I was a TV News reporter at WBNS-TV in the 1980's and covered all the stuff that led up to City Center. It was never built right. It did not interact with with the downtown. They tore down the coolest thing, the Ice Rink on High St. Had that been connected to City Center it would have made a big different. At least the park they have now is a nice replacement.
I worked at Max and Erma's there from 93 to 97. coming from a small town, 23 yrs. old, that place was magical. I made life long friends there from the boulevard and spinnakers! used to run the wrong way up and down the escalators after hours. and run through the back halls, usually totally intoxicated. God I miss the 90s!
Part of the issue is when the City Center Mall was sold to another company sometime late 1990's or early 2000's. The security budget was slashed to almost nothing. You can't run an inner city mall and not protect the people shopping.
I think I am one of the few folks who actually think City Center was good for downtown, and it's also good that it's no longer here. As a young adult when it opened I liked it, and I hated my neighborhood mall. It just felt different to go downtown and I liked that. Malls in general are not really very useful anymore, but this one brought me downtown and made me appreciate it as more than just a place to go for a school field trip. I now live downtown and Columbus Commons is much more useful for me than a mall would be, so I think, even though its lifespan was short, it was a net positive for the downtown and the city as a whole. I do kind of wish they could have somehow worked in the old Centrum roller skating rink (City Center's precursor) into the plan, but if I'm totally honest the days of that being popular are long gone too.
City Center was a neat idea, and there's little doubt it extended the life of the downtown flagship Lazarus store by at least 15 years. Walling it completely off from the outside (other than the anchors, Spinnakers and Max & Ermas), and losing all of its anchors (one to bankruptcy and two to Macy's) hurt it from an optics standpoint, but Tuttle, Polaris, and Easton were what really did it in. When it opened, City Center offered high end stores and boutiques that couldn't be found anywhere else, so people *had* to go there to shop at them. Once luxury retailers opened along the outerbelt and frightened suburbanites didn't have to go downtown to get them, City Center was doomed.
Columbus, like so many other large cities, tried for 30 years to not just get people to move downtown but to get them to stay downtown after work. Then also go back down on the weekends. It is and will always be a suburb city. They started to have a gang problem too. I believe there was a shooting in the mall.
Building the mall "inward" and closing it off from the surrounding streets was a huge mistake. I recall the only windows were on the High St. entrance and even those were under the giant walkway which made for a very dark entrance. Jacoboson's closing was the first big setback and the mall just never recovered. Lazarus closing in '04 and then Marshall Field's going from Kaufman's then briefly to Macy's before closing did not help things. It's replacement, Columbus Commons, is a huge example of Columbus leaders having no idea what to do so they just tear everything down and make it a soccer field.
Honestly, I thought Columbus Commons was going to be a disaster, but it's actually worked out pretty well. There's a bandstand with concerts, they do movie nights, host festivals, and there's housing along the sides. I had expected a wasteland, but it's pretty vibrant in the summer.
@@jackobora3193 I moved away before City Center was demolished but I've been back several times for Christmas so I've seen Columbus Commons and it looks nice but I''ve never seen it during it's prime use season. I think they could've incorporated more features & activities like Maggie Daley park in Chicago though.
Downtown Columbus needs an additional node. The city keeps on throwing all its eggs at the arena/convention center in order to get it to the next tier of conventions/occupation. I find the commons to be a seasonal waste for the amount of acreage... They need to build an additional convention center node over the commons, make it architecturally appealing, unique, open air, I don't care. The hotel infrastructure is already there, and the development would be a mainline fast pass to rapid development and options. I've lived in my condo "uptown" for almost a decade, and it's boring as hell to walk downtown. The city needs a convention center part deux.
I used to go here growing up and worked in the commons until recently. I would have to say the comment below is right. The mall never felt connected to the city it felt like you went inside a different area. The city has also become a haven for the new gen Z liberalism that has basically fuelled online shopping and reduced inner Columbus into a crime ridden dump of the well to do and desolate with no real middle. As with all things greed has destroyed this place. Even the suburbs have been overrun by fatherless wild animals and gangs. I fear we are about to become a second Chicago.
It was a beautiful mall !❤️
One of best place they could have ever done for the city. I’m glad I took part in working at the City Center…. Music Land⏰❤🎶🎶🎶
I was a TV News reporter at WBNS-TV in the 1980's and covered all the stuff that led up to City Center. It was never built right. It did not interact with with the downtown. They tore down the coolest thing, the Ice Rink on High St. Had that been connected to City Center it would have made a big different. At least the park they have now is a nice replacement.
