Feb. 22--The announcement that Columbus City Center will be torn down and replaced temporarily with a park caught almost everyone by surprise.

No public meetings were held before the Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Authority unveiled the plan Feb. 4, even though the group's board had voted on Dec. 19 to adopt it.

Capitol South, created by the city in 1974, and the 7-year-old Columbus Downtown Development Corp. oversee millions of dollars. The two nonprofit development corporations merged two years ago, and their combined 15-member board of directors has guided the makeover of Downtown.

Such groups are common across Ohio and the country. They help cities put together sensitive land deals while controlling costs and minimizing the risk to cities, their supporters say.

Capitol South, for example, helped bring City Center to life in 1989 and then bought the dying mall in 2007 from its private owners for $2.88 million.

"This is a public-private partnership," said Guy Worley, Capitol South's chief executive. "It was created to do things cities don't have the ability to do on their own."

Such groups can put together sensitive development deals, said Edward W. "Ned" Hill, interim dean of Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs.

"Quite often, people you're negotiating with don't want names on deals until they're done," fearing that competitors will pick up on what they're thinking, Hill said.

But others question why these groups shouldn't be subject to the same scrutiny as government agencies.

"There are major public issues that affect the public in terms of expenditures of government funds," said Columbus lawyer and public-records champion Fred Gittes.

David Marburger, a Cleveland lawyer and expert on open-meetings law, agrees. Any group given the authority to decide how to spend public money should be open to "as much transparency as if the government was doing it," Marburger said.

City Auditor Hugh J. Dorrian said he thinks there is sufficient transparency for the public with Capitol South, although not as much as if all its activities were public. He noted that the City Council has to approve any city money that groups such as Capitol South use.

"Every ordinance is open on the public floor," he said.

Also, Capitol South supplies his office with yearly audits that anyone can inspect.

The public can attend Capitol's South's bid openings. Board meetings are closed.