Demolition of City Center mall clears way for Columbus Commons

The demolition of City Center mall, Columbus’ longtime premier Downtown shopping destination, began on Oct. 1, 2009, after it had closed earlier that year.

Competition from shopping centers at Tuttle Crossing, Easton Town Center and Polaris Fashion Place dramatically changed where people in central Ohio shopped, leading retail tenants to flee to the suburbs and the shoppers who once flocked to former anchor malls like City Center, Northland and Westland to do the same.

City Center opened on Aug. 18, 1989, as part of the Capitol South redevelopment effort that began in the 1970s. It was Columbus’ first major new mall in some two decades since Westland opened in 1969.

1991 interior view of City Center, featuring the glass elevators and atrium.

The three-story Civic Center mall, with more than 1 million square feet of space, was anchored by department stores like Marshall Field’s and Jacobsons, and of course, Columbus’ own Lazarus.

Shoppers storm the Marshall Field’s store at City Center on opening day. The retailer reported $20,000 in sales in their first 45 minutes.

With more than 100 stores, the $200-million shopping complex was a retail destination for shoppers from central Ohio and beyond. Approximately 100,000 people visited on the first day, and millions visited in the first month. Marshall Field’s reported $20,000 in sales in their first 45 minutes.

Greg Ackers and Charles Miller work on the mall’s Columbus skyline mural in 1989, near the High Street end of the mall.

Throughout the 1990s, shoppers steadily supported the Downtown mall. Even when Tuttle Crossing opened in 1997, it seemed possible for City Center to survive. That same year, 10,000 visitors came Downtown for a concert by the pop rock band Hanson — the last name of the three brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who founded it — whose big hit was “Mmmbop.” Even into the late 1990s holiday seasons, Civic Center continued to show steady sales numbers and eager crowds.

Local caterers served complimentary snacks to those who preferred to sit, rather than shop, while three big-screen televisions showed college football bowl games in 1991.

However, with the opening of the Easton Town Center outdoor shopping mall and office and residential complex in 1999 on Columbus’ Northeast Side and Polaris Fashion Place mall in the portion of the city in southern Delaware County in 2001, older malls like City Center and Northland quickly saw their customer and sales numbers decline as their retailers fled for the newer developments.

City Center was home to only a handful of tenants before it officially closed on March 5, 2009.

Plans were made to demolish the mall, keep the 1,000-car underground parking garage, and develop Columbus Commons, a 6-acre greenspace above.

Demolition began that October and took months, since the parking garage ceiling was in part, the mall’s floor. Demolition had to be intentional to retain the underground structure.

Construction of Columbus Commons began in 2010, and the Downtown park opened May 26, 2011. Interestingly, a similar park, surrounded by housing, hotels, and office development had been suggested in 1977, but had been set aside for the City Center mall.

“Hindsight is so wonderful,” John Rosenberger, director of the Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., told The Dispatch in 2010.

Now 13 years old, Columbus Commons is widely considered a success story, helping revitalize the Downtown area by bringing residents and visitors to events there like the free Sunset Movie Series on Thursdays sponsored by CAPA and Downtown Columbus, Inc. It has also helped to retain residents in the city’s center and boost Columbus’ economic development.