The Hilton Columbus Downtown has officially opened its second tower, making the hotel the largest in Ohio with 1,000 guestrooms, more than 75,000 square feet of meeting and event space and four new food and beverage concepts.
A skybridge connects the hotel’s two towers, as well as the Greater Columbus Convention Center, which offers an additional 1.8 million square feet of meeting space available to visiting groups.
The hotel’s main lobby is now located in the new tower, with a large porte-cochère serving as the “front door” of the property. Circular in shape, the lobby provides pathways to the public spaces, restaurants and meeting rooms. The lobby emphasizes the property’s signature color palette of grey, beige, golden-bronze and persimmon, along with its key materials such as white oak, satin-aged bronze and marble. These colors and textures are carried on throughout the property.
Both towers of the hotel display an art collection of nearly $7 million. The new tower incorporates 199 pieces of original art by Central Ohio artists, with nearly half of the artists being new additions to the hotel’s collection. The reception area has a custom oxidized-metal canvas piece created by local artists Sharone Putter and Ran Berdichesky that incorporates the three major river systems in Columbus along with main thoroughfares, notable destinations and some hidden attributes for the viewer to discover.
Guestrooms
The new tower at Hilton Columbus Downtown has 463 guestrooms. A nod to the hotel’s local art collection, James Thurber’s famous “Thurber Dog with Flower” is also featured in each room, showcasing how dogs are “sound creatures in a crazy world.”
The guestroom expansion includes 40 suites ranging from junior to corner one-bedroom units, some with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking High Street’s bustling Short North neighborhood. Coming later this fall, the hotel will open two Skyline suites, designed to feel like a private residential penthouse, complete with a butler’s pantry and wraparound windows throughout.
An additional feature in the new tower is the option for up to three guest rooms to connect and combine into one “apartment-style” unit totaling up to 1,000 square feet, complete with a common foyer door for added privacy.
Meetings and Events
The hotel now has more than 75,000 square feet of meeting space, including three ballrooms ranging from 10,000 to 15,000 square feet and 40 meeting and breakout rooms, with the design including natural light and lounge areas.
Banquets at the hotel are overseen by Executive Chef Todd Goodwin and can be customized to a group’s personal preference and event experience. With its proximity to the Greater Columbus Convention Center, the hotel can now serve as a host for large-scale meetings or conventions that were not previously possible with the city’s provided lodging options, competing with cities such as Indianapolis, Nashville and New Orleans.
Food and Beverage
The expansion of Hilton Columbus Downtown introduces three new food and beverage venues: FYR, Spark and Stories on High—all overseen by Sebastian La Rocca, executive chef of restaurants, Hilton Columbus Downtown. La Rocca has worked at Barbecoa London by Jamie Oliver and Zodiac UK by Michael Roux.
FYR, the property’s signature restaurant, has an American menu with Latin-influence; Spark, located on the lobby level, has a Midwest-driven menu with local beers; and Stories on High, located on the 28th floor, will be the tallest rooftop bar in Columbus, with two outdoor terraces with 360-degree views of the city.
Construction of the LEED Gold-certified tower was made possible by a joint venture of Smoot Construction and Turner Construction Company, a 50-year partnership that has built much of the Greater Columbus Convention Center complex over the past 30 years. Cooper Carry, the property’s prime architect in collaboration with Columbus-based Meyers + Associates Architecture, designed the floorplan for the new tower while Jeffrey Beers International led the design.