Right Now Downtown

If you are bored of Columbus, don’t move to Portland, Oregon.  Move to the Columbus High Five.  This stretch of the High Street corridor includes German Village, downtown, the Arena District, Short North and University District.

The sheer volume of great, urban experiences in this part of Columbus compares favorably to any other place in the U.S.  It has everything Boston has except urban rail, department stores and outrageously high housing costs.

Good public transit and city sidewalks will take you to 20 movie screens, a public market, Barnes & Noble and more than 200 high quality, independent retail stores.  It is home to an NHL arena, a AAA baseball park, historic theatres and one of the county’s most prestigious universities.

There are scores of nightclubs, beautiful city parks, charming neighborhoods, several world-class museums, great live music and 40 art galleries.  You can stay in one of 4,000 hotel rooms, quickly hail a taxicab and dine at 150 full-service restaurants.

The Columbus High Five is a magnet for highly educated people from throughout the world.  It is young, creative and entrepreneurial.  Best of all, it is in our backyard.

Five miles of High Street offers one of the best walks in the United States.  On High Street or within a “stone’s throw” of High Street between German Village and the University District are 20 movie screens; more than 30 live performance venues and dance clubs; 4,000 hotel rooms; 300 restaurants; 200 retail stores and boutiques; and 40 art galleries.

The area includes four city parks, a developing riverfront park system, and an NHL arena.  There is a baseball park, a public market, and three farmers markets.  Six historic districts line this stretch of High Street, as well as the historic Ohio Statehouse, three historic theatres, and two historic parks.  The walk would take you past the country’s largest university campus and the Wexner Center.

High Street offers Gallery Hop, ComFest, the Columbus Marathon, Greek Festival, Gay Pride Parade, and a host of other events, races and parades.  You can sit at outdoor cafes, listen to street musicians, browse in bookstores, and easily hail a cab.

There are some gaps to be filled, for sure.  But if you work or live downtown, you are in the middle of a very special place.

Nothing beats sitting in a baseball park on a warm day, particularly when the backdrop is the downtown skyline and the team is part of the Cleveland Indians.  Downtown gained another huge amenity on April 18, when Huntington Park opened.

Huntington Park’s downtown location has many advantages.  It is accessible by public transit, with nine local COTA bus lines within three blocks.  The new ball park has more than a dozen restaurants within walking distance that can capture business from the park.

Those neighboring restaurants have a good chance to capture baseball traffic because the limited parking at Huntington Park requires that most people walk several blocks past eating and watering holes.  Its proximity to Nationwide Arena further bolsters dining and retail development in the area, because baseball is counter-cyclical to hockey.

Huntington Park is a smart addition to a well designed neighborhood.  I cannot imagine how it could have been better designed or sited.

My kids and I have a six-game ticket package to the Blue Jackets.  Last Thursday, we saw Columbus beat Pittsburgh before a record crowd of more than 19,000 people at Nationwide Arena.

Columbus won in a shoot-out.  Fans literally screamed at the top of their lungs through most of the game.  Best of all, the game was only part of the fun.

The fun began with a 15-minute walk from our Victorian Village house to the Arena through Goodale Park.  From the calm and darkness of the Park, Nationwide Arena and the downtown skyline looked spectacular.  Stepping on to Park Street south of Goodale Street, we encountered neon lights, growing crowds and taxicabs that swept us toward the Arena.

By the time we reached Vine Street and Ludlow Alley, the cacophony felt like the entrance to Fenway Park in Boston.  Buildings crowded both sides of the narrow pedestrian street, and ticket scalpers and street performers barked and performed to a river of people.

Having an NHL arena downtown is a great asset.  Having neighborhoods within walking distance of an NHL arena is as good as it gets anywhere.