SSU President Jeff Bauer spoke to Scioto County Commissioners at Thursday’s meeting to detail an ambitious expansion plan. Bauer said the future of the university and Portsmouth’s downtown area are tied together. “We are committed to see that connection grow even stronger than it has in the past.”
Under the plan, the university would demolish three buildings on Chillicothe Street. Bauer said school officials planned to meet with the Land Bank Board to ask for funding for the demolition.
The project extends the campus into the southern part of Chillicothe Street and two blocks to the north of the current campus. “We aim to beautify those areas and create a gateway into the university.”
Campus Missing A Gateway
The gateway would be positioned on Third Street which has been closed at Waller for a number of years. The new plan would open it to local and university traffic.
Bauer said that he feels the university is missing a gateway that really lets people know that they’ve entered campus. “I’ve been there 35 years and it’s been missing all that time.”
He said it would also serve as a gateway from campus into the downtown area. “We do want to connect the campus. The Gay Street and Second Street connector has always been a barrier.”
He said he hoped the project would encourage spur growth in the downtown area. “We purchased the old Lewis Furniture building and are creating a facility.” He said the multi-million dollar renovations should be finished over the summer.
Portsmouth Master Plan
He said Portsmouth’s master development plan, Elevate Portsmouth, outlines an area on the edge of campus referred to as an Arts and Innovation District. “There are pieces of that in place right now. We have the Vern Riffe Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. That would form the Southeast corner of that district. We have the Kricker Innovation Hub at the Southwest corner. Then what we really intend to try to spur is growth in that 2-block and beyond to the north with would include the Esplanade and the Southern Ohio Museum.”
Plan to Slow Down Traffic
Bauer showed off plans for the project. He said he hoped to come up with creative ways to slow traffic down and direct through the downtown Portsmouth area. “From Gay Street over to Waller, our intention is to open this up. We would have a bike path here. As I said, ways to slow traffic down so this doesn’t become a main thoroughfare but rather a place for local traffic.”
Bauer said the intersection might be tricky but they planned to work through it. He said they planned to place an island in the street to help slow the flow of traffic as well as several crosswalks. He said the plan was not to slow traffic for the sake of slowing it down but to create safe pedestrian paths between residential areas, the campus, and downtown Portsmouth.
Too Far Gone To Fix
“We want to start by doing things that will beautify the area.” The plan is to demolish three buildings to create a park space near the former Lewis Furniture building. “We have 3500 faculty, staff, and students. Many are residential. In the past, they haven’t spent much time on campus on the weekends. We would like to create that structure that keeps them here.” He also felt the project would attract new students to the campus and encourage them to settle in Portsmouth after graduation.
Commissioner Scottie Powell said he liked the vision and thanked the university for being mindful of its connection to the community.
Commissioner Bryan Davis asked why the building couldn’t be renovated, but SSU officials said the buildings were too far gone and that the SSU Vice President had actually fallen through the floor at one of the buildings.
