Millions of dollars and one grand vision will revitalize two popular parts of Columbus

Revitalization of two prominent properties integral to the landscape of downtown Columbus is about to launch.

The Historic Columbus Foundation is scheduled to conduct a groundbreaking ceremony at 11 am, Tuesday, May 23 at 700 Front Ave., to officially start the project that will transform the Chattahoochee Promenade and Heritage Park.

Heritage Park, 703 Broadway, is the HCF-owned property in the Columbus Historic District that celebrates the industrial history of the Chattahoochee Valley with outdoor displays. More than $2.2 million from HCF, private foundations and donor families funded the park’s development, completed in 1999.

HCF deeded the property to the Columbus Consolidated Government. By 2016, the park’s main water feature no longer was functioning. The foundation worked with the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department to try to solve the problem. Experts determined that repairs would cost as much as $300,000.

Money for the repair wasn’t secured, but HCF and city officials realized the bigger issue was maintenance. So, in 2021, HCF proposed an alternative solution.

Re-imagining Heritage Park and Chattahoochee Promenade

The proposal included re-imagining Heritage Park and the Chattahoochee Promenade, the city-owned property along the Chattahoochee River, stretching from Fifth Street to Seventh Street along Front Avenue.

HCF spent $18,000 for Natural Resource Consulting of Tallassee, Alabama, to conduct a tree survey and site evaluation and for Hecht Burdeshaw Architects of Columbus to prepare a plan.

In August 2022, Columbus Council unanimously approved the transfer of Heritage Park back to HCF, allowing the proposal to become a project.

Hello to the Clifford and Bobsie Swift History Trail

The project is estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $3 million and will be funded in cash by HCF. It involves moving Heritage Park’s outdoor displays to the Chattahoochee Promenade, where the Clifford and Bobsie Swift History Trail will be created, named in honor of the couple’s $1 million donation.

As HCF members for four decades, the Swifts volunteered to help conduct numerous events and serve on the HCF Board of Directors. Clifford died in 2021. He worked for the Columbus Bank and Trust Company for 30 years, first as comptroller and retired as vice president of the trust department.

The trail will encompass the displays about local industrial history and new features to include local African American history and Native American history.

Heritage Park will be returned to residential use, providing space for the relocation of five endangered historic houses. After the houses are moved, HCF will stabilize them with new foundations, new roofs and restored exteriors.

HCF then will transfer ownership of the houses to W.C. Bradley Real Estate, which will hire a residential construction contractor to complete the renovations and sell them as single-family homes. W.C. Bradley will share the profits with HCF.

Project funding backed by Historic Columbus Foundation

HCF says it is committed to establishing an agreement with the city to ensure the revitalized Chattahoochee Promenade is maintained.

The foundation plans to create a fund to pay for the maintenance of the promenade’s hardscape, including the educational elements, signage, gazebos, log cabin and history trail. That means the project won’t result in the city incurring new expenses.

In addition to the Swift donation, HCF has received money for the project from:

• $25,000 from the Community Impact Grant at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley. The grant came from money generated by the Chattahoochee Valley Fair Fund, the Community Endowment Fund and its subfunds (the Fred and Catalina Aranas Family Fund, the Susan and Butch Cochran Family Fund and the Moselle W. and H. Quigg Fletcher Jr. Endowment Fund).

• $20,000 from the Fast Track Grant at the Columbus Cultural Arts Alliance.

• The HCF membership, donors to the 2016 Save Me A Place Capital Campaign and Sarah Turner Butler’s investment.

Project timeline

Demolition and removal of the artifacts and sculptures in Heritage Park is the project’s first step after the groundbreaking ceremony. The removed items temporarily will be housed in storage containers on the Chattahoochee Promenade.

The Promenade House (Front Avenue, c. 1880) will be the first house moved to Heritage Park. It will be placed where the brick kiln and log cabin are situated.

Next, a house from Juniper (Route 355, c. 1880) will be moved to the park, followed this fall by three houses (c. 1830-40) from the original Historic Westville site in Lumpkin.

The five houses range in size from 1,200 square feet and 4,000 square feet. The park covers nearly one acre.

Work on the Chattahoochee Promenade will happen concurrently. The promenade comprises around three acres, but HCF’s project focuses on approximately half of it.

The project is expected to be completed in spring 2024.

Project benefits

This revitalization is part of the seven-decade effort to return the majority of residences in the original city’s footprint to single-family homes, Historic Columbus Foundation executive director Elizabeth Walden told the Ledger-Enquirer in an emailed interview.

“Following World War II, homeowners were asked to help the housing shortage by turning their homes into apartments,” she said. “This was done by many in the historic district — houses were either divided up or they were demolished for new apartments to be built. Since that time, the neighborhood has worked hard to evolve back into more home ownership.”

Moving the exhibits from Heritage Park to the Chattahoochee Promenade provides land for those five historic houses and adds another attraction to the riverfront.

The re-imagined public space on the promenade will enable the displays relocated from the park to be more engaging and more inclusive and give HCF more room to expand the local history narratives, totaling 36 panels, Walden said.

“It should be a comprehensive look at the area and how our community shares its history within the public realm,” she said.

All of which produces HCF’s largest preservation investment in its 57-year history.

“This project fulfills every aspect of Historic Columbus’ mission (Revitalize, Educate, Advocate, Preserve),” Walden said, “and achieves a major goal of the neighborhood by adding architecturally appropriate single-family homes.”