Complaints about Fort Benning Road ignore the real story.
The real story is the unprecedented, $150 million investment in schools, housing, transportation, retail and health care along the 2-mile strip in south Columbus.
The talk about Fort Benning Road is occasioned by the opening last week of the Follow Me Trail that crosses Fort Benning Road between Trask Drive and Vine Street. At a cost of $3.5 million, city officials say, the trail is among the final links with the Chattahoochee RiverWalk.
But what about the litter, the lack of local pride, the crime, say observers on social media, including the Ledger’s Facebook page. It is as if the Follow Me Trail is the only new, good thing on Fort Benning Road. But, in fact, it’s only the most recent.
Look north to south for the evidence, beginning at the intersection with Cusseta Road.
That’s where you encounter Avalon Apartments, a private complex of affordable housing, fenced and gated, that was built on the grounds of a horrific trailer park. Avalon has issues, but no one would dispute it’s a vast improvement.
Then there’s the just-opened Spencer High School. At a cost of $56 million, this is the “best in Columbus, the best in Georgia,” City Manager Isaiah Hugley told the Ledger-Enquirer’s Ben Wright.
Farther south, past Spencer, look to the west and the three housing communities funded by private investors and the city’s public housing authority. One is the modernization of the E.J. Knight apartments, 52 units of low-income housing, $4.8 million. Another is Arbor Pointe, 416 units of mixed-income housing, $55.5 million, that replaced Baker Village. And, third, is Patriot Pointe, 100 units of senior housing, $17.3 million.
Nearby, and set back on the east side of Fort Benning Road, is Valley Healthcare Systems, a nonprofit, 30,000-square-foot, multi-discipline medical, dental and mental health complex. Built in 2012 with $6.2 million in federal funds, Valley Healthcare treats about 11,000 patients a year.
Just below is Benning Road Plaza, the first retail strip center built here in decades.
At Calhoun Drive is the entrance to Esquiline Heights, the Civil War-era plantation of Raphael J. Moses, the Confederacy’s most-important Columbus figure, who is buried with family in a plot at the end of Keith Court.
Farther south, at the intersection with Victory Drive, is Heritage Corners. Many will recall the gnashing of teeth when Piggly Wiggly closed in 2017, pressured by the opening of the Walmart Supercenter nearby. It was the third retailer to vacate the shopping center since 2015. But within a few months, three new retailers — Super Nails, Simply 10 and Rainbow — divvied up the Piggly Wiggly space.
Across Victory Drive, even the long-moribund Main Gate Plaza is returning to life. Ace Furniture and Décor, a vast, Fort Benning-focused showroom that opened in 1990, just reworked the building’s façade and parking.
At the top and bottom of Fort Benning Road are roadwork projects — a roundabout at the top, and new paving, curbs and sidewalks at the bottom. And, all along this 2-mile stretch are Metra improvements — signage, benches and kiosks.
Sure, there are problems: The dozen or so vacant buildings and lots suggest there’s less economic activity than what’s really here. As do the dreary, decaying facades, the stacks of used tires, and the idle men hanging around store fronts.
But, those storefronts often mask interesting stores within. Try the Korean-spiced chicken wings at Mama Kim’s. The auto detailing at Cue’s. The best-in-class veterinary care at Benning Animal Hospital. Cooking ingredients from West Africa at Ermita’s Tropical African Market. Or the military surplus, current supplies and ribbons and medals at Columbus Armory and Military Store.
Fort Benning Road is at the edge of what city planners think of as best-practice development, or “what works.” So, what’s needed now to push Fort Benning Road past the edge and to sustainable success?
Elizabeth Barker, executive director of Historic Columbus Foundation, recently toured Fort Benning Road with me. Impressed by what she saw, Barker’s advice: the street needs someone to “own it,” like a friends group, a preservation society, or a trade association.
(A starting point might be a façade improvement program, which a report for the National Trust for Historic Preservation says increases sales, attracts new businesses and motivates others to do the same.)
South Columbus Concerned Citizens played this role when Owen Ditchfield was living. Many will recall Ditchfield’s comment to the Ledger’s Tony Adams as redevelopment of Fort Benning Road started to take hold in 2011:
“I think we’re finally starting to arrive,” Ditchfield said.
Many thought of Ditchfield this week as the bridge over the Follow Me Trail was named for him. A fine memorial for a man described as a “bridge builder.”
A finer memorial would be to further his work.
Greenman, a former president and publisher of the Ledger-Enquirer, is a volunteer commissioner for the Housing Authority of Columbus, Georgia.
This story was originally published December 23, 2018 12:00 AM.