Downtown Columbus Washington Street View

Columbus Downtown 2030

The City of Columbus seeks an updated downtown strategic development plan that recognizes the recent history of redevelopment, incorporates current initiatives, and provides a clear, comprehensive strategy for continued advancement. Envision Columbus, the most recent strategic plan, was completed in 2018 and remains relevant as we pursue wide-ranging strategies for enhancing our community. Although some solutions provided through Envision were implemented, many were affected by the pandemic. Post-Pandemic, the City of Columbus has placed emphasis on redefining goals for activation, acquisition and placemaking downtown. More recently, focus has been directed to revitalizing our downtown community, especially following employment shifts, property vacancies, and recently launched initiatives to activate downtown spaces.

We are calling the new plan: “Columbus Downtown 2030.” Columbus Downtown 2030 has a smaller footprint, but will provide a more focused, short-term plan for strategic downtown growth and development.

View Project Website

Guiding Questions

The City has identified the following key questions to which we seek an outcome from an updated downtown strategic development plan:

How do we build a downtown where people want to be?
How do we maximize the use of the spaces and places downtown?
What gaps do we have downtown, and how do we address those gaps?

Plan Phasing

The study is set to be completed in a series of five phases, each building on the last to allow the project team to capture actionable feedback throughout the process and begin to implement recommendations as quickly as possible.

Phase 1: Project Startup

November 2024

The project team kicked off the project by meeting with local leaders, collecting all necessary information, and began the project planning and community & stakeholder engagement process.

Phase 2: Analysis & Needs Assessment

December 2024 – January 2025

Phase 2 of the project consisted of interviews and focus groups with important local stakeholders, the launch of the project website, two pop-up events, the first of two planned community listening events, and an online survey.

Phase 3: Downtown Plan Development

Current Phase: February – March 2025

Building on data gathered in phases 1 & 2, the project team will begin to propose projects, strategies and priorities for Downtown Columbus over the next five years. Several possible development and investment scenarios will be explored and presented for feedback to stakeholder groups and community members to help inform preferred projects and strategies to include in the action plan. This will include further engagement such as two additional pop-up events, a second community listening event, and a second online survey.

Phase 4: Implementation Guidance

April – May 2025

Once a preferred direction is established in Phase 3, the team will generate guidance for project implementation in Phase 4. This will include recommendations on priorities and phasing over a five-year period, project funding models and sources, review and recommendations for any changes to local code, zoning, urban design and public realm guidelines, and a strategic action plan. More pop-up events will be included in this phase.

Phase 5: Downtown Plan Documentation

May – June 2025

After final consultations with key stakeholder groups and city officials, including the Columbus community, the project team will finalize the plan, recommendations and implementation guidance and present a final strategic plan report.

Firm Selection

After consideration of several firms, the Guiding Team unanimously selected Sasaki, which is partnering with the firms SB Friedman and Storyboard, to lead the CD 2030 Plan initiatives. Sasaki is a well-known firm which specializes in planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, and strategy. SB Friedman represents the analytical arm of the team and is a real estate, economic development, and public-private finance advisory firm with implementation strategies rooted in market realty and financial feasibility. Storyboard is a woman-owned business enterprise with a focus on design and implementation of a full suite of community engagement strategies. Additionally, the Redevelopment Commission engaged Bonnie Boatwright to serve as project manager.