Trustees: Commit #28 million to Campus Partners

OHIO STATE'S BOARD OF TRUSTEES COMMITS 
RESOURCES FOR NEIGHBORHOOD IMPROVEMENTS

     COLUMBUS -- The Board of Trustees of The Ohio State 
University on Friday (11/3) authorized the investment of up 
to $28 million in university endowment funds and the 
expenditure of unrestricted gift money for Campus Partners 
initiatives over the next five years to improve the 
neighborhoods around Ohio State.

     The action is a demonstration of support for a 
comprehensive improvement plan for the University District 
that has been developed this year through a major public 
participation process led by Campus Partners for Community 
Urban Redevelopment Inc.

     In their action, the trustees emphasized that the 
initiatives of Campus Partners will "depend for their 
success on significant investment by the university and the 
City of Columbus, the State of Ohio, the business community 
and other public and private investors."

     The trustees noted that the university's support is 
premised on the basic principles that the investment "will 
serve as a catalyst to attract other sources of funding and 
not as a substitute for other support; will be directed to 
revitalization efforts in the immediate vicinity of the 
university, generally described as east of High Street, and 
will support initiatives that directly benefit OSU students, 
faculty and staff."

     The trustees also stipulated that any release of 
university funds will require prior approval of an internal 
review committee of the university and by the Board of 
Trustees.

     Ohio State created Campus Partners last January as a 
non-profit corporation to work with the City of Columbus, 
the University District neighborhoods and the university 
itself to revitalize the retail and housing area where many 
Ohio State students live.

     With financial support from the university and the City 
of Columbus, Campus Partners in February employed a team of 
national and local consultants and embarked on a year-long 
process of preparing an improvement plan.  The consulting 
team reviewed past studies of the area, gathered data on 
exisiting conditions and talked with and surveyed hundreds 
of people through workshops, task forces and community 
meetings.

     The consulting team is completing the first draft of 
this comprehensive plan, which is expected to be available 
in the next week.  This draft plan will include an 
exhaustive list of recommendations in the areas of safety, 
traffic and parking, housing and commercial markets, urban 
planning and land use, trash collection, code enforcement, 
and human services.

     Campus Partners expects to solicit input on the draft 
plan through late November.  Community meetings to review 
the plan are scheduled for Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at Indianola 
Middle School, 420 E. 19th Ave., and Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. in 
the Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St.  In addition, individual 
neighborhood meetings are being scheduled to hear more 
localized concerns.

      "The action by the university's Board of Trustees 
confirms Ohio State's commitment to revitalization of the 
neighborhoods where nearly 21,000 students live," said Barry 
K. Humphries, president of Campus Partners.  "We believe 
that Ohio State's commitment, in turn, will convince the 
city to invest in needed capital improvements and enhanced 
public services along High Street and in the neighborhoods.

     "A rule in urban redevelopment is that private 
investment will follow public commitment," Humphries said.  
"We firmly believe that investments by the university and 
the city will trigger much greater private investment in 
revitalizing the retail and entertainment district of High 
Street, reinvestment by major property owners to enhance the 
apartment living for students, and an increase in 
homeownership in neighborhoods outside the core student 
area.

     "Through our planning process, we will suggest the 
projects and programs which our partners -- the city, the 
university, the private sector and the neighborhoods -- 
should undertake to improve the quality of life in the 
University District.  The role of Campus Partners over the 
next several years then will be as a catalyst working with 
these organizations and people to implement the 
recommendations."

                             #

Contact:  Barry Humphries or Steve Sterrett, community 
relations director of Campus Partners, at (614) 294-7300.


[Submitted by: Carolyn Glover (cglover@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 03 Nov 1995 14:43:03 -0500]
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