Columbus: Buckeye Building renovation into Marriott Residence Inn

[seanguy]

Here is an article from the Columbus Business First journal. Details happenings in the three blocks on Gay St.  Marriott has two new properties as well as the new Italian restaurant that will open lunch and dinnner opening right near Camron Mitchell's Steakhouse.  New apartments, also, opened on Gay St. earlier this year.  These apartments are without parking.  Something most developers in Columbus won't touch.  On a side note Gay St. is slated to be turned from one way to two way.

Duo banks on office crowd to feed restaurant startup

Due Amici Restaurant Ltd. has signed a lease with GoDowntown Ltd. to develop a restaurant at 67 E. Gay St. in downtown Columbus.  The restaurant, scheduled to open in December, will be named Due Amici.  The name means "two friends" in Italian.  The restaurant is expected to reflect the personalities and interests of co-owners Don Ziliak and Jeff Mathes.  Mathes and Ziliak are targeting the downtown office crowd for lunch and hope to capitalize on nearby development efforts in the area for dinner trade.  "With new businesses moving downtown, the construction of two Marriott hotels and an influx of young professionals, the Gay Street corridor is effectively primed for an inventive dining experience," Ziliak says.

Marriott International Inc. acquired the former Adam's Mark hotel on North Third Street this year and is converting it into a high-end Renaissance hotel.  The company also is turning the Buckeye Federal office building on East Gay Street into one of its Marriott Residence Inn extended-stay lodges.  The restaurant project is being financed by Fifth Third Bank, Community Capital Development Corp. and the Small Business Administration.

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2004/10/18/newscolumn3.html

[JohnOSU99]

WOO-HOO!!

Now if only they could get the Ohio Republican Headquarters to move off of Gay St. it would be a great place to visit.

[seanguy]

i thought the repulican headquarters were on town? i know the democratic one is on state

[JohnOSU99]

maybe they've moved.  I know the Republicans used to have some kind of office on Gay St. because you'd see the address on the ads they ran during the last gubenatorial (sp?) race.

[CMH_Downtown]

I can't for the life of me find the original topic concerning the conversion of the Buckeye Building to a Residence Inn, but here's an update. I thought the project might have been cancelled or put on hold, since there haven't been any outward signs of progress. I guess that'll be changing.

Downtown hotel update

Progress was difficult to see from the outside, so the owners of the Buckeye Building have put up a banner assuring passers-by of their intention to turn the historic Downtown structure into a Residence Inn.  Concord Hospitality has been working with owner Lubert-Adler for a year on the 78-year-old building at 36 E. Gay Street. The banner proclaims that the 126-suite hotel will be ready by spring.
   
Interior construction should start in a few weeks, Concord’s Deborah Adcock said.  "It’s moving, it’s just slower because of all the requirements for historical status.’’ Adcock said.  "With an old building, it takes time to get the behind-the-scenes work done.’’

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/

[buildingcincinnati]

^ I know which thread that you're talking about and I recall seeing it a few weeks ago.  I'll hunt for it too.

[mrnyc]

how funny -- i live right above a 'due amici' restaurant!

[buildingcincinnati]

I got the following info in an e-mail from Downtown Columbus:


The Columbus' Rebirth

When they say facelift, they're not just talking about a new coat of paint. The Columbus, a Renaissance Hotel, in the heart of Downtown is ready to undergo a $12 million room renovation beginning Sept. 19, and in addition to that, a lobby and restaurant renovation beginning in December to the tune of $2 million. Further into next year, meeting rooms and facade renovations will take place.

"The building was built in 1963. It was the place to be in the '60s and '70s, but it lost its luster," says Jim Heinen, general manager of The Columbus. He says it was time to update and redo The Columbus to showcase the progress of the city. "This has been in the works for 18 months," Heinen says.

"Each hotel is unique [in the Renaissance family] and representative of the city they're in," he says. "The Columbus is intended to have a museum-like quality when you walk through the lobby." Art and artifacts showcasing Columbus' corporate heritage will be on display.

The rooms, lobby and restaurant renovations are expected to be finished by Easter 2006. "Every room is going to be renovated," Heinen says. The hotel will add 29 suites to the three it has now. The current 415 rooms will drop to 407. "Each room is different. The work is very redefined for Columbus. There's nothing like it in the city," he says. Room rates will be approximately $189 to $229.

New York City firm McCluskey Design is working on the "new" hotel using products from around the world for its designs, materials, carpeting, linens and more. Crews will start at the top of the hotel and work their way down, concentrating on 125 rooms at a time so they disturb as few guests as possible.

"The restaurant will be completely renovated with wood floors, black tabletops, very eclectic," Heinen says.

The Columbus' rooftop swimming pool area will add three hospitality suites and elegant pool furniture, Heinen says, as well as a cabana club, where downtown residents will be offered memberships to swim there.

More at www.downtowncolumbus.com

[mrnyc]

The Columbus' rooftop swimming pool area will add three hospitality suites and elegant pool furniture, Heinen says, as well as a cabana club, where downtown residents will be offered memberships to swim there.

that is all the rage in hotels these days.

