# City Center

Columbus, OH · mall · tier: curated · Retrofit Atlas record `m-e1ba4aac1c` · release 2026-10-20

Canonical: https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/oh/columbus-city-center/  
JSON: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/records/m-e1ba4aac1c.json · Provenance: https://retrofitatlas.org/data/records/m-e1ba4aac1c.provenance.json · API: https://retrofitatlas.org/api/v1/sites/m-e1ba4aac1c

## Facts

| Field | Value | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Status | built | reported · derived from authors' map (retrofit year present) |
| Strategy | redevelop, regreen | reported · authors' map |
| What is there now | • Regreening: park • Partial redevelopment: mixed-use residential | reported · authors' map |
| Opened | 1989 | reported · authors' map |
| Retrofit year | 2011 | reported · authors' map |
| Acres | 9.0 | reported · research |
| GLA (sq ft) | 958000 | reported · Esri 2014 layer |
| Stores at peak | 108 | reported · Esri 2014 layer |
| Redeveloper | Capitol South; Columbus Downtown Development Corp | reported · authors' map |
| Zoning change | public park plus mixed-use pads (zoning instrument not found) | documented · research |
| Public subsidy | About $15M for demolition and park, with $15M requested from federal stimulus. Funding drew on Columbus Downtown Development Corp, Capitol South, Franklin County Commissioners and Metro Parks. | reported · research |
| Entitlement year | 2009 | reported · research |
| Planning notes | Approved by Columbus City Council; Downtown Commission.  | reported · research |

## Quoted support

- **zoning_change**: “Some Downtown Commission members questioning the wisdom of spending $15 million to demolish 1.3 million square feet of retail that was only 20 years old.” — https://www.wosu.org/news/2009-02-04/city-center-to-be-demolished

## Parties

- Capitol South — developer (2011–)
- Columbus Downtown Development Corp — developer (2011–)

## Timeline

- 1989: Opened
- 2011: Retrofit: redevelop, regreen

## Background (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened)

Columbus City Center was a 1,250,000 sq ft (116,000 m2), three-level shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. It was located in the city's downtown, near the Ohio Statehouse, next to the Ohio Theatre, and connected to the Hyatt on Capitol Square hotel. At the time of its opening, City Center was Central Ohio's largest shopping mall. The mall closed and was demolished in 2009. The mall had a large adjacent parking structure attached that remains in use. The parking structure has been joined, directly or via bridge respectively, to two 12 story structures, 250 S. High Street and 80 on the Commons, both of which feature lower level office spaces with residential spaces on the upper floors.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_City_Center

## Sources

- Quoted support for zoning_change — https://www.wosu.org/news/2009-02-04/city-center-to-be-demolished
- Planning research source — https://www.ohioequities.com/wp/market-reports/2017-second-quarter-market-report-a-look-back-at-columbus-commons/
- Esri StoryMaps: Closed_US_Malls feature layer (2014) — https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6869fc5bfb3f4757954ef7a9e9ccbebf (2014-10-02)
- Retrofitting Suburbia Interactive Mall Map (ArcGIS web map ce33ab26…) — https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=ce33ab2637374aab862b8a23847f620f (2021-01-20)
- www.arcgis.com — https://www.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/1196f74d7da6445eb54bfc3f25a4719a/data?f=json (2022)
- marketplace.org — https://marketplace.org/2017/10/12/how-columbus-ohios-downtown-mall-became-park (2022)
- Wikipedia: Columbus City Center — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_City_Center (2026-10-05)

## Cite

Retrofit Atlas (2026). "City Center, Columbus, OH." Record m-e1ba4aac1c, release 2026-10-20, tier curated. https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/oh/columbus-city-center/ (accessed 2026-10-20).

```bibtex
@misc{retrofitatlas_columbuscitycenter,
  title = {City Center, Columbus, OH},
  author = {{Retrofit Atlas}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://retrofitatlas.org/malls/oh/columbus-city-center/}},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Record m-e1ba4aac1c, release 2026-10-20, tier: curated. Built on the Retrofitting Suburbia map (Dunham-Jones and Williamson) and the sources listed on the record. Accessed 2026-10-20}
}
```

Licence: research use only; terms undecided with the authors (https://retrofitatlas.org/licence/). Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0. Tiers: curated = from the authors' public map, not reviewed by them; draft = imported or model-extracted, unreviewed.