Adobe Stock Charles Knowles

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Campus Partners, Ohio State University's development arm, released renderings of two, five-story buildings that will replace what used to be Long’s Bookstore. The buildings will include 50,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space below with 250,000 square feet of offices above. “Campus Partners is excited to share our vision for this once-in-a-generation opportunity,” said Amanda Hoffsis, Campus Partners president. “The renderings provide a glimpse of the re-imagining of this critical intersection.”

No tenants have been signed for the buildings, said Campus Partners spokeswoman Erin Prosser. Prosser said Campus Partners will begin construction of the two buildings in the first half of 2019.

Plans released by Campus Partners show a total of five new buildings in the project, including a new headquarters for WOSU. The buildings are part of Campus Partners’ plan unveiled in 2015 to create a new “front door” to campus on the east side of High Street between 14th and 17th avenues opposite the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Ohio Union.

In addition to the buildings revealed on Thursday, the new development is also expected to include a hotel east of Pearl Alley that will serve as a “signature building” with “direct sightlines to The Oval and William Oxley Thompson Library,” according to Campus Partners.

Read More