[CMH_Downtown]

Suite hotel finally gets off ground
Downtown Residence Inn construction starts after 18-month redesign delay
Business First of Columbus - June 23, 2006
by Brian R. Ball
Business First

A North Carolina hotel developer and operator has begun the long-delayed conversion of the old Buckeye Federal Savings and Loan building in Columbus into a Residence Inn by Marriott.  Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co. and development partner Lubert Adler Real Estate Funds of Philadelphia expect to open the 126-suite hotel at 36-42 E. Gay St. by mid- to late-summer 2007.

Debra Adcock, Concord's vice president of operations in Ohio, said Columbus-based Ruscilli Construction Co. started the $23 million project June 19 after climbing development costs forced a redesign of the project over the last 18 months.  The partnership earlier completed demolition and removed asbestos from the building.  "The tough part is over," Adcock said. "Now we're into the fun."

More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2006/06/23/newscolumn4.html

[rider]

Take it to the bank
Former Downtown savings and loan will be the new home of an extended-stay hotel 
Monday,  December 3, 2007 - 3:02 AM
By Mike Pramik, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It's taken nearly four years to turn a former Downtown financial institution into a hotel, but sometimes you can't bank on the pace of change.  But in early 2008, a Residence Inn finally will open for business inside the 16-story Buckeye Building, 36 E. Gay Street.  It will be the only extended-stay hotel Downtown and will continue the transformation of Gay Street.

The city this year has turned the road into a two-way street, installing medians and creating parallel parking on the north side of the street.  With an ambitious residential project part of the mix to the east, the city is viewing Gay Street as a key to the transformation of Downtown.  Restoring old buildings like the 80-year-old Buckeye Building, once the headquarters of Buckeye Federal Savings and Loan, continues the theme.

Full story at http://www.dispatch.com/wwwexportcontent/sites/dispatch/dec/ZONE_12-03-07_C12.html

Exterior shot of the Buckeye Building at 36 E. Gay Street  
- Buckeye Building is the gray stone building in the center of
the photo with the large columns.
- This view also shows a center median in Gay Street that
is part of a recent project that converted traffic flow from
one-way to two-way.  Some finish details and landscaping
still to be completed.

[ColDayMan]

It's really a great renovation!

[GCrites80s]

Interesting.

[J.Remy]

I can't believe the first time I ever heard about this project was back in November!  I am really happy to see this good reuse of a building.  I am just not happy with the name of the hotel, it needs to be something more grand. 

[GCrites80s]

I really like Columbus' old downtown banks.

[rider]

This is a sweet project.  I used to make deliveries to an architecture firm that had an office on the 16th floor of the Buckeye Building.  You would enter to the right of the main entrance under a "42" awning.  This entrance lead to the building's elevator lobby.

This elevator lobby looked into the former bank room that is pictured here.  Everyone would always comment about how spectacular the bank room was and how wonderful it would be "if only someone would be able to do something with it". 

Well, now someone has! !   

[rider]

Reported at columbusretrometro.com about a report in last Friday's Business First:

http://columbusretrometro.typepad.com/columbus_retrometro/2008/02/east-gay-street.html
Posted by Paul Bonneville on February 12, 2008

Marriott's Residence Inn on Gay St. Slated to Open in February

Marriott's 126 room Residence Inn on Gay St., in the former Buckeye Finance building, is slated to open February 20th according to another snippet in the print edition of Business First last Friday.  They still do not have a commercial tenant for their massive ground floor space.

[WalkerEvans]

These 126 rooms are going to add a lot of new foot traffic to Gay Street downtown, which will be awesome for the strip of businesses that have popped up there lately and should encourage more to be opening soon.

[ColDayMan]

Former Buckeye Federal building opens as Residence Inn

The former Buckeye Federal Savings & Loan building made its debut Monday as the Residence Inn by Marriott.

For more info, please click the link:
http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/02/25/daily2.html

[rider]

Really do like this renovation project...

Buckeye Fed building's preservation challenges fall outside cookie cutter
Business First of Columbus
Brian R. Ball, Business First
Friday, March 7, 2008

When the Residence Inn by Marriott hotel opened downtown in late February, it culminated a four-year, $24 million effort to transform the historic office building at 36-42 E. Gay St. into an extended-stay lodge.  The transformation of the former Buckeye Federal Savings & Loan Co. building came after an extensive gutting of the 11 stories set for 126 guest rooms and meticulous care not to damage the historic Classical Revival architectural details of the 40-foot-tall lobby and the building's exterior.


   


Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/03/10/focus1.html#1

[rider]

From http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/10/19/daily42.html

The Ohio Historical Society is honoring the Buckeye Building renovation with a Preservation Merit Award.   

• The former Buckeye Federal Savings & Loan building, which made its debut last year as a Residence Inn by Marriott hotel.  Lubert Adler Real Estate Funds of Philadelphia partnered with Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co., the property manager, in the $24 million renovation job done by Columbus-based Ruscilli Construction Co.