The Food District
summer 2010 through fall 2013
The Food District is a project that I’ve been engaged with for some time along with Kay Bea Jones here in the KSA and a team of people from CEDCO and MORPC. I lead the programming and some of the strategic visioning for the project (You’ll notice some programmatic similarities with my Civic Agora competition entry). Kay Bea and I worked with Design Group and MKSK to develop the schematic design. I’ve posted some images from process below. The project is currently going through a capital campaign to try to fund construction. I’ve included the project overview blurb and some local press below.
Using an $864,000 planning grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC), Godman Guild and its subsidiary
Community Economic Development Corporation of Ohio (CEDCO), and partners The Knowlton School
of Architecture at OSU, OSU Extension, the City of Columbus, Local Matters, and Wagenbrenner, are
developing a plan for a multi-purpose food processing and packaging center, unique to the region and
the state. This value-added food center, envisioned for the former 3M site in Weinland Park, will not
only reduce food waste by repurposing it into nutritious, affordable meals, but also create jobs and
education opportunities for residents and spur economic development around the region. It would be
a social enterprise operating as a strong, profitable business while improving the quality of life for
our region and its people.
Some local press on the Food District project.
More Food District Stuff here:
