A closer look at game-changing new metro park

By Jeni Ruisch

Have you heard the news? Columbus is getting a badass new metro park! The old limestone quarry along the Scioto River will be reimagined into The Quarry Trail, or QT. It will be bounded by Dublin Road to the north and west, the Scioto River to the east and Trabue Road to the south.

(614) just had to take a peek…

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Breaking the mold of every Columbus metro park to precede it, The QT would be a primitive playground for kayaking and other water recreation, camping, backpacking, sheer cliff face climbing, and many more wilderness activities. And all this close enough to home that you can have a full day communing with nature, and be back in time for dinner.

Wagenbrenner Development is working with Columbus Metro Parks to acquire and develop this former mine, and transform it into a mixed use property focused on a wild experience close to home.

A cliff face looks out over pristine water. It’s spring-fed; there are swans, egrets and turtles dotting the water’s edge and the rocks that descend into the azure mirror. A primitive campsite with a stone firepit sits overlooking the lake. I could imagine a whole weekend here, a little time outta Dodge. Thoughts of s’mores and swimming and campfire songs dance in my head.

With the property being over 650 acres, the developers saw an opportunity to incorporate commercial and residential components to the QT though Tim Moloney, executive director of Columbus Metroparks, doesn’t see the private developments affecting public access to the park.

The timeline of completion is a bit vague. Here’s what Moody did tell us:

“Hopefully we will close on the property by the end of the year and then begin the design phase. Once design is finished, I would expect our construction timeline to take several years to have the park fully opened to the public. We are looking at options of getting a select area of the park opened much earlier than that.”

Visit (614) for more information.

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