[Lions-l] From 11/21/2007 Ledger-Enquirer - Infantry Museum helps Columbus South shift focus toward development

[Sylvia Head]

Groups wants to attract commercial properties to Victory Drive and South Lumpkin Road
BY CHUCK WILLIAMS - chwilliams at ledger-enquirer.com -- 
Columbus South Inc., an organization born three years ago out of a citywide task force to address issues -- real and perceived -- facing south Columbus, has altered its mission.

The privately funded nonprofit revitalization organization is going to focus development efforts on the commercial corridors of Victory Drive and South Lumpkin Road, said Chairman Karl Douglass. The change is being driven by the construction of the $86 million National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center.

"It is going to be a redevelopment agency akin to Uptown Columbus Inc., Midtown Inc., dealing with land use and adaptive reuse," Douglass said. "The market has moved us there."

The museum is moving the market.

Columbus South President Reggie Richards, the organization's only employee, has been working with developers and others looking to locate hotels and other businesses in south Columbus. She said this move makes sense.

"We began to focus more and more on property and those who were making decisions to invest in south Columbus," she said.

The first place anyone looking at making a major investment in south Columbus stops is at the museum construction site, Richards said.

The board has formed an advisory committee to help in this transition. Retired Maj. Gen. Jerry White, who has been the driving force behind the Infantry Museum, will chair the committee. Others on the committee include Douglass; CB&T President Steve Melton; businessman Frank Lumpkin Jr.; hotel owners Sam and Jeff Friedman; Columbus Councilor Julius Hunter; Mayor Jim Wetherington; Kellogg's Plant Manager Pat Taylor; and former city manager and retired Lt. Gen. Carmen Cavezza.

"The revitalization of all of south Columbus is something I have been thinking about for quite some time," White said.

The museum, which will house the history of the Infantry and an IMAX theater and interactive displays, is expected to have a $50 million annual economic impact, according to a Columbus State University study. The museum could have as many as 500,000 annual visitors. More than 200,000 of those are expected to be families of soldiers graduating from basic training and the various military schools and programs on post.

The museum is scheduled to open in less than a year -- Veterans Day 2008. With the clock ticking, White said it is important to work on development around the 200-acre Soldier Center site, which is adjacent to Fort Benning. And it makes sense to use Columbus South Inc., to help drive change in the area.

"I don't think you can separate them," he said of South Columbus and the museum. "We have got to work together, and we have got to work to change the culture -- and we are not just talking about in south Columbus."

White tells a story to illustrate his point: He was recently trying to convince a restaurant owner to put a restaurant near the new museum.

"He said, 'No, that's in south Columbus,' " White said. "They don't know what's going on down here. That's part of the problem."

Columbus South took a step toward educating people about what is happening with the museum Tuesday when about 15 members of the Columbus Police Department -- from Chief Ricky Boren to beat officers -- toured the site and had lunch in a World War II-era mess hall.

Columbus South Inc. was the idea of former Mayor Bob Poydasheff. He pushed for change in the area when he first ran in 2002. He commissioned a study by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute that led to 27 strategies and the nonprofit.

As Columbus South began to do its work, the mission was too broad, Douglass said.

"We were doing advocacy work, neighborhood activities, but what we were hearing from those in the neighborhoods was, 'Great, but where's the Applebee's?' " Douglass said. "All of the questions came back to: 'What's going to happen to the physical environment around us?' "

The most obvious place to focus that work is on Victory Drive and South Lumpkin Road.

"As people move out, change the buildings, we want to try and influence what happens next," Douglass said.

What happens next is White's concern.

"People in south Columbus look at this as a military thing; it's much more than that," White said. "We have an education problem. We have got to educate people."
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