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November 06 Ohio State University's South Campus Gateway "Underachieving"Almost a year ago, I posted about a discussion I had over the holidays with some relatives when discussing some libertarian views on issues. One of the issues that came up was "Eminent Domain Abuse". The discussion hinged around my observation that despite promising massive development, OSU's "South Campus Gateway" project was not attracting very much business. My assertion was that a lack of activity and a bunch of empty storefronts were a tell-tale sign that the project was a massive failure. Conversely, the other example in the discussion (Target at Graceland) seems to be doing quite well - even though it too has a bit of a crime problem.
Today, that was confirmed in The Lantern, OSU's Student Newspaper.
According to the article, instead of the projected $8.7 million in profits predicted by consultants, so far it's cleared $1.2 million. The project cost $151 million, and the university won't see the expected $600,000 from the project deposited this year or next.
Even though it has been a massive failure, they're still trying to see a silver lining by asserting that the project "has been successful in eliminating blight in the neighborhood and making it a safer place for students". Tell it to the family of Brian Shaffer, the OSU student who disappeared from there. Or tell it to the robbery victims in the area - adding more lights and building nicer buildings hasn't helped the crime rate.
After using eminent domain to steal the land from reluctant landowners on the promise of high tax revenues for the city it's unconsionable for them to retroactively assert that "the goal of the Gateway was not to generate large profits." To quote my OSU Business professors - "profits are like breathing", regardless of what else your company does, it's got to profit or it dies.
Anyway, I just thought I'd point out the story since the assertions that I was wrong and that the a huge boom down at the gateway was imminent (based on insider information from someone at the OSU urban planning department) seemed not to have panned out. Comments (1)
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