The City of Dublin offered dozens of residents their first look at the city's plan to redevelop an aging office park into a sprawling mixed-use district at a Sept. 2 open house meeting.
The office park, Metro Center, sits south of U.S. 33 and east of Interstate 270. The city wants to redevelop Metro Center to add parks, public spaces and residential, commercial and retail spaces to the cluster of office buildings, which were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Dublin City Council first adopted the Metro Center Revitalization Plan and Design Framework in December 2024.
Metro Center, at around 210 acres, would be one of the largest development projects in the city's history by land area. One of Dublin's most popular developments, Bridge Park, sits on only
30 acres.
Attendees of the Sept. 2 open house examined a 3D model of the city's vision for Metro Center, chatted with city officials and perused the first draft of the city's design and zoning standards for the development.
Jeff Gregg, a commercial real estate broker with Dune Investment Group, which owns a building in Metro Center, said at the meeting that he wanted the development to happen because it could help fill up space in his building and drive up property values.
"It's absolutely a good thing for the area. In my opinion, there's no downside to it. The issue is getting everybody to agree when you have so many different property owners that have different agendas," Gregg said.
Photos and renderings shared at the event showed angular modern buildings nestled among parks, pavilions, water features and walkways. The city divided the development into five different character areas, each with their own amenities and designs.
Dublin's Planning and Zoning Commission will review Metro Center's design and zoning standards later this year, with the goal of introducing the standards for City Council to review before 2026 is over, said Jennifer Rauch, Dublin's director of community planning and development. The city could then start planning infrastructure improvements and working with property owners and developers to bring Metro Center to fruition.
The Metro Center plan is a long-term vision that looks 10-20 years into the future, but the city wants the development to happen much sooner, Rauch said.
Reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dublin hosts first public meeting on mixed-use Metro Center redevelopment
