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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowLong before “placemaking” became a buzzword in economic development parlance, industrialist J. Irwin Miller was making Columbus a place for internationally recognized architecture.
As writer Sam Stall reported for IBJ earlier this month, Miller did it because, as the leader of Columbus-based engine-maker Cummins Inc., he wanted to make the small city a place that would attract world-class engineering talent.
Miller’s vision in the mid-20th century made Columbus rank sixth in the nation on the American Institute of Architects’ list of top cities for architectural design, behind only Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Now, however, some of those landmark buildings require major repairs or need to be repurposed altogether. And Columbus’ experiences serve as a potent reminder to the many Indiana communities embarking on “placemaking” projects that plans for maintenance need to be taken into account.
Columbus fully recognized that looming responsibility in 2015 when the Landmark Columbus Foundation was created to look after and promote the city’s many architectural assets.
One of its first missions was to help find a way to preserve the iconic tower at First Christian Church, designed by architect Eliel Saarinen as one of the nation’s first modernist-style houses of worship. It succeeded by working with the congregation and the local Heritage Fund to raise the necessary $3.2 million to make the repairs.
A bigger challenge lies ahead: repurposing the iconic North Christian Church, whose shrinking congregation called it quits last year and left the six-sided building with a 192-foot spire at its center in the hands of a local not-for-profit.
The local library is exploring whether it’s possible to turn the religious building with a sanctuary built in the round into a “community hub” for performances and public gatherings without destroying its unique architectural qualities. The partners in Columbus are to be commended for banding together to try to find solutions to such problems.
Other communities need to be prepared to do the same as they build a raft of quality-of-life attractions, most of them smartly spurred on by the state’s READI grant program.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. last year received $500 million for the first phase of the community grant program, which is expected to leverage billions of dollars in local investment. Another $500 million was allocated for a second phase of the program this year.
The first round of grants already has prompted a bevy of projects designed to make communities more appealing in an effort to attract and retain needed workers. The projects include a performing arts center in Gas City, 248-acre outdoor sports and recreation complex in Valparaiso, an outdoor entertainment and community event venue in Sullivan, an amphitheater and splash park in Anderson, and CenterPoint Energy Park in downtown Evansville.
Columbus also has joined the mix with the development of NexusPark, the transforming of a declining mall property into an indoor sports complex and outdoor park.
All of the developments are exciting additions. But the need to make plans for long-term maintenance and alternative uses shouldn’t be overlooked.•
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One could say the same about “exciting” new highways and roads, which are built without thought of future maintenance costs, and for which we now have billions of dollars in maintenance deficit. The only responsible thing to do is to stop all new highway expansions, new lanes, new roads, and bridges from being built until we can figure out how to pay for the maintenance of what we already have.
And no, the gas tax doesn’t even come close to covering those costs.
I was walking the canal in downtown Indianapolis yesterday and had a thought, along the lines of this editorial. I needed a restroom and NONE were available. It would be easy for the city to build a public bathroom and it would certainly benefit many canal users. Then I started thinking of all the repercussions. Keeping criminals from using them, keeping them clean, plumbing maintenance and I realized that city government would fail in some or all of these obligations.
What might work is a lease deal with an adjacent restaurant. The tenant would provide the upkeep in return for less rent. The restaurant would not have bathrooms of its own, so to keep their customers happy they would keep the bathrooms in tip top shape.
The canal level of the new State Archives building might be a great place for this restaurant and public toilet combo.