Former Columbus YMCA building gets first tenant after multimillion dollar renovation
A multimillion-dollar renovation to a historic building in downtown Columbus will have its first tenant move in this summer — and create a vacancy at a previously renovated historic building about a mile away.
The Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to move in early July from the 121-year-old former train depot, 1200 Sixth Ave., to the 119-year-old former YMCA building at 118 11th St.
Chamber president and CEO Jerald Mitchell confirmed the pending move in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. He mentioned several reasons for the decision.
The chamber’s lease with the depot’s owner, Columbus Depot LLC, was nearing its expiration, so the chamber’s leadership evaluated the situation and determined the time was right to seek a new location.
That assessment coincided with the W.C. Bradley Company Real Estate Division nearing completion of its stabilization and renovation project at the former YMCA.
“It’s more solidly in the business and the commercial district, or one of them, for our community,” Mitchell said. “We thought there were a lot of things that lined up and made this the right move for the chamber and the next 175 years.”
At the depot, the chamber occupies roughly 9,500 square feet. The space was needed when the chamber had 35-40 workers in the building. Now, the chamber has 14-15 employees, so the approximately 6,500 square feet it will occupy in the former YMCA will right-size its footprint, with room to grow the staff to about 20 employees, Mitchell said.
Mitchell declined to specify the cost of the chamber’s current and new leases, but it’s “not substantially increasing” from the depot to the former YMCA, he said.
In addition to the former YMCA’s location and space, the chamber is attracted to the significance of the building’s history matching the vision for the chamber’s future, Mitchell said.
“It was one of the first YMCA buildings in the country to be integrated,” he said. “For us, from a business standpoint, what we’re really trying to do is make our organization more appealing to more of the community as we work to grow jobs and investment in our community. We believe this has an extraordinary impact on what that next version of the chamber is going to look like.”
While the chamber is focusing on generating 6,000 new jobs in the Columbus area by 2026, it also aims to add 500 new members to its list of approximately 900, Mitchell said.
To exist for 175 years, he said, the chamber “had to continue to evolve, had to continue to change to suit the needs of the community. … And we’re going to continue to do that.”
Former YMCA’s future
The YMCA of Metropolitan Columbus moved its downtown location from the historic building to its current facility, the John P. Thayer YMCA, in 2010 at 24 14th. St.
About a year ago, the W.C. Bradley Company obtained the former YMCA from developer Jason Gamache, owner of automobile accessory and repair business PTAP.
W.C. Bradley Company Real Estate Division president Pace Halter declined to disclose the financial terms of the transaction, but he confirmed to the L-E it included a real estate swap that gave Gamache ownership of another downtown Columbus property, the Rialto Theater, 1235 Broadway.
Halter explained W.C. Bradley’s rationale for purchasing the former YMCA and spending “several million dollars” to stabilize and renovate it.
“It is one of the most significant historic buildings in Columbus,” he said via email, “and we were very excited to get control of the building and bring it back to life.”
The L-E didn’t reach Gamache for comment before publication.
While the chamber will occupy the entire second floor of the three-floor, 23,000-square-foot former YMCA, an undisclosed tenant will occupy the entire third floor, the first floor is available for lease, and the basement contains a common area, break room, restrooms, showers and conference room, Halter said.
Halter put this project in perspective.
“The building is the third-oldest YMCA in America and is centered in Uptown, walkable to restaurants and other lifestyle,” he said. “The building has been sitting empty as a shell for years, and it is exciting to be able to breathe life into the building and further develop the Uptown area.”
Depot’s future
The depot was constructed in 1901 and renovated by TSYS in 1988. After TSYS outgrew the space and moved its headquarters to the riverfront in 1999, the depot’s title was transferred to the Development Authority for the benefit of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, which sold the building to Columbus Depot LLC six years ago.
The L-E reported in 2016 that five of the 10 shareholders of Columbus law firm Pope McGlamry bought the depot from the chamber for $1 million: Neal Pope, Mike McGlamry, Jay Hirsch, Kirk Pope and Paul Kilpatrick Jr. They’ve been leasing the building back to the chamber since then, and the law firm has used approximately 13,000 square feet of the depot for its offices.
In June, the depot is scheduled to go on the market for a $1.9 million purchase or a mutually acceptable lease, Jack Hayes, managing member of Columbus-based real estate firm NAI G2 Commercial, told the L-E.
“Pope McGlamry plans to continue to utilize the property, and NAI G2 Commercial will work to find a new user for this unique and historically significant property located east of Uptown in the rapidly evolving Mid City district that includes many exciting urban lifestyle amenities and businesses, like loft-style apartments, breweries and an outdoor dog park,” Hayes said in his email to the L-E.
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 11:35 AM.
