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    Fast Forward: North Market & More

    New updates on the North Market development project last week meant that there was renewed buzz about the eventual replacement of the iconic market’s parking lot with a large-scale, multi-purpose building. And while the new development will have a sizable impact on the immediate area, it’s worth noting that it’s not the only change occurring on the northern end of Downtown.

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    Multiple buildings surrounding the North Market and Convention Center are currently under construction or in the planning phases, which will collectively add more hotel rooms, meeting space, retail, offices, parking and more.

    In this edition of our ongoing Fast Forward series, we take a look at how a larger area will change in the next several years through the results of multiple combined development projects.

    1,000 New Hotel Rooms Coming Soon

    Following a $125 million renovation and expansion in 2017, The Greater Columbus Convention Center is ready to welcome new events and expand existing conventions. To accomodate that growth, additional hotel rooms are required.

    A rendering of the new 28-story Hilton Hotel — Architecture by Cooper Carry.

    Most prominently, that will be addressed with a new 28-story Hilton Hotel building that will be connected to the Convention Center itself, containing 470 new rooms in addition to 66,000 square feet of new meeting and ballroom space.

    The North Market tower is slated to hold approximately 200 boutique-style rooms in some of the higher floors. Slated to open on August 4, the Canopy by Hilton on Nationwide Boulevard will add 167 more hotel rooms to the immediate vicinity this year. And on Park Street, a new eight-story AC Hotel by Marriott is under construction right now, with 163 rooms coming online during its completion.

    The AC Hotel by Marriott under construction on Park Street — Photo by Walker Evans.

    Growing Downtown by Another 300,000 Square Feet of Office Space

    Downtown Columbus is the largest job center in the region, and it will continue to grow in the coming years. Several of the new developments surrounding the North Market and Convention Center will contain multiple floors of Class A office space totaling over a quarter million square feet.

    The North Market tower is planned to hold 90,000 square feet of office space while the aforementioned AC Hotel will boast another 80,000 square feet of space in its second building.

    Conceptual view of the new Jeffrey Park office building — rendering by Pod Design.

    To the northeast, a new building has been proposed for the southern edge of the Jeffrey Park development in Italian village, and it is expected to add somewhere between 100,000 to 140,000 square feet of office space within a short walk of the Convention Center. That building is still in its conceptual phase and could grow even taller if more residential units are added.

    Over 1,200 Places to Park Your Car While You Walk Around

    Yes, car storage is still considered necessary near hotels and convention centers, even as we inch toward the age of MaaS (Mobility as a Service). To that end, new parking garages are commonplace in several of the new developments in this area.

    The North Market project is expected to hold 352 cars in its floors of parking garage, divided amongst office, hotel, resident and retail users. The AC Hotel will also contain a parking deck designed for 234 cars.

    An image of the new Convention Center garage — rendering provided by FCCFA.

    Meanwhile, even though the new Hilton tower won’t have a parking garage as part of the development, the Convention Center is already expanding its attached parking facilities with a new eight-story garage under construction on the east side of the building that will hold 650 cars at a time.

    Three New Rooftop Bars/Restaurants & Other Retail

    Columbus will soon be flush with rooftop bars. Several new buildings in the Short North and Downtown area boast these amenities, and the area around the North Market can expect the same. The North Market tower itself will feature both ground floor and rooftop dining and drinking experiences in addition to 11,000 square feet of new North Market retail space.

    Similarly, the new 28-story Hilton will feature ground-level dining and drinking in addition to a rooftop space for hotel guests and diners from the general public.

    And last but not least, the brand new Canopy by Hilton will feature rooftop and ground floor spots for drinking and dining when it opens next month.

    The Canopy by Hilton during construction in March 2019 — Photo by Walker Evans.

    Additionally, a former storage facility within a short walk to the Convention Center is planned for a multi-tenant restaurant renovation on Goodale Street, bringing yet another option for entertaining to the area.

    And More Yet to Come…

    (Updated on July 17th 4:45pm)

    While land surrounding the North Market and Convention Center has grown somewhat hard to come by, there are still a few prime development sites to be accounted for. A smaller surface lot on Goodale, adjacent to the 800-space parking garage completed in 2016, has been rumored as a potential hotel site with floors of that parking garage being built to accommodate easy attachment to a new building.

    Going further back to 2010, ideas generated from a public brainstorming session proposed a “Field House” project for the large surface parking lot to the east of the Convention Center. That land still serves as convention parking today, but will likely eventually be repurposed for a better use.

    And to the west of the North Market are multiple large, gravel parking lots that are ripe for redevelopment. In 2008, there were plans for a Giant Eagle grocery store on that site which never materialized. This week, details emerged on a new plan to fill one of those lots with a four-story office building, a 150-unit apartment building and a 600-space parking garage. Stay tuned for additional details as this latest news develops.

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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