Group of Columbus attorneys purchase depot from Chamber of Commerce

The deal for a prominent Columbus law firm to purchase the historic downtown train depot from the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce is complete.

Five of the 10 shareholders of Pope McGlamry PC, through a limited liability corporation, purchased the building last month. The firm will move its offices from the riverfront Synovus Centre to the Sixth Avenue depot next week.

The deal allows for the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, which has been in the building since 2001, to remain there and lease space from Columbus Depot LLC.

“It is my obligation to pay the mortgage now,” Neal Pope, Pope McGlamry shareholder and president and CEO of Columbus Depot LLC, said on Friday.

Columbus Depot LLC paid $1 million for the depot, Pope said.

Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Brian Anderson had been looking at the possible sale of the depot since coming to Columbus last summer.

“The Chamber looks forward to being neighbors with the firm and continuing to see redevelopment from the railroad tracks to the river lending to the tremendous synergy in this community,” Anderson said in a statement released by the chamber.

The chamber will occupy about 10,000 square feet on the north end of the building, including the Saunders Boardroom. The 17-lawyer corporation with offices in Columbus and Atlanta will use about 13,000 square feet on the south end, Pope said.

Law firm shareholders Pope, Mike McGlamry, Jay F. Hirsch, Kirk Pope and Paul Kilpatrick Jr. make up the group that bought the building.

“All of us have Columbus ties,” Neal Pope said. “This is a Columbus group that bought it.”

Neal Pope said there were various reasons from financial to conflicts of interest that lead to some of the firm’s shareholders opting out of the purchase. One Pope McGlamry shareholder, Trip Tomlinson, did not participate in the deal because of a potential conflict of interest, Neal Pope said. Tomlinson is married to Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and the deport falls in an area designated as a Tax Allocation District.

“That way there's no taint, there's nothing,” Pope said earlier this year in a lengthy interview. “As a matter of fact, Trip's not going to be involved in this depot down here because it's in a development zone and it might reflect on the mayor.”

The 115-year-old building, constructed in 1901, features the Romanesque architectural style characterized by horizontal, heavy lines and round arches that frame the doors and windows. It was a passenger and freight train service until 1971. At that point, it was unoccupied and fell into disrepair and stayed that way until the mid-1980s.

The chamber’s purchase of the building was part of a deal to allow the construction of the TSYS downtown campus. Prior to the chamber moving into the depot, it had served as the corporate headquarters of TSYS since its 1987 renovation.

The building makes a statement, Neal Pope said.

“We will be bringing in people from all over the country and we want something that will make their eyes pop,” he said. “This will do that.”

This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Group of Columbus attorneys purchase depot from Chamber of Commerce."