South campus is gone. Really really gone. Like “big-hole-full-of-rubble” kind of gone. Its so strange to see so many buildings I saw everyday when I lived on campus just gone. I guess it’s been gone for a few weeks now, but it didn’t really strike me until tonight when I was driving down Chittenden and realized I could see all the way down High street to 9th where previously there had been blocks of closed down bars and stores. Score one for Campus Partners. I don’t really know how I feel about that. I certainly don’t miss the old bars and buildings. They were ugly and run down, even before Campus Partners bought them out and shut them down. Still, they were the ugly and run down buildings that made up the OSU campus that I knew. I’m not really too thrilled with the idea of them being replaced by a Barnes & Noble and 17 more Starbucks. What I’d like to see is a bunch of cool, unique, distinctive local businesses, but I’ve got a feeling that the kind of money being spent on the renovation will make the cost of renting too prohibitive. Whatever. As long as there’s an Abercrombie & Fitch. Or two.