Jeff Mathes, the owner of Due Amici restaurant on Gay Street in downtown Columbus, says he’s noticed an upswing recently in the number of restaurant patrons who are also residents of the area.

“The years prior to this, you’ve just seen a trickle,” Mathes says. “But this spring, I’ve seen a lot of regular customers from the neighborhood, not just in the restaurant, but also walking down the street. It’s starting to look like the big city it should be.”

For years, city officials and business leaders have talked about creating a more dynamic, vibrant Downtown. Now Gay Street, with its increasing number of storefronts, restaurants and residential options, is becoming the template for what Downtown could be. In the last few years, the street has seen new restaurants, several new condo offerings and the opening of a new hotel.

When people talk about “transform-ation” on Gay Street, they’re usually re-ferring to the bustling environment, the new residential offerings and the businesses. But there’s another, not-insignificant element to Gay Street’s transformation—its conversion from a one-way street—westbound traffic only—to a two-way street.

Mathes says he’s been impressed by the way the change in traffic flow has helped the street become friendlier to business. “I think it slowed down the traffic,” he says. “Before, it was just a cut-through to get to Third [Street] or to get out of the city. [Two-way traffic] made it much more pedestrian-friendly, so you’re seeing more pedestrians strolling along the street.”

Here’s a look at some of what’s happened along Gay Street in the last few years, and a bit of informed speculation about what might lie ahead.

Renovations

Don DeVere, president of DeVere LLC, has undertaken three projects in the Gay Street area. The first was the 30,000-square-foot Ruggery Building, an eight-story office tower at Pearl and East Gay streets, originally constructed in 1895. DeVere purchased the building in 1999 and finished updating it in late 2000. “It was a complete renovation of the building,” he says. “We kept the shell in place, but the interior is all new. It’s been very successful. It’s 100 percent leased right now.”

DeVere’s second project at 15-19 E. Gay St. is also about 30,000 square feet. Originally built around the turn of the century, renovation of the mixed-use build-ing was completed in 2005. It now offers street-level retail spaces, offices, loft resi-dential units and a roof terrace.

The third project, at 46 N. High St., sits adjacent to 15-19 E. Gay. Completed about three years ago, it includes two floors of office space above street-level retail.

As he’s developed those three projects, DeVere says he’s seen Gay Street take on a new identity. “There have been some great things that have happened,” he says, “with some great retail, restaurants, some building renovations and, of course, the street itself was reconstructed last year, which was the icing on the cake.”

New East Gay eateries include Café Brioso, Due Amici and the Tip Top. There’s even a new hotel. Early in 2008, Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company finished its conversion of the 16-story Buckeye Building, once the headquarters of Buckeye Federal Savings and Loan, into a Residence Inn by Marriott—the first new short-term lodging facility to open Downtown in years.

Why all this activity on Gay, as opposed to some other Downtown street? DeVere says Gay Street is different from others in the city’s core in an important way: “It still has buildings on both sides of the street. It sounds silly, but the reality is that it has buildings on it, and that’s what attracts people to the area.”

Many other city blocks Downtown have small clusters of buildings separated by vast parking lots. DeVere says that makes the streets less pedestrian-friendly and prevents assembling the critical mass of businesses needed for an area to become vibrant. “It’s the loss of the buildings on most of the blocks that have hurt our city core,” he says.

Other factors also can affect the viability of a street. For example, DeVere notes that the sidewalks along Gay Street are wide enough to allow restaurants such as Café Brioso, Due Amici and Tip Top to offer outside seating. “The width of the sidewalks is important because it allows those busi-nesses to spill outside,” he says. “Everyone likes to see that.”

Café Brioso, at the corner of East Gay and North High streets, opened seven years ago, making it one of the old-timers on the street. Todd Ramming, one of the owners, says he’s happy with the changes that have taken place, including the recent decision to make Gay Street two-way. “People do like it. I like it myself,” he says. “The street looks better.”

Ramming says business has increased steadily since Café Brioso opened its doors, serving both the morning coffee and lunchtime crowds. He says he was happy to see the Residence Inn open next door, and the many new businesses that have opened on the street over the last few years. “I’m very pleased,” he says. “We’d like to see more retail, but we’re not opposed to anything opening up.”

Two-way Success

On the surface, the direction of traffic wouldn’t seem to make much difference to the economic vibrancy of a street. But Boyce Safford III, director of development for the city of Columbus, says the characteristics of a one-way street are fundamentally different from those of a two-way thoroughfare.

One-way streets are designed to get people moving as quickly and efficiently as possible, Safford says: “People get on them, travel down the street and get out of Downtown. They aren’t conducive to stopping or shopping.

