to be the new hope for City Center's future. However, excitement quickly faded as Mills announced significant financial difficulties in 2006, including accounting irregularities and earnings restatements going back several years. Many of its new and redevelopment projects were either put on hold or discontinued. By February 2007, a bidding war developed between
Brookfield Asset Management
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contr ...
and
Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...
, in conjunction with
Farallon Capital Management
Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an American multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by Tom Steyer in 1986, the firm employs approximately 230 professionals in eight countries around the world.
Farall ...
, for control of Mills' assets. Simon won and assumed ownership of Mills' assets in Columbus, including City Center.
Around this time, the development arm of
Nationwide Insurance
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in Scott ...
(parent company of Nationwide Realty Investors, both based in Columbus, and responsible for much of the
Arena District
The Arena District is a mixed-use planned development and neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The site was developed through a partnership between Nationwide Realty Investors, Ltd. (a subsidiary of Nationwide), the City of Columbus and private inves ...
development) stepped up on behalf of the City of Columbus to put together a plan for the mall's future if Simon were to abandon the center.
["2007 may be the year when City Center questions resolved - at last"](_blank)
Retrieved February 7, 2007.
![City Center Demolition 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/City_Center_Demolition_01.jpg)
On July 31, 2007, the
City of Columbus filed a lawsuit to evict the management company,
Simon Property Group
Simon Property Group, Inc. is an American real estate investment trust that invests in shopping malls, outlet centers, and community/lifestyle centers. It is the largest owner of shopping malls in the United States and is headquartered in Indian ...
, which held the lease on the underlying land, to gain control of the mall. The city alleged that mall management grossly neglected the property, allowed it to fall into disrepair, did not pay real estate taxes for some time, and failed to make a rent payment for the land in excess of $200,000. Columbus Mayor
Michael Coleman said of possible redevelopment for the property, "I have many, many ideas, I want to see some retail back in it, offices as well. We have thousands of people moving downtown and there's a great need for retail activity. Our downtown is on the move. This is the only thing holding us back.".
["Lawsuit filed against Columbus City Center owner"](_blank)
Retrieved July 31, 2007. In the last minutes before eviction was to take place, the city was able to negotiate a purchase agreement to buy the property from Simon and take over full control.
Two recent developments have set the stage for what could potentially revitalize the area surrounding City Center. First is the pronounced downtown housing boom, which has brought many young professionals back to the city. Several vacant buildings have been converted into condos, and the nearby
German Village
German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
continues to show strong growth. Second, and more immediate, is the substantial redevelopment of the vacant Lazarus building. The redevelopment, now complete, converted the building to a format suitable for office space, academic research, arts, and dining.
["Downtown Lazarus Redevelopment"](_blank)
Retrieved December 26, 2007.
On February 3, 2009, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman announced that Columbus City Center would close on March 5, 2009, and be torn down by the Summer of 2009. The parking garage that was constructed for City Center remained, as did its underground parking area, but the mall was demolished.
The last retail business to operate in the mall, and also an original tenant from when the mall opened in 1989, was a franchise of Mark Pi's Express, which closed on February 27, 2009.
The mall was officially closed to all pedestrian traffic on Thursday March 5, 2009. Demolition of the mall began on approximately October 1, 2009, and was completed in March 2010. Demolition was by
S.G. Loewendick & Sons.
Columbus Commons
The mall was replaced by
Columbus Commons
John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons is a park and Green infrastructure, green space in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, downtown Columbus, Ohio, located on the site of the former Columbus City Center mall. The park features gardens, a performance stage, car ...
, a park and
green space. The park features gardens, a performance stage, a carousel, a reading room and a café.
The $20 million
project was developed by CDDC and Capitol South, private, non-profit development organizations.
References
External links
DeadMalls.com Feature on Columbus City Center
{{Shopping malls in Ohio
Shopping malls in Columbus, Ohio
Shopping malls established in 1989
Shopping malls disestablished in 2009
2009 disestablishments in Ohio
Defunct shopping malls in the United States
1989 establishments in Ohio
Demolished buildings and structures in Downtown Columbus, Ohio
Buildings and structures demolished in 2009