Pizzuti Cos., Starwood Hotels Break Ground on 135-Key Le Meridien in Short North District

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Officials broke ground Aug. 22 on Le Meridien Columbus, The Joseph, a 135-key hotel in Columbus’ Short North Art District. Developed by Pizzuti Cos. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, the property will be owned by Pizzuti and operated by Wischermann Partners. Mayor Michael Coleman, Pizzuti Cos. chairman Ron Pizzuti led the delegation at the groundbreaking.

Scheduled to open in early 2015, the hotel (pictured in rendering at right) will be located at 620 North High St., one block north of the Columbus Convention Center and close to Short North’s art galleries, restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques and nightclubs as well as The Ohio State University campus. Le Meridien Columbus will feature a full-service restaurant, signature bar, two deluxe spa suites, a 24-hour fitness center, and 8,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

“As part of our overall Joseph development, which also includes a mix of office, retail, parking and art exhibition space, the new Le Meridien hotel will further establish the Short North as the place to be in Columbus,” said Joel S. Pizzuti, president of The Pizzuti Companies, in a statement.

Le Meridien Columbus is part of Pizzuti’s The Joseph mixed-use development complex, expected to open in 2014. It includes a six-story, cubist-inspired office building with 60,000 square feet of premium office and retail space and a 313-space parking garage. The Pizzuti Collection, which will house Ron Pizzuti’s collection of contemporary works, is scheduled to open on Sept. 7. In July, Pizzuti announced that the retailer Anthropologie will occupy 9,800 square feet on the first two floors of the office and retail building. Columbus Business First reported that the hotel’s second-floor ballroom will be named the Coleman Ballroom in appreciation of the support of the mayor and the city for the $60 million project.

Rendering: The Pizzuti Companies