“The Gay Street conversion was always in the discussions early in how we can change Downtown,” Safford says. In those early discussions, however, support for the traffic change was not universal. “A lot of tenants were concerned about it,” DeVere says. “They didn’t see how it would work. A lot of people were also concerned that we would lose a lot of on-street parking.”

Safford says the city worked to address these concerns. “They were like, ‘OK, how is this thing going to impact our business and how will we survive?’ [We] went out there and met with large groups and the merchants and let them know what was coming down the pike and gave them a clear timeline,” he says. “And it happened with fairly minimal hiccups and challenges.”

Columbus City Engineer Randall Bow-man says the city’s support for the change was based on the idea that a more pedestrian-friendly street could infuse the area with greater vibrancy. “One-way streets have been a one-way interest—they’ve been primarily for motorists,” Bowman says. “Columbus is stepping up its commitment to provide better streets for all types of users.”

In addition to converting the street to two-way traffic, the city has installed medians, which tend to have a calming influence. “You squeeze down the amount of asphalt, which slows drivers down,” Bowman says. “The medians also serve as a refuge for pedestrians as they are crossing the road.”

Gay Street is not the first street the city has converted to two-way traffic, nor will it be the last. West State Street between South High and South Front streets was changed to two-way in 2006. As part of the redevelopment of the Scioto riverfront Downtown, Civic Center Drive is being converted to two-way traffic. Front Street also is being targeted for two-way conver-sion south of Broad Street. That work is expected to be completed in 2009.

Bowman says there is potential to convert other Downtown streets, although some decisions will depend on the future plans of the Ohio Department of Trans-portation. Some major arteries, such as Third and Fourth streets and Spring and Long streets, are off the board. “Those provide significant connectivity, and it’s very unlikely that we’re going to be able to convert them to two-way traffic,” Bowman says.

Safford says Gay Street was selected for conversion because of its potential for revitalization and development. “You had a concentration of commercial space,” he says. “You had something to build upon. You didn’t have a blank slate. If you go down there, most of the storefronts are full. It seems to be working. It’s become an exciting street.”

When asked whether the revitalization of Gay Street happened naturally or as part of a planned effort, Safford says it was both: “It happened organically and it happened with incentives from the city.”

Downtown Living

One of the biggest projects planned for Downtown is the yet-to-be-named resi-dential development by the Edwards Companies at the corner of North Fourth and East Gay streets. The project will include nine city blocks (stretching north to Long Street and east to Sixth Street), seven small parks and close to 300 units.

Developer Jeff Edwards, president of the Edwards Companies, says he started assembling land for the project about four years ago. “I was interested in a large, open area,” he says. “We were going to need parking lots for the project that we were going to build, but we also had to argue that it wasn’t a fringe site.”

Edwards says the project will include a range of housing options. Half of the homes will sell for less than $180,000. Three of four units priced at $149,900—inexpensive by Downtown standards—are already sold.

There’s been quite a bit of residential development in downtown Columbus over the last 10 years, but the number of units makes the Edwards project unique. “The real key is that we’re building a neigh-borhood,” Edwards says. “We’re putting together something different from what anyone has put Downtown yet.”

Edwards says he didn’t know that the city was going to change Gay Street from one-way to two-way when he began assembling land, but he’s glad it happened. “I think it’s such a different experience now,” he says. “Frankly, even I was shocked that it changed the nature as much as it did.”

Edwards is optimistic about the devel-opment, but new housing stock on Gay Street is not a guaranteed success, espec-ially in a down market for residential real estate. The Carlyles Watch development at 100 E. Gay St. was forced to sell many units at auction last fall when sales stalled. Many ended up going for far below the original asking prices of $200,000 to $450,000.

Other Downtown condo stock also has moved slowly, which has prompted some developers to slash prices or lease the units instead of selling. Mathes says an influx of renters has actually helped his restaurant business some. “We’re seeing a lot of younger professionals who might not have been willing to take the risk to buy coming in, which are ideal customers,” he says.

Mathes says Due Amici’s lunch cus-tomers remain primarily a business crowd, but in the evening the restaurant serves more residents, hotel visitors and theater patrons. Now, he says, he’s even seeing people come to Gay Street just for the urban scene: “For the first time, the block has become a destination because there are more things to do on the street.”

Between Due Amici’s first and second years, Mathes says, business went up 20 percent. Between year two and year three, it increased 10 percent, and between years three and four, it increased 20 percent again. He attributes the slower rate of growth between the second and third years to road construction that interfered with business.

While he’s happy with the success his restaurant and the rest of Gay Street have enjoyed, Mathes says he hopes the city and the business community don’t consider the work finished. “I think we’re still a few shops away from where we need to be,” he says. “And I think it’s important for the city to realize that and continue to create incentives for small retailers to do business.”

Lawrence Houck is a freelance writer.