Right Now Downtown

Seen one Subway restaurant seen them all? Maybe not. A new location opening within the next couple weeks at 163 N. High St. will play up the character of its historic building to give it it’s own cool feel. “We’re still sticking with Subway theme because we have to, but it’s definitely different from any Subway you’ve been in,” owner Laurie Deerwester said. “It’s going to have tin ceilings and fun stuff.” The former home of Downtown New Orleans will sport a big chandelier, impressive archways and clouds painted on the ceiling. Deerwester said it took some convincing on her part to get corporate approval for her ideas. “It’s been a long process,” she said. “When we were able to keep the tin ceilings I was ecstatic; I thought we were going to have to put in a drop ceiling.” The restaurant will be Deerwester’s first as owner, though her partner owns the Subway in the LeVeque Tower. Despite the number of locations already operating Downtown, she’s confident there is room for one more. “Subway has development agents who look at every area and determine who can be where,” she said. “Downtown has so many locations because it has so many distinct areas.” With the built-in flair of her historic digs, Deerwester’s new shop will no doubt stand out from the rest. “I love old stuff,” she said. “It’s different.”

With February almost under our belt, our winter grumblings turn to thoughts of spring. Or, in the mayor’s case, thoughts of parks. Last week, Mayor Coleman announced a major collaboration with AEP and the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation to create a riverfront park downtown called the Scioto Mile. Consisting of bike and pedestrian paths and multiple green spaces, it will stretch from the 11-acre North Bank Park south to the Whittier Peninsula, where the city, county and Audubon Society have teamed to develop a nature center. The Scioto Mile will consist of a street-level Promenade, a tree-lined walkway from Broad to Rich that connects Battelle and Bicentennial parks. On the lower level will be a 50-foot-wide Riverwalk, a path for joggers, bikers and skaters that will bring users to the river’s edge with native floodplain wetlands. The project also calls for Civic Center Drive to be narrowed from four lanes to two lanes. The Scioto Mile is part of the city’s strategic plan for revitalizing downtown that has fostered the area’s housing boom and Gay Street’s evolution into the strip of hip. “The Scioto Mile will offer something for everyone,” said Guy V. Worley, CEO of the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation, the agency responsible for implementing the city’s plan. The Scioto Mile project has more than $20 million in funding commitments, with the AEP Foundation committing to match up to $10 million of the city’s contribution to the project, over a five-year period. AEP is also providing a full-time executive, Dale Heydlauff, to assist with fundraising and planning. “Great cities are built around great parks,” said Mayor Coleman. “The Scioto Mile will be the jewel in the heart of Columbus.”

Check out regular progress reports on the Scioto Mile and other projects are posted at www.downtowncolumbus.com.

What’s better than Happy Hour at the end of a workday? Happy Hour with a scalp massage.

For that kind of paradise, one goes to Mac & Company, the upscale, full-service salon that opened in October at 37 E. Gay St. Owner Laura MacElheaney, who goes by Mac, says the complimentary drink that is offered is a smash hit with employees of the law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease across the street. “Those boys love to have a beer or a glass of scotch and get their hair cut after work,” she says. Besides hair (and scalp massage upon request) Mac & Company does massages, body treatments, mani’s & pedi’s, waxing—you name it. “We do it all,” says Mac. The salon is an official Bumble and bumble salon, an honor that requires rigorous screening, special training and signing a legal contract that was thicker than the salon’s lease in order to carry the company’s ultra-high-end products. Mac describes the salon as super hip, but the stylists and technicians each do things their own way. “We’re an eclectic group,” she says. “There are so many wack-job hairdressers out there; there are maybe 10 percent who are truly creative, who are artists. Those are the kinds of people I surround myself with.” Plans are to collaborate with neighbor Skambo Cafe in the spring to serve food cafe-style on the sidewalk and offer free wi-fi, Mac says. “You’ll be able to come in and get lunch, get coffee, get on your computer—and get your hair done.”

Mac & Company is open Monday 9 a. m.-5 p. m., Tuesday-Friday 9 a. m.-9 p.m., and Saturday 9 a. m.-5 p. m. Walk-ins are accepted. 228-1164.