Columbus Symphony pitching massive $275 million music hall near COSI

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra is planning to spend up to $275 million to build a new music hall on city of Columbus-owned land near COSI, and may be close to receiving a $10 million state capital grant to put toward that effort.

"It's actually become a community need versus just a hope and dream," Denise Rehg, the symphony's executive director, said Wednesday.

The proposed facility would have a 1,600-seat main performance hall, and an additional nine other multi-use performance and special event spaces, comprising 205,000 square feet.

But the organization has been given a series of hurdles it must cross dealing with fundraising and business plan development in order to receive a long-term lease on a 6.6-acre triangular grass field south of COSI, near the Scioto River, for rent of $1 per year, officials said.

The group's current timeline puts the project on a schedule to break ground in September 2025 and complete construction three years later, in the fall of 2028, Rehg said.

"We will not be ready to break ground for some time still," Rehg said. "We're working on it. We've got a bit of timeline."

OhioHealth CEO Stephen Markovich, who chairs the symphony's board, said the organization has "entered a relationship with the city, assuming we can meet certain requirements," to gain control of the needed land.

"There are a number of gates that we would have to go through with the city" to get a long-term lease on a property that the organization realizes is a premier piece of Downtown civic real estate, Markovich said. "There's a whole series of go/no go steps," including exploring with other organizations how they could also use the facility for performance and educational purposes.

Asked to describe how close to achieving the project the symphony is, Markovich said: "It's significantly more than a dream in the far distance."

There is a "ton of due diligence" yet to be accomplished, Markovich said, and "to be frank, the (symphony) board has not yet voted" to authorize the project. However, Markovich said the symphony has significant money for the development of the concept.

The size of the facility might change in response to a number of factors yet to be realized, including fundraising, which is still in its infancy, he said.

The symphony currently operates out of the 2,700-seat Ohio Theatre at 39 E. State St., a former movie palace not originally designed as a music venue and controlled by the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA).

The proposed site is owned by the city, which asked the Columbus Downtown Development Corp. to serve as the "conduit" for development, said Greg Davies, CEO of the CDDC.

"They’ve asked us to enter into an agreement with the symphony," Davies said. "The design, programming, all of that will be dictated by the symphony."

The CDDC started working with the symphony last summer on the plan, he said.

Under terms of the deal with the city, the symphony had six months to produce a plan for the site and another year and a half to raise the money. If the plan moves forward, the city would lease the site to the symphony for $1 a year for 99 years, Davies said.

"That’s a very valuable site for the city," Davies added. "The city has made it clear it won't pay any money for the project, but it will donate the land if the symphony can raise the money."

Davies supports the project, which would serve as a bookend — along with the National Veterans Memorial and Museum on the north — to the city's Peninsula development, which includes a mix of apartments, offices, hotels and entertainment venues.

"When we were approached as an organization, and they presented their idea, given the veterans museum, COSI and phase one of the Peninsula, I felt it was a good fit," Davies said. "I think there was some concern from the city’s standpoint, but when the symphony said, We’ll pay for it,' that’s a different conversation. We’ll have a world-class symphony hall — a multipurpose building. It was really important for the city that this be for all the city, not just the symphony. ... We (the CDDC) think it would be a great fit, and add a lot of activity to the riverfront, a lot of opportunities. We support it. ...

"We're confident they can do this," Davies said. "It’s a big lift for the community, but it’s not pie in the sky. I think it has legitimate chance of being successful."

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Symphony unveils plans for $275 million music hall Downtown