By TERRI PEDERSON

Staff Reporter

COLUMBUS — The city might have benefited a lot more than they thought from the movie "Public Enemies" coming to town.

Mayor Nancy Osterhaus told the Columbus City Council on Tuesday night she estimated that in total Columbus benefited by at least a quarter of a million dollars from last week's filming of "Public Enemies."

"There was probably about $250,000 spent in the city through what Universal spent and tourism," Osterhaus said. "I think I'm being conservative with that number."

Osterhaus was correct that she was conservative in that number. She learned from "Public Enemies" location scout Adam Boor that the number was actually a lot higher.

"I spent at least $200,000 in rentals in town," Boor said.

With the new numbers, Osterhaus said she believes the city probably benefited by $400,000

There were individual contracts with the building owners and business owners for the buildings that were used during filming. In addition the studio paid for city public works and police who helped with the filming. There was also an ambulance that was paid for by Universal Studios while crews were putting up sets and doing filming. The crews and tourists also kept local restaurants busy.

"I was told that corporate contacted Kwik Trip and told them, 'Way to go,'" Osterhaus said.

Antique stores and Caldwell Lumber also benefited and were used when the sets were designed.

Redbud Bakery, which was in the middle of the set, was under contract with the studio for the three days of filming to feed the cast and crew.

"The fact that this was dropped in the community will have a ripple effect," Osterhaus said. "It made some extra money for a lot of people in the community. Those people may use some of that extra money to invest money or get their photos taken."

Osterhaus said the cast and crew of "Public Enemies" will return in late April or early May.

"They will be filming at the Poser house," Osterhaus said. "The said they said there will be minimum streets closed."

Mary Poser's home on Charles Street was already used by crews on Thursday to film some scenes for the film.

The 100 block of East James Street will also be used and will be used during the filming in April or May. Osterhaus said there were some scenes that could not be done last week because they needed to be shot during warmer weather.

tpederson@capitalnewspapers.com