Downtown Columbus grows into ‘live, eat, play’ hub as leaders debate housing, safety and reuse

Columbus Metro Club convened a panel of city officials, developers and resident leaders on Oct. 25 to discuss the future of Downtown Columbus as a growing mixed‑use neighborhood and economic engine.

At the forum, Michael Stevens, director of development for the City of Columbus, said the city has a regional housing target of 200,000 new units over 10 years and that city elected leaders plan to build 100,000 of those units. “We need housing that’s available for everybody across the continuum,” Stevens said, citing voter‑authorized affordable housing bonds totaling $250,000,000 that the city is deploying across neighborhoods, including downtown.

The panel framed downtown’s near‑term transformation around three themes: more residents, more visitors and more reused office space. ‘‘Old downtown was drive in, work, drive out. New downtown is live, eat, play, go to work,’’ said Greg Davies, chief executive officer of Downtown Columbus Inc., noting the downtown population has grown to about 13,000 residents and visitor counts in recent years have been in the millions.

Why it matters: Downtown accounts for a disproportionate share of the city’s income‑tax revenue and is central to the municipal budget and the regional visitor economy. Panelists said sustaining that economic engine requires continued investment…