OMG thank you! That Ice rink was THE BEST.
The ice rink was dumb.
I worked at Max and Erma's there from 93 to 97. coming from a small town, 23 yrs. old, that place was magical. I made life long friends there from the boulevard and spinnakers! used to run the wrong way up and down the escalators after hours. and run through the back halls, usually totally intoxicated. God I miss the 90s!
Part of the issue is when the City Center Mall was sold to another company sometime late 1990's or early 2000's. The security budget was slashed to almost nothing. You can't run an inner city mall and not protect the people shopping.
I think I am one of the few folks who actually think City Center was good for downtown, and it's also good that it's no longer here. As a young adult when it opened I liked it, and I hated my neighborhood mall. It just felt different to go downtown and I liked that. Malls in general are not really very useful anymore, but this one brought me downtown and made me appreciate it as more than just a place to go for a school field trip. I now live downtown and Columbus Commons is much more useful for me than a mall would be, so I think, even though its lifespan was short, it was a net positive for the downtown and the city as a whole. I do kind of wish they could have somehow worked in the old Centrum roller skating rink (City Center's precursor) into the plan, but if I'm totally honest the days of that being popular are long gone too.
City Center was a neat idea, and there's little doubt it extended the life of the downtown flagship Lazarus store by at least 15 years. Walling it completely off from the outside (other than the anchors, Spinnakers and Max & Ermas), and losing all of its anchors (one to bankruptcy and two to Macy's) hurt it from an optics standpoint, but Tuttle, Polaris, and Easton were what really did it in. When it opened, City Center offered high end stores and boutiques that couldn't be found anywhere else, so people *had* to go there to shop at them. Once luxury retailers opened along the outerbelt and frightened suburbanites didn't have to go downtown to get them, City Center was doomed.
Columbus, like so many other large cities, tried for 30 years to not just get people to move downtown but to get them to stay downtown after work. Then also go back down on the weekends. It is and will always be a suburb city. They started to have a gang problem too. I believe there was a shooting in the mall.
Building the mall "inward" and closing it off from the surrounding streets was a huge mistake. I recall the only windows were on the High St. entrance and even those were under the giant walkway which made for a very dark entrance. Jacoboson's closing was the first big setback and the mall just never recovered. Lazarus closing in '04 and then Marshall Field's going from Kaufman's then briefly to Macy's before closing did not help things. It's replacement, Columbus Commons, is a huge example of Columbus leaders having no idea what to do so they just tear everything down and make it a soccer field.
Honestly, I thought Columbus Commons was going to be a disaster, but it's actually worked out pretty well. There's a bandstand with concerts, they do movie nights, host festivals, and there's housing along the sides. I had expected a wasteland, but it's pretty vibrant in the summer.
@@jackobora3193 I moved away before City Center was demolished but I've been back several times for Christmas so I've seen Columbus Commons and it looks nice but I''ve never seen it during it's prime use season. I think they could've incorporated more features & activities like Maggie Daley park in Chicago though.
Downtown Columbus needs an additional node. The city keeps on throwing all its eggs at the arena/convention center in order to get it to the next tier of conventions/occupation. I find the commons to be a seasonal waste for the amount of acreage... They need to build an additional convention center node over the commons, make it architecturally appealing, unique, open air, I don't care. The hotel infrastructure is already there, and the development would be a mainline fast pass to rapid development and options. I've lived in my condo "uptown" for almost a decade, and it's boring as hell to walk downtown. The city needs a convention center part deux.
We all know why it went downhill
Menacing gang types hanging around there starting later in the 90s is what scared my mother away from it, FWIW.
@@ivanrorick Unfortunately this is happening in all cities
Vote red❤
I watched a 20 min video on city center before and I swear I got better info from this vid js
I used to go here growing up and worked in the commons until recently. I would have to say the comment below is right. The mall never felt connected to the city it felt like you went inside a different area. The city has also become a haven for the new gen Z liberalism that has basically fuelled online shopping and reduced inner Columbus into a crime ridden dump of the well to do and desolate with no real middle. As with all things greed has destroyed this place. Even the suburbs have been overrun by fatherless wild animals and gangs. I fear we are about to become a second Chicago.