User:DfahlC/Sandbox

Creekside Gahanna is a mixed-use development located in downtown Gahanna, Ohio (also known as Olde Gahanna).

About
Creekside Gahanna encompasses 240,000 square feet of property along Gahanna's Big Walnut Creek. The development features 71 luxury condominiums, 100,000 square feet of commercial space and amenities designed to incorporate the area's natural landscape. Current commercial residents include the Bread Basket Family Bakery, Buck Mulligan’s Irish Pub, Candle Lab, Cold Stone Creamery, Golden Nails and Salon, Koulian Jewelers, Mezzo Italian Kitchen and Wine, Seekers Coffee House & Café, The Shoppes of Portobello Row, and The Wine Guy Wine Shop, Wine Bar and Bistro

History
In 2003, the city of Gahanna filed a request for proposal (RFP) for the redevelopment of a large tract of city-owned land in the center of Mill Street's north-south span. The RFP required the developer was to accommodate vehicles with ample parking without detracting from the evolving urban and pedestrian atmosphere in the area. The city’s request also emphasized its desire for a true mixed-use development, with all uses taking advantage of views of the adjacent Big Walnut Creek.

The Stonehenge Company of Gahanna partnered with the planning firm Bird Houk Collaborative to propose a multi-story development with first-floor retail facing Mill Street and Creekside Park. Upper levels would contain office space and condominiums. Parking areas would be hidden in an underground garage and in the interior of the wraparound building concept and create 389 new public parking spaces.

The city expressed its initial commitment to the broad concept and then entered more than 18 months of negotiations between the developer, the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC), and the city. The process involved the public in a series of public forums for the project and through several city boards and commissions. 

Construction on the project began in May 2005 and the development celebrated its official grand opening on May 1, 2008.

Construction Timeline
Spring 2005

• Demolition of existing structures

Summer 2005

• Site Excavation (Completed October 2005)

• Construction of underground garage

Fall 2005

• Construction of garage cap

Winter 2005

• Completion of Architectural & Engineering Plans

• Construction of buildings A, B & C shells

Spring 2006

• Construction of above ground garage

Winter 2006

• Construction of Creekside Park • Construction of Public Plazas

Winter 2007

• Project completion

2008 Spring

• Grand Opening

Creekside Facts
• The development features an elaborate water wall, a lagoon supported by imported natural limestone, two waterfalls, a performance stage and public plazas.

• The natural stone wall in the center of the development uses large pieces of natural limestone to create walls defining the public plazas of the project. Each stone—weighing between 15,000 to 32,000 pounds—was shaped by hand on site in order to create an interlocking wall system holding the natural earth underneath the upper plazas and also accentuating the elevation variations of the project site. The walls use more than one million pounds of limestone from throughout Ohio, Indiana and Kansas.

• Creekside Gahanna won the 2007 National Showcase Award from the Council of Development Finance Agencies recognizing the national best tax increment financing program. Finalists included the City of Gahanna, City of Kansas City, City of San Antonio and Washington, DC.

• In 2007, MONEY Magazine ranked the City of Gahanna as one of its top 100 “Best Places to Live” in America, citing the Creekside revitalization as a notable component in its ranking.

• Creekside is currently host to the Glenna Goodacre sculpture “Basket Dance.”

• According to city officials, the Creekside revitalization project was inspired by the San Antonio River Walk project. 

Related Links
New urbanism

Mixed-use development

Tax increment financing