New tower by North Market back in plans
Work is expected to begin next summer on a hotel, office, residential and parking complex on the parking lot next to the North Market as part of an ambitious proposal announced Thursday by the city of Columbus.
The estimated $192 million project is the culmination of a nearly three-year effort to develop the site, which is owned by the city.
The plan revives and expands a plan announced in April 2017 for a 35-story residential tower on the site to be developed by Schiff Capital Group and the Wood Companies. Though it shrinks the tower to a projected 26 stories, a hotel is added.
“It’s got a little bit of everything,” said Steve Schoeny, city development director. “It checks all the boxes we had initially and a bit more.”
Under the proposal, the city would transfer the parking lot to the development team of Wood, Schiff and Rockbridge Capital, a Columbus firm that has national experience developing hotels and which will serve as the lead developer on the project.
“As we went through the process, we realized a hotel would be an important addition to the development,” said Michael Schiff, principal of Schiff Capital. “That’s when we got really serious with Rockbridge and determined they were the best partner.”
In exchange for the land, the developers will commit $300,000 a year to the North Market to compensate for lost parking revenue. The estimated $500,000 that would be collected each year in hotel bed-tax revenue would help offset — or eliminate — taxpayer subsidy of the market, Schoeny said.
“This deal is about the market,” said Rick Harrison Wolfe, executive director of the North Market. “With this project we’re guaranteeing preservation and perpetuity.”
Preliminary renderings by the architecture firm NBBJ, which has offices in Columbus and around the world, show a single, 600,000-square-foot building with multiple levels and sections on the 2-acre site. Now called the North Market Mixed-use Project, the complex would include:
• An 11,000-square-foot expansion of the North Market to include 3,900 square feet (seven or eight kiosks) of new merchant space, 4,400 square feet of event space and a 3,300-square-foot outdoor plaza.
• A 26-story residential tower to include 150 apartments, 15% to 20% of which will be rent-restricted for modest-income residents.
• 90,000 square feet of offices on three floors.
• A 200-room boutique hotel with a ballroom and wellness center.
• Bars and restaurants including a rooftop terrace and new North Market merchants.
• A 352-space, four-story parking garage.
The existing North Market, which traces its roots to 1876, would be connected to the new parking garage and the new market space but otherwise would not change. Officials stressed that the market will remain open throughout the construction.
“The intent of this entire project is to enhance the future of the North Market,” Schiff said.
The hotel would be operated by one of Rockbridge’s partners and be unaffiliated with a brand, said Jim Merkel, CEO of Rockbridge, which has been involved in developing, owning or managing about 250 hotels nationwide.
“We have invested heavily around the country in developing urban destination hotels that are independent, design-driven and really try to create a special, tailored experienced for that community,” Merkel said. “We’ve done it in Nashville, Savannah, Dallas, Hawaii, Maine, and see great opportunity here.”
Schoeny and Schiff said the complexity of the project accounted for its delay.
“This is a really important site and it holds a special place in the heart of the city, both geographically and emotionally,” Schoeny said. “They wanted to make sure they got it right and took some time to understand the area and understand the market as an institution.”
The project is the second high-rise planned for the neighborhood. The county expects to break ground in August on a 28-story Hilton Columbus hotel next to the Greater Columbus Convention Center on the east side of High Street. The two towers would be the tallest buildings erected in Columbus since the 33-story William Green building in 1990 and the 26-floor Miranova condominium building in 2001.
The North Market project is scheduled to come before the Columbus City Council on June 22.
Developers hope to break ground on the project next summer and complete it by the end of 2022.