By Steve Wartenberg The Columbus Dispatch Sunday April 29, 2012 6:50 AM
The idea took hold as Joel Pizzuti traveled the country on business, often staying in boutique hotels, which are smaller and more expensive than the typical full-service hotel and are chock-full of atmosphere, art and amenities.
“All the top markets have them,” said the president of Pizzuti Cos., the Columbus-based real-estate development firm that built the Miranova complex and oversaw construction of the new Franklin County courthouse.
“Miami is littered with them, Nashville and Louisville have one, Des Moines has two,” Pizzuti said.
“Columbus needed a full-service boutique hotel that will be as dynamic as the ones you find in New York, San Francisco and Chicago.”
It’s on the way, he said, as part of a $59 million Pizzuti project in the Short North that includes an 11-story, 135-room boutique hotel — the Joseph — on the east side of N. High Street, just south of E. Russell Street.
Across N. High, the project includes a six-story, 55,000-square-foot office building, a 313-car parking garage and the Pizzuti Collection gallery, which will house the vast modern art collection of company founder Ron Pizzuti.
While there was some opposition to the modern design of the project, city and business groups are backing the project and it is quickly moving forward, with a likely opening sometime in 2014.
“We are very excited about this project,” said Diesha Condon, senior director of the Short North Business Association. “Ron has a world-class art collection, and this will bring in new visitors, and the parking garage, well, any time you add parking spaces here, that’s amazing.”
Marcella’s — a Cameron Mitchell restaurant — is just south of the project’s office building.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Mitchell said. “The Joseph will bring in leisure travelers and will add even more vibrancy to the Short North, which is already growing by leaps and bounds.”
The nuts and bolts of the project have taken time to come together, but on March 19, the Columbus City Council authorized the Department of Development to enter into an economic-development agreement with Pizzuti. The proposed deal includes a 10-year, 75 percent tax abatement for the office building, and inclusion of the parking garage in the area’s tax-increment financing district, a city program that returns a portion of a developer’s taxes to pay for the project.
The city also has an agreement to sell an existing surface parking lot to Pizzuti for $1; that will be the site for the Joseph. In return, Pizzuti will pay the city $125,000 a year for five years to offset the loss of 40 parking meters.
The city also could spend up to $1.9 million to renovate Millay Alley, creating a pedestrian-friendly gateway between the Joseph and Goodale Park.
All of these provisions must be voted upon by the City Council and “should be moving forward in the coming months,” said Bill Webster of the city’s development department. Once this occurs, Joel Pizzuti said, the project will take 18 to 22 months to complete.
The art gallery will be housed in a section of the current United Commercial Travelers building, a limestone-faced building that fronts Goodale Park. Part of the building will be demolished to make space for the parking garage.
After several back-and-forth sessions with Pizzuti, the Victorian Village Commission recently approved the developer’s revised plan by a 3-2 vote.
“There were a lot of issues related to the architecture and look of the new buildings and the demolition of part of the UCT building,” said commission member Marc Conte, who voted no.
Changes were made that brought the look of the building more in line with the surrounding architecture.
“I still don’t feel they’ve met the standards,” Conte said.
The design of the project shows a structure that is taller and has a somewhat more-modern look, with more glass and less brick, than traditional Short North buildings. But Conte thinks it’s an economic win.
“That’s never been an issue for me, and all of that is positive,” he said.
The Italian Village Commission approved the project by a 4-0 vote.
“There were a lot of components to discuss, the partial demolition, the size of the additions,” said Randy Black, the city’s historic preservation officer. “But after a complete review, it was determined things fit in pretty nicely.”
Developing the Joseph has become a passion for the Pizzutis.
“That was my grandfather’s name, and it means a lot to my father,” Joel Pizzuti said.
His grandfather’s name actually was Giuseppi, but everyone called him Joseph.
“He came to this country from Calabria (in southern Italy) and lived in Kent, Ohio — and my father was the first Pizzuti born in this country,” he said. “My grandfather was a laborer when he got here.”
The Joseph will offer spa services and have a restaurant on the ground floor, banquet and meeting space and will be filled with art.
Pizzuti would not say who will operate the restaurant, but restaurateur Mitchell said, “We’ve had some preliminary discussions, but nothing definitive.”
The average room price will be about $185 a night, Pizzuti said, which is more than hotels in the convention center area. The Joseph’s market is high-end business travelers, tourists and a small percentage of the people attending conventions.
“I think Columbus is ready for an upscale boutique hotel,” said Eric Belfrage, a hotel specialist with CB Richard Ellis in Columbus. “It won’t appeal to the masses, but they’re eclectic and small enough that they won’t have to sell blocks of hundreds of rooms like the (almost-completed and 522-room Hilton Columbus Downtown) will have to sell.”
The 44-room Lofts hotel on Nationwide Boulevard is considered a boutique hotel, but it does not have a restaurant and some of the other amenities that the Joseph will.
Despite a sluggish market for office space, there seems to be a market for the proposed office building, which will feature retail on the ground floor.
“There’s always a market for the best-located space, and the Short North is the best,” said Mike Simpson of NAI Ohio Equities. “The organic development of the area and relation to Downtown make it desirable.”
Kent Rigsby, owner of the popular Rigsby’s Kitchen in the Short North, said he also has spoken to Pizzuti about the Joseph’s restaurant.
“I think the hotel will be a real positive for the neighborhood,” Rigsby said. “And the art gallery-museum will be world class and impact this neighborhood in a big way, with people coming from all over to see it.”
