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Tom Lussenhop joined the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. as its president and chief executive on Nov. 1. Before that, he directed redevelopment efforts at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which included a major project at the juncture of the Ivy League college and an urban neighborhood.
He also worked on urban redevelopment projects in Newark, N.J., and at Carnegie Hall in New York.
In a conversation with Business First, Lussenhop revealed several of his aspirations for the Columbus' downtown as well as his early observations on the city.
BUSINESS FIRST: Could you explain what the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. is and what role the city wants it to play in the redevelopment of downtown?
LUSSENHOP: The city's downtown development plan calls for creation of a new community downtown-a community that has a residential component; a community that has an appropriate and growing office component and a retail component that makes sense for retailing in the 21st century. The complexity of that charge requires the private sector and the public sector work together in a concerted fashion.
Every major American city has a downtown development effort that involves the interest of the private sector and the public sector in a really, really close, tight way. That's the role this development corporation will play downtown.
Q: Practically, how does the CDDC carry out this mandate?
A: As a practical matter, that means when the city decides to pursue a residential development strategy for the downtown, the private sector can step up to the plate with resources, as you saw it do and is doing through the formation of Columbus Downtown Housing Investment Fund.
(The corporation) can stand up and act as a private advocate for public-sector investment that is complementary to private goals. So when the city of Columbus looks to the state of Ohio and the federal government for appropriate public investment, it's doing so in a coordinated fashion rather than (city government) asking for one thing-and three or four different private players in the market saying other things. Instead, we have a reasonably cohesive voice at the public level.
So it's getting the public and the private sectors on the same page as it relates to city goals and other investment goals.
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