A Thriving Collaboration

Columbus Metro Parks and Thrive Companies have teamed up to create Quarry Trails

By Sarah Robinson

If you live in central Ohio, you’ve probably driven past the old quarry located off of Trabue Road across from the Scioto Reserve Country Club. What you might not know is that the area encompasses hundreds of acres of developable land just ready and waiting to be used.

“For at least 80-plus years, this land we’re talking about has been discussed as a metropolitan park,” says Tim Moloney, executive director of Franklin County Metro Parks. “Leadership in central Ohio, even predating metro parks, talked about what a great resource this several hundred acres is.”

Thanks to a burgeoning partnership between Thrive Companies and Metro Parks, that land is being put to new use. Meet Quarry Trails Metro Park, the newest mixed-use development tying together a brand-new metro park with commercial development.

Mark Wagenbrenner, managing principal and president of Thrive Companies, with Tim Moloney on the grounds of Quarry Trails in its early development

“This has been a partnership since day one,” says Moloney. “Whether we’ve negotiated on the land map … all the way to financing. We didn’t buy this land off (Thrive Companies), and they didn’t buy this land off of us. We jointly negotiated with the landowner.”

“We always tout the metro parks as being an amenity,” adds Steve Bollinger, executive vice president of development for Thrive Companies and principal on the Quarry Trails project, “and (Moloney) seems to be touting the development being the amenity. So it just has this synergy between the two.”

The space is perfect to be the first development born out of the partnership. Not only will there be a beautiful natural aspect to the park, but residential living, restaurants and commerce, too.

“It looks like a little city in its own right,” says Bollinger. “What we’re doing is we’re really trying to time up when people are moving in with when people can start coming to the park. We’re looking to bring the parties together and allow people to experience everything at once.”

Phase one is set to be complete this fall, with parts of both the park and the

The metro park and the commercial development aspects of Quarry Trails will blend smoothly together.

commercial development opening to residents and visitors.

Phase one will roll out most aspects of the park including kayaking, canoeing and mountain biking. Phase two will excite thrill-seekers with the development of a rock-climbing wall on a 160-foot sheer limestone cliff face.

Most importantly, says Moloney, phase one will open up the trails for people to use.

“Really, the core mission of this park, like many of our parks, it’s right there in the name of it: Quarry Trails Park,” says Moloney. “It’s going to have some of the best trails for everybody to get out on and use on day one.”

One of the trails leads down to a breathtaking waterfall, while others might make you feel like you’re walking through years of history.

“There’s miles of unimproved trails along the side of the river, where you’re walking in the same footsteps as Tecumseh,” says Moloney. “Picture those, maybe cut into the side of a hill, and we’ll do some protections along that to keep erosion from happening: putting in switchbacks, monitoring them over time, maybe some natural steps, another transition.”

Set so close to the Tri-Village area, both Bollinger and Moloney say Quarry Trails will be a major amenity to the community.

“If you think about Grandview and Upper Arlington, it’s just a hop, skip and

May is national bike month, and there are tons of great places to bike in the Tri-Village area – in fact, in Upper Arlington alone, there are more than eight miles of bike trails available, with quite a few more shared use paths in the works in coming years.

“The city of Upper Arlington has a 2022 shared use path scheduled to be constructed on Lane Avenue,” says Jacolyn Thiel, assistant city manager for the city of Upper Arlington, “and eventually another shared use path would then be constructed along Riverside Drive South to Trabue to get residents over to Quarry Park.”

Thiel says she has noted a cultural shift in central Ohio. People are becoming more inclined toward using active transportation like biking or walking as opposed to driving.

“People having an active transportation option is important to not only fitness levels, but to commuters and daily trips to reduce the amount of vehicular traffic we have on our roadways,” she says.

A major part of phase two and future developments in Quarry Trails is the expansion of central Ohio’s greenway trails. Quarry Trails has a two-mile bike trail in the works along the river.

“We want to be able to connect that trail from Plain City and Hilliard all the way down to our site,” says Bollinger, “and then the city is currently working on that connection piece between Fifth Avenue and Quarry Trails, and so when you get that connection, that means that you can more or less ride a trail the entire way from Hilliard and Plain City all the way to downtown and beyond.” a jump across Riverside Drive and boom, you’re not only in the park, but then you’re going to get to take advantage of some of the private development opportunities, whether that be retail or restaurants,” says Moloney. “Think about going to have a dinner overlooking the park and then walking off all those calories around one of our Steve Bollinger beautiful trails.” “We’re trying to grow the city, but at the same time, doing it in a responsible manner,” adds Bollinger. “There are very few opportunities to do a development that can make a significant impact, but at the same time, bring an amenity to an area like Tri-Village.”

Both Bollinger and Moloney have been heavily involved in the development of Quarry Trails, and each is most excited about a different facet of what’s to come.

“What’s not exciting about this project?” Moloney says. “Any time we get the chance to open a new metro park, that is so exciting. But the unique nature of this –

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beyond the cliffs, the kayaking, the canoeing – it’s the partnership between the private world and the public world of metro parks. It’s also how this park has developed with input from our public and, as important if not most important, this park will be within five miles of 350,000 people. This, even though it’s a regional park, is so central in Franklin County. It’s going

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to serve hundreds of thousands of people, a short bike ride from their front door.”

Bollinger seconds the partnership being the life force of the development and expands on the uniqueness of Quarry Trails itself.

“What’s so unique about the development – throw away the setting and throw away the fact that it was an old quarry and then became an old landfill – there’s nothing else in central Ohio like it,” says Bollinger. “We’ve looked across the country and nobody’s really doing it to the extent that we’re doing it here. I don’t think that there’s a better development in the country.”

Sarah Robinson is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at srobinson@ cityscenemediagroup.com.

One unique aspect of Quarry Trails Metro Park is how it ties together both guest safety and nature conservation.

“Unlike any one of our other 19 parks throughout central Ohio, we’re going to require people to stay on the trails,” says Moloney. “We’re going to require people to stay in the areas that they’re supposed to stay in versus our other parks where we encourage free expedition trails because of how it’s built and designed.”

So come fall 2021, make sure you stick to the paths!

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