Thin Ice: The rise and fall of the 9,000 square-foot ice skating rink that bedazzled Downtown in the 80s
In the end, it was a promise that was too good to last.
Downtown Columbus, long derided for decrepit buildings and a plethora of parking lots, would be revived by a skating rink. But not just any skating rink. This would be our city’s own Rockefeller Plaza, with a sunken, nine-thousand-square-foot rink for both ice- and roller-skating, intriguing architecture, pedestrian walkways, a restaurant and a huge, cascading fountain.
The venture was the brainchild of the Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation, a non-profit organization tasked with constructing office buildings, restaurants, residential buildings, a performing arts center and even a huge shopping mall in the three blocks immediately south of the Statehouse. A multi-million-dollar federal grant paved the way for what would be called the Centrum.
In December 1979, Capitol South declared its first project open for business, at Town and South High—across from, and one block south of, Lazarus. And local residents quickly fell in love with it. Thousands showed up for opening night festivities. And the crowds kept coming.
Josie Merkle, of German Village, recalled going there with her entire family. “Ned was a great skater; and all the kids just loved it,” she said. “There was always a good-sized crowd, too. You felt like you were in a cosmopolitan city, going downtown to skate. It was wonderful.”
In the warmer months, roller skating was sometimes paused for cultural events like classical music concerts, ethnic festivals and fashion shows. The venue’s downtown location made it an excellent draw for all manner of entertainment, including weekly live bands. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to be associated with Columbus’ newest attraction. But within just three years, the Centrum began to lose its luster.
The rink had lost money every month it had been open. Rising maintenance and utility costs forced the city to remove the popular fountain and replace it with dirt and gravel. And when Capitol South finally found a developer to build City Center, just a few feet away, the Centrum was fenced off and used for construction storage. Plans called for it to re-open in three years, about the time the new mall, designed to wrap around the rink, was to hold its own grand opening.
But in the interim, the shopping center’s developer had signed a lease for the Centrum property, hoping to use the site for an additional anchor store or, perhaps, several additional, smaller shops. Those plans never materialized, however; and when City Center opened in August 1989, the site of the old Centrum became, in essence, the mall’s front lawn.
Looking back, many locals of a “certain age” recall the Centrum fondly as a “feel good” place for family entertainment—right in the middle of a downtrodden downtown area that was finally beginning to show some promise.
But what goes around comes around. The Centrum lasted only six years before falling prey to the giant shopping center. Short of its own 20th birthday, City Center also fell from grace. In October 2009, the giant building, years removed from retail relevance, met the wrecking ball and left behind memories of its own failed promise.
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