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Later this afternoon we’ll be hearing an official announcement from the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority (FCCFA) about the long-awaited new Convention Center hotel project that is finally moving forward.
The new project will be located just across High Street from the Convention Center, between Vine Street and Ohio Center Way (the access street that runs underneath the Convention Center). The new hotel will be home to approximately 500 new full-service hotel rooms and rumor has it that it may end up being a Hilton, Marriott or Sheraton development. This new hotel will compliment the existing 631 room Hyatt Regency and help to keep the Convention Center competitive for bids on larger events.
The development may also include a new 15,000 sqft ballroom, a 15,000 sqft meeting space, multiple full service restaurants and bars, and a new 300-space parking garage located underneath the hotel.
The projected cost of the new hotel is $160 million and the grand opening could come as early as December 2012. Franklin County will be backing the bonds to pay for the construction of the project.
Rumor also has it that Nationwide could be considering additional private development adjacent to the hotel on currently unused land, bringing an additional 300,000+ square feet of office and retail space to the area situated between High St, Front St, and Nationwide Blvd.
To put things into perspective, Columbus currently has 1,000 full service hotel rooms near the Convention Center. Cincinnati has 3,000, Cleveland has 2,700, Indianapolis has 4,900, and Pittsburgh has 3,400. Officials at Experience Columbus have noted in the past that the number one reason Columbus is overlooked for larger conventions is our lack of full service hotel accommodations.
And finally, It’s being reported that this new hotel will contribute an additional $35 million of direct and indirect spending in the Central Ohio economy. It will also add 550 jobs and generate $2.3 million per year in tax income.
This is great. I hope it has a really unique, or classical look to it!
Great news. Congratulations to the city. Get the W to manage.
Looking at it on the map in the Dispatch, this is gonna go where there’s kind of an overpass on High St. now. Is the idea to have the parking garage down below, raising the hotel to High St. level? I can’t imagine it any other way, but visualizing isn’t coming to me for some reason.
Either way, I think it’s cool. Boost business for restaurants in the AD, too.
Does Nationwide’s proposed project effectively kill this site as a potential train station? I don’t see why retail can’t be integrated into a station a la Union Station in DC! And wouldn’t it be great for visitors to simply hop off a train and walk to any number of hotels in the immediate area.
Jefe, you are correct. Here’s a Google Map to give a better idea of the site. There is currently a parking lot there between the building that houses the Char Bar, and “Ohio Center Way”, which is the underpass access street that runs parallel to the train tracks and goes underneath the Convention Center.
My assumption is that this road will provide access to the new parking garage under the hotel while the street-level access will be at the High Street grade.
View Larger Map
Pablo: I don’t necessarily think that it does. I’m just speculating, but 2012 is along the same timeline as getting the 3C up and running anyway, so perhaps the plan is to potentially incorporate in with these other projects.
Walker: Looking at the Google Map, it seems that train platforms could extend beneath the convension center drop-off east of High.
Back on topic: Great hotel location!
Perfect location for this!
Kinda what I figured. I think it’s the vertical spacing that has me vexed. I’m interested to see what they come up with!
BTW …. I love the ‘W’ idea. My favorite hotel in Chicago
this is def a one up for columbus
the map in the Dispatch has the hotel taking out the Char Bar building, anybody know anything about this?
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/03/05/convention_hotel.ART_ART_03-05-09_A1_LBD4GI9.html?sid=101
This should be a nice way to tie the Short North into downtown. As it stands now, that is a very unappealing walk between the North Market Area and Nationwide. I was also wondering if the fact that this stretch of High is on an incline will be a problem.
And has anyone checked out the google streetview? Maybe it’s just me, but I get a kick out of Ron Paul supporters… LINK
it’s about time. i was wandering whether or not they were moving forward with this. i’m just wandering how tall the building will be. i would think at least as tall as the hyatt across the street. i too had the original thought of a new hotel highrise connecting to a new train station. would be great if this could happen. nationwide with new offices. could they be consolidating??
btw, any news on the short north boutique hotel next to marcella’s?
Cbuster: I noticed that too, but haven’t heard anything on that. Hoping it’s not the case and just a mapping error on behalf of the Dispatch.
This is awesome and exciting! Any idea who the architect is?
RTKL I think thats what the image on the dispatch said. They ve done a project at OSU
Best news for downtown in quite some time!
this is exciting….PLEASE make this convention center somewhat inspiring to look at…that means I hope it looks nothing like Nationwide Arena!! How boring that place looks!! But, I’m not going to hold my breath on this “new” building downtown…this city drags its feet to long and things have a way of never happening.
RTKL doesn’t seem to be a bad architecture firm.
http://www.rtkl.com/
As for the site of the train station, I believe the proposed location is actually just south of Ohio Center Way. So basically across the street. I still think this is a bad location for a train station as it will be difficult for expansion, but that is getting off topic.