12th Street building gets makeover, new tenants

Columbus builder and businessman John Teeples says sometimes old structures talk to you.

Take the downtown Columbus brick three-story building on 12th Street directly across from the federal courthouse.

“It is saying, ‘Make me beautiful again,’” Teeples said on Monday. And that is exactly what Teeples and his partners, Reggie Luther and Jimmy Brooks, are trying to do.

They have peeled away decades of adaptive construction and have the 18,000-square foot structure down to its wood flooring, brick outer walls and three large sky lights on the top floor.

The third floor, which has a view of the top of the federal building and its ornate construction, has been rented to a Columbus law firm that has signed a longterm lease. Waldrep, Mullin and Callahan have committed to the nearly 6,000 square feet, and the firm’s nine attorneys plan to move in late this year, said partner Neal Callahan.

“I wish the walls could talk more,” Teeples said. “What it says is there was a lot of beauty covered up by years of crazy construction. The brickwork, the timbers, the masonary is unreal, top to bottom. There are wood floors everywhere. They are not perfect because they have 90 years of wear, but the old heart pine has great character.”

All of that, plus location, is what attracted the law firm, Callahan said.

“The view is beautiful, the space is historic and John has done the work to renovate it into a premier office space for lawyers in Columbus,” Callahan said.

And the location, just across from the federal courthouse and a two-block walk to the Columbus Government Center and a five-block walk to the Russell County Judicial Center, does not hurt.

“As trial lawyers, we need to be downtown near the courthouses,” Callahan said. “And that office space is drying up. ... To be directly across from the federal courthouse and have the ability to design what we need made a lot of sense for us.”

In addition to the law firm, there will be additional office space on the first and second floors, Teeples said. There will also be two apartments on the second floor. The group is attempting to lure a restaurant into the remaining first floor space. There are four restaurants currently in that block: 12th Street Deli, Black Cow, Planet Pops and Pickled + Pecked.

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 2:47 PM with the headline "12th Street building gets makeover, new tenants."