The $125 million overhaul of the Greater Columbus Convention Center is running on time.
Completion is set for July 1 as planned, after 22 months of work that was done in phases to keep the center operational. But don’t expect any big parties or ribbon-cuttings until the end of summer because the center is booked through July and into August.
“It’s a good problem to have,” said Don Brown, executive director of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, which oversees the center. “We’re booked with three major events in July, and a couple in August.”
Among the events are two especially big annual gatherings: the AmeriHort horticulture group, which should draw 9,000 people starting July 11, and the Thirty-One Gifts convention, expecting 14,000 in late July. The National Association of Counties also is coming earlier in July, bringing 3,000 people.
An unveiling of the revamped center for media and invited guests is planned for late August, with a public open house scheduled for Sept. 2, coinciding with the monthly Short North Gallery Hop.
The project has added 67,000 square feet of new exhibit and meeting space, along with 30,000 square feet of atrium and entrance space at the north end of the convention center. A separate $18 million project last year added an 800-space parking garage, referred to as the Goodale Garage, which has now been connected by a walkway to the convention center.
There still will be some work going on outside the convention center’s doors by early September, such as improvements to the pickup/dropoff area off of North High Street, and the city will be working on streetscape changes that will be taking traffic on High Street down to one lane in the area until late September.
The late August date also will allow convention center officials to set up and test a unique interactive LED sculpture that will be a centerpiece of the convention center entrance on North High.
The piece by Matthew Mohr, a faculty member at Columbus College of Art & Design, won’t arrive until late July and is being kept secret until the grand opening. Officials hope the sculpture will be a signature attraction for the city, like Cloud Gate — or the Bean — is in Chicago.
Project gets boost
A major development on the site of the North Market’s parking lot is moving forward. The development team selected by the city this spring, the Wood Companies and Schiff Capital Group, has added Columbus-based Schooley Caldwell and NBBJ, an international firm with a Columbus office, to work with the team from the architecture and design side.
Wood Companies President Mark Wood called the two firms “a world-class team” that brings experience in working with commercial high-rise design.
Plans for the site include a 35-story residential tower and new atrium space connecting it to the historic North Market. Details are being completed with the city of Columbus, which owns the property. The development team hopes to be able to start construction within a year, and complete the project within two years after that.
Law firm updates
Illustrating a trend among law firms nationally to move to smaller, more flexible space, the Columbus office of law firm Roetzel & Andress is moving to new space on the other side of Capitol Square.
Though it is 40 percent smaller, the new offices in the Huntington Center on South High Street will feature more amenities such as desks that convert from sitting to standing height, more “collaborative” open spaces and “a special lounge with the aura of a communal coffee shop featuring soft seating,” according to a company news release.
Roetzel’s lease in the PNC Plaza building on Broad Street was up this month, and the company saw the opportunity to have its 35 employees move to new digs, freed up, in part, by law firms moving away from storing all documents on paper. The PNC building was bought last year by an affiliate of Edwards Cos., with plans to convert some of the office space there to residential units.
Ira Sharfin, CEO of Continental Office, said his company has worked with many professional services companies in the past few years on smaller, updated offices.
“If your work environment isn’t inspiring, it’s harder to attract people, especially young people,” Sharfin said. “Conference rooms are getting smaller and there are fewer private offices, but they’re adding more amenities. The disappearance of the need for storage space, moving to electronic files, also frees up a lot of space."