KBIA Local
(2010-06-25)
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COLUMBIA, MO
(KBIA) -
The City of Columbia has hired St. Louis design firm H - Three studios to draft a plan for developing downtown. All this week, the firm has been asking Columbia residents what they'd like to see done. The first of three public meetings was Monday, and KBIA's Stuart Downing was there to listen to citizens' concerns.
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About thirty Columbia residents broke into groups and got to work looking over the proposals for downtown development. The proposals focus on two areas of downtown - the intersection at Broadway and Providence, and the North Village Arts District, north of Broadway and College Avenue.
"One thing we noticed over our last two years is that there's a lot of empty spaces on the edges."
That's Downtown Leadership Council Chairman Randy Gray. He says the two focal points have a common problem.
"You see a lot of vacant lots and we were just were curious what could happen for infill development, what kind of buildings could be placed there, and how would it complement what's already there."
"I'm here in a vacant lot just behind the Walgreens on the corner of Providence and Broadway. It's pretty easy to see the lack of development here - there's this huge, empty building and parking lot. It seems like it would be a pretty good location, so close to downtown, MU, and some neighborhoods, but I can see from here another empty building and a different grass field."
Toney Lowery attended Monday's meeting. As a Columbia resident, he sees the need for development.
"You don't really get the feeling at the corner of Providence and Broadway that downtown is really there unless you look the right way. It seems kind of like another open parking lot area."
A couple of the proposed plans are admittedly ambitious - one features a convention center, built in the empty southwest corner of Providence and Broadway. Some plans would require the purchase of currently occupied buildings. The focus is long term, but Lowery says he's hopeful these proposals can actually come to fruition.
"No telling what's going to happen 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. Maybe the piece of property that seems unattainable now all of a sudden gets donated or somebody puts together the right financing package and some of the stuff that they showed today happens."
H - three studios is holding more public sessions. They've invited anyone interested to come see the plan they want to develop. For now, the edges of downtown Columbia stay quiet and unused.
To see the plan for downtown Columbia, a public meeting will be held today at four. It's in Dulany Hall on Columbia College's campus.
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