Clippers up to bat, but neighborhood scoring own runs
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Columbus Clippers baseball is back, something that will be welcomed today by fans of the game and the Arena District businesses that cater to them.
Bars and restaurants will be glad to get a new influx of customers following a Blue Jackets hockey season that came to a disappointing end a week ago when the team failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But baseball isn't the only boost the maturing district is getting. Office buildings are filling up and new ones are on the way, while housing options also are on the rise.
"It's been a huge boost to the area. It can't be considered anything else but a benefit," Don Antrim said as he walked to his office about lunchtime. "I'm in the Arena District all the time, if not at work, then at its restaurants.
"I think it's great for Columbus and a strong draw to bring people down here."
Arena District developer Nationwide Realty Investors recently announced plans to build a headquarters for Columbia Gas to open in 2014, bringing 650 more workers to Nationwide Boulevard and Neil Avenue.
The district also will gain a few hundred more residents this year, thanks to Nationwide's nearly completed Flats on Vine apartment complex. Nationwide's 250-unit Arena Crossing apartments, built several years ago, have remained fully leased, said Brian Ellis, president of Nationwide Realty Investors.
"We probably have more interest in office space in the Arena District now as we ever have," Ellis said. "More than anything else, office workers drive activity in the Arena District. The bulk of people (patronizing businesses) come from the more than 5,000 office workers we have in the Arena District now."
With the number of office workers and full-time residents on the rise, the Arena District isn't as dependent on sporting and other events as before. But even so, there's no doubt they remain very important.
With hockey gone, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant has noticed a drop in business, said Emily Schwamburger, assistant general manager.
But bar and restaurant operators are encouraged because more people who get to know the district through an event are returning on nights when nothing big is scheduled.
"Once people get down here, they see what's out here, and we get them to come back," Schwamburger said. "We're picking up more business."
Since the opening in 2009 of Huntington Park, which seats 10,000, the added traffic from baseball fans and those who attend the park's concert series has been "huge," said Adam Lantis, general manager of Boston's The Gourmet Pizza restaurant.
Business at Boston's, one of the closer restaurants to the park, has doubled as a result, with new and repeat customers. It also helps if the Clippers, now the Cleveland Indians' triple-A affiliate, are winning.
"The better (the Clippers) do, the more people come out," Lantis said.
Being in the Arena District alone doesn't guarantee success. This week, Arena District staple O'Shaughnessy's Public House was closed by the state because of tax problems.
Ellis said Nationwide expects a new tenant in the space by the end of summer. Nationwide's partner in the Arena District, owning a 20percent stake, is Capitol Square, the real-estate arm of The Dispatch Printing Company, publisher of The Dispatch.
Another important market for Arena District venues is the meeting and convention business. That should increase with the completion of the new convention-center hotel, Columbus Hilton Downtown, at Nationwide Boulevard and High Street next year.
The Arena District is a big selling point for groups looking to meet in Columbus, said Brian Ross, vice president of sales for Experience Columbus, the city's convention and visitors bureau.
"The Arena District is within walking distance for many of the groups staying and meeting here, and it's an energetic, diverse place," Ross said. "The added residential population is important, too. When groups come in to visit, they want to see the locals supporting the businesses. They may wonder what's going on if a place seems dead during the week."
Caitlin Davis said she spends weekends in the district even when there are no hockey or baseball games or other special events.
The draw: restaurants and bars that are "good places to hang out for happy hour with your girlfriends," the London resident and Downtown worker said as she sat on a bench near the jumbo TV screen on Nationwide Boulevard.
"I'm down here all the time," she said.
mrose@dispatch.com
tturner@dispatch.com
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