A vacant building at 195 S. Washington Ave. in Columbus is once again headed for demolition review, but this time the owners want to replace it with a small pocket park rather than more pavement. The revised plan would reuse materials from the structure itself, including salvaged wall brick repurposed as paving, as part of a garden designed to reclaim ground currently swallowed by an adjacent surface parking lot.
The demolition request has been submitted to the Downtown Commission for the second time, according to Columbus Underground. The first attempt, pitched back in February, simply called for extending the existing parking lot onto the site — a plan the commission rejected outright. This new version swaps asphalt for landscaping, with ornamental grasses, ground cover and further design work still to come on vertical elements and lighting.
Local firm Blostien/Overly Architects submitted the application, which frames the approach as a kind of “remolition,” reconfiguring the site and reinterpreting its memory rather than simply clearing it. The building itself sits boarded up in the corner of the surface lot, and the proposal describes it as beyond economically or commercially viable renovation, with a portion of the site already encroached upon by the parking lot next door.
Why The First Plan Got Rejected
The Downtown Commission denied the original demolition request earlier this year, citing its guidelines against tearing down structures without an approved replacement plan in hand, per the same Columbus Underground report. 614now also reported that the commission voted down the demolition request, quoting the panel's rationale directly: “We don't tear down buildings to make parking spots,” as 614now described the commission's stance.
Columbus requires the Downtown Commission to sign off on demolition requests in the district unless the city deems a building an immediate safety hazard, and the commission has traditionally pushed for replacement buildings that add housing or commercial space rather than additional parking, the Columbus Underground report notes. The city's Downtown Design Guidelines discourage surface parking downtown, according to a planning document from the City of Columbus.
Who Owns The Property
The building and the surrounding parking lot are owned by an LLC associated with Healthcare Realty Trust, a Nashville-based real estate investment trust, the station's report states. Healthcare Realty also owns several nearby properties, including multi-story buildings at 500 and 515 E. Main St., according to the same account.
This isn't the only recent Columbus proposal to trade a demolished building for green space instead of a parking expansion. A separate plan involving two prominent South High Street buildings similarly proposed replacing them with a grass lawn, Columbus Underground has reported. And the idea of repurposing salvaged materials from a demolished structure has precedent locally — stones salvaged from the former Ohio Penitentiary 22 years earlier were found near the future Crew Stadium site and moved into storage while reuse plans were finalized.
What Happens Next
The Downtown Commission's next meeting is scheduled for October 27. Columbus Underground staff reporter Brent Warren, who covers urban development, transportation, city planning and neighborhoods for the outlet, authored the original report detailing the new pocket-park pitch. Whether the commission will accept this second attempt, and when any demolition or construction might actually take place, remains to be seen.
