Rendering via Columbus Downtown Development Corporation

A plan to create a public passageway through COSI, complete with retail shops and restaurants, is in line to receive $5 million from the state capital budget.

That would likely only cover a fraction of the total cost of the project, which is being dubbed the “COSI Connection Corridor.” The Columbus Downtown Development Corporation (CDDC) applied for the state capital dollars, and appears to be the entity spearheading the project.

Language in the application laid out the case for the project, arguing that the current COSI building would act as an impediment for pedestrians moving between the recently-transformed riverfront and the enormous mixed use-development planned for 21 acres of land to the west:

The COSI building is 900 feet long and 60 feet high and serves as a barrier between the redeveloped, energized downtown riverfront and the Scioto Peninsula land poised to be the next great mixed-use neighborhood. Rather than serving as an obstacle, the COSI building has the potential to serve as a gateway.

A rendering shows a glass roof over COSI’s central atrium, and a new glass addition to the building’s east side covering what is currently an outdoor plaza.

“Within COSI, this connection will carve out 30,000 square feet of space for restaurants, retail shops, attractions and other public spaces,” the application states.

Other Central Ohio projects in the new capital budget include: