July 13, 2023 • 36 mins
Located in a new neighborhood called The Peninsula downtown steps from COSI, the #1 science museum in the country, sits The Junto. Hear about how this new hotel is shaping Columbus’ future.
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Fun experience. Columbus's Live Forward Livepodcast introduces you to a new frontier of
undiscovered possibility. Columbus is a citywith an energy of its own. Joined
Boxer, Kelsey and their guests foran insider's look at a destination that invites
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visitors and locals alike to share andexplore. We'll go behind the scenes of
popular attractions, uncover best kept secretsfor things to see and do, and
meet people who embody what it meansto Live Forward. Welcome back to a
new season of our brand new seasonof Live Forward, Live and experienced Columbus
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podcast. I'm your host, Boxer. Unfortunately Kelsey could not be a part
of this one today. Kelsey's alittle bit under the weather. But our
brand new guests for this season ifsomeone I've been interested in talking to you,
but just because I get the chanceto talk with various business leaders throughout
another podcast that I do, andit gives me great pleasure to welcome CEO
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Jim merkel Now. Jim co foundedRockbridge also Make Ready not too long ago.
Jim, It's good to have youwith us. Thank you, boxer,
you have you have a really richhistory. First of all, one
of My favorite behind the scenes stories, although it's not behind the scenes about
you is you're from here Central Ohio. Right, that's correct, and you
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found yourself graduating from the University ofMichigan. You have to start with that.
I couldn't resist. Yeah, allright, Well, yeah, I
grew up in Bexley and wanted togo to a large school and ended up
I was a golfer and ended upgoing up there to play golf. Jimmy,
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what was the reaction like to yourwith your family when you told them,
well, I'm gonna go to Michiganstudy. Well, you know I
was. I was fortunate to havevery supportive parents and uh, you know,
they they cringed a little bit,but we're supportive, all right.
See. You know, Jimmy Merkelis with us from rock Bridge, also
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a founder of make Ready. Ifthere's anyone to talk to about how the
landscaping of Columbus has changed, you'dbe the guy. I'm convinced of it,
just because of your background. Forthose that don't know, maybe we
should start here. Tell us aboutthe company you founded, well well over
twenty years ago, twenty two,twenty three years ago. That's rock Bridge,
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Yes, yes, so I grewup here in Columbus. I was
away for four short years and thenmoved back and had the opportunity to intern
with a group that had started ahotel chain in the eighties. Pickett Sweet
Hotels was the name, and JimPickett and Ron Callentine started the company and
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they had they had started an investmentcompany to invest in hotels, and um
I got the opportunity to intern withthem and fortunate to join them right as
they were beginning, and that wasninety five ninety six, and thought I'd
move back and take this great opportunityand then you know, move on and
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and and leave Columbus. And hereI am, you know what, twenty
five twenty seven years actually later,and you know, haven't regretted a bit
and seeing Columbus change, and youknow, we're trying to do our small
part to help, you know,help improve the community, both uh philanthropically,
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but also now you know, throughour through our core our core business,
which is you know, building andredeveloping and creating hospitality brands, which
by the way I read and Idon't know if it's changed, but top
ten in the country when it comesto hotels and developing, Is that right,
that's right. Yeah, we've Yeah, we've we've done over four hundred
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and forty investments when you include ourpredecessor firm and as Rockbridge, we're just
under three hundred hotels around the country. And you know, we're unique in
this regard is that we're located here, but we've done the majority, if
not close to all, of ourbusiness outside of Columbus, and so we're
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we have this opportunity to bring thingsthat we've been doing in other cities back
to Columbus, and that's what we'retrying to do to bring the best back
to Columbus. Well, Jimmy,I'm so glad that you brought that up.
By the way, Jimmy Merkel iswith the CEO of Rockbridge and make
Ready, And that's one of thethings I want to bring up because you
have a lot of excitement even morenow because you were doing all this work
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across the country from and I'm sureyou'll add other cities to Nashville, Charleston,
what Dallas, Denver to name afew, and you finally get this
opportunity to develop and create hotels inyour backyard. Yes, yes, so
that uh, that has been uhexciting. You know, I travel a
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lot, obviously because our projects havebeen all over the country, but to
be able to do it here intown and um, you know, we're
we're just about to open here willbe open, you know in June,
beginning of June. And that isit Juneto? Is that the one,
the Juneto the Junto the Junto whichhas a cool story and we can get
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into that in a minute, butdefinitely, um, but it uh,
it's been uh, it's been reallyexciting to get connected into the community in
a different way. Yeah, youknow, than than we have been in
the past. Well, Jimmy,let me ask you about that, because
you see so much development going onfrom the Peninsula, the Franklinton area there
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too, you know, all overtown. My question is what took so
long? Is is it just ispart of it just the stars in the
moon and everything have to be aligned, the you know, the timing.
What what is it? Yeah,I think that's right. I think that
Uh. You know. I wasactually a history major, and so when
you study the history of Columbus andhow we are where we are today,
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there's a lot that has gone intoit and a lot of building blocks and
infrastructure that's been put in place.Really, the peninsula itself was forty years
in the making, and and sosaving saving Central High School and putting COSI
there, and and then buying allthe land around it, and then doing
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the siout a mile and engaging theriverfront. M just takes time and getting
all the infrastructure in place. Ithink you're going to see a lot of
development downtown over the coming years aswe you know, as we really build
on a you know, really spectacularfoundation from you know, the business leaders
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that came before. Jimmy, wetalked a little bit about you founding rock
Bridge and investing and developing hotels.Tell us a little bit more about make
Ready. What specifically does make Readyto do. Yeah, so make Ready
in twenty and sixteen started make Readyto operate our independent hotels. And what
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we saw in the marketplace is thisopportunity to it's a growth segment of hotels
where independent lifestyle and luxury hotels thatwere independent. And what that means is
that you don't have a franchise withit. And when you're independent, you
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can take the dollars that you spendon a franchise and invested in the community.
Invested in your customers and build anexperience that locals and the community can
can be really proud of. Andthis is happening all over the country,
and this is what travelers want,you know, they want, you know,
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they want to go places, theywant to feel like a local,
they want to experience, and we'llhave a team and an experience at the
junto that will enable them to reallyengage with um, you know, with
the community, and our team isgoing to be trained and uh and connected
into to give a different experience thanthe other hotels here in the community.
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Have you know that in other communitiesthe hotel is a hub locals go use,
use the hotel. We're not doinganything or shattering that it's not happening
in other places. We're just bringingsomething that works and what people want to
the community, and I think Ithink people are going to really like it.
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Sixty percent of our demand for anindependent hotel comes from locals, and
that's not typical for the product here. This will be a property that engages
the locals to come to our restaurantsand bars and coffee shops. And so
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we had to build a business tobe able to execute on that. Because
It's very different to operate an independenthotel than it is to operate a franchise.
And so that's what make Ready does. Make Ready they have the talent
and the team, and we're buildingthe infrastructure there to be able to execute
on these independent lifestyle and luxury hotelsand then do it and grow it.
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Yeah, Jimmy, obviously I wantto get more into specifically Columbus two and
with what you're doing here, inyour investments here, in your commitment to
our community. Jimmy merkel is witha CEO of Rockbridge and make Ready.
It wasn't too long ago, maybetwo three years ago. Jimmy, I
feel like I heard that we aren'tup to par as far as capacity occupancy
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with hotels. Are we getting closerso that we can attract more conventions for
example? So this is this isan interest dynamic in that, um,
you know, we have hotels thatneed to be reinvested in, and so
when those hotels get reinvested in,then you have capacity. The conventions want
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quality hotel experience for their conventioneers,and that's why the city and the county
built the Hilton. The Hilton isa brand new it's a beautiful hotel.
It's attached to the convention center,and these these types of hotels are really
important to you know, to buildin order to attract conventions. But you
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also need different segments. We don'thave luxury hotels, and so we have
to be able to accommodate at differentprice points and at different levels. And
so I think that when you areaspirational and build good properties and product,
then you're going to induce demand intothe market. I think that that's what
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the Hilton is going to do.I think that's what our hotels are,
other great hotels in town that arereinvesting in themselves and UM, and you're
going to see a transformation of thehospitality product here that is going to be
more attractive to guess. Yeah,Jimmy, tell us more about the June
too, and why Columbus, whyyou felt like it's finally time to plant
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the seeds here. Yeah. I'ma big believer that, uh, you
know, uh, you can't sellwhat you don't have. We just don't
have that product here in town,and we're delivering it. And we have
another prop you know, project comingon on its heels that UM will be
another version of this lifestyle and luxuryhotels and so um, we think the
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market's here. We just think it'suh, it's time. It's very entrepreneurial
at the same time. So it'sthis, it's this crossroads that makes makes
us a really special community. That'smost people that I'm here, they are
surprised by the experience. And soI think that Columbus is definitely it's best
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years from a hospitality standpoint and asa community are are ahead of it,
and I think people are gonna cometo expect a great experience when they come
to Columbus going forward. Jimmy,when it comes to I don't know what
kind of data you have or longterm for June to the Juneto, but
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is there a demographic or a personor people that you are zeroing in on
to come to the Juneto. Yeah, So the type of hotel, lifestyle
hotel, what does that mean?It really is creating an environment that makes
you feel welcomed and where they're You'recurious about the community. You want something
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more than just a place to putyour head um for the evening. You
want to engage, You want tohave opportunities to engage. So we have
really thoughtful spaces and living rooms andum, you can experience a courtyard with
a fireplace in the back. Youcan have a coffee and uh be at
a study table. You can goup on the roof and have uh,
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you know, a cocktail and umand and it's very convivial and and and
there's a lot of different ways toengage with the property. And so um,
you know that's that's the experience,and I think it will attract those
travelers that want something more. Theywant to they want to experience the community
and they want to engage with it. Um. And that's how the space
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is designed and and how it howit's worked for us and you know on
other properties. So um, it'llit'll be special. Jimmy, in your
twenty plus years of doing this,especially with rock Bridge and now make Ready
specifically Columbus, is there any thingthat you visualize that you were wrong about
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or that surprised you when it comesto development? Surprises me in terms of
development in Columbus. Yeah, so, um, we've made plenty of mistakes.
I mean that's the beauty of beingin an entrepreneur is that, Um,
you know, you you go anddo and you go and try and
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Um, you know, we're we'revery aspirational in that regard, and I
think in a lot of ways that'svery connected to the Columbus community. And
there is a very strong entrepreneurial underbellyto Columbus. And there's also a little
bit of we can do it too, an underdog type of mentality, and
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I think that's what connects us toColumbus in a in a big way,
that we can do great things herein our community too, and we've got
to show and lead and show andmake people believe. And so my experience
developing here has been very collaborative.And Um, we're a big believer in
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both and not either or. Andwe think that everybody can win here.
And we're in a growing market andlet's work together and make this community great
and let's have lots of people winalong the way. Um. But there's
that opportunity here which is really reallyexciting to us. I like that.
Jimmy. By the way, JimmyMerkel is with a CEO of Rockbridge and
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Make Ready. He's this week's gueston our first new season of Live Forward,
Live and Experienced Columbus podcast. Jimmy, you said you travel a lot.
So when you're when you're traveling someplaceelse and you're talking with people,
how do you describe Columbus to them? You know, the thing that makes
Columbus special is the people we oftenhave. UM. We've recruited people from
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out of town and UM, andthen they come here, and that's always
a threshold of getting them, uhto to move. It's less so today,
UM, you know, and butUM when they come, you know,
they really they really like it,UM because the people are engaging.
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You can come from anywhere and peopleare welcoming. And that's been the experience
that we've had, uh, bothas a operating our business here but also
recruiting people in for the juneto.UM. We've brought people in from Miami
of Florida, and our leaders fromDenver born and raised and Denver wife born
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and raised, and UM they turnedus down twice until UM I told Jason
to you know, bring his wifeand you know, after she experiences the
community, UM, and you say, no, that's that's okay. And
she came and and UM, youknow, we introduced her to lots of
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people and she just felt welcomed.And UM, I think people feel like
they can raise a family here andthey can live here and they, Um,
it's very accessible and engaging. Andso that's what I try to share
with people about Columbus. And I'mproud of that. I'm proud of that.
Jimmy, do you think that becauseyou grew up here, so are
the days and I feel like theyare are the days of calling this cowtown
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over? I haven't heard that termin so long, I hope, so,
I hope. So. Yeah,we had we had a designer that
came in on the June too,and they were doing their research and there's
an agricultural backdrop to Ohio for sure, and um, they were, you
know, they were doing this designthat had you know, uh cow pasture,
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uh design from the sky and wenixed that. We we that we
we don't we don't think of ourselvesthat way, um, and but we're
we're also proud of that, umyou know backdrop that that is a part
of the diversity of Columbus that makesit makes it great and we can be
so many different things here that um, you know, I think it's part
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of the welcoming nature you know ofColumbus. Do you have and I don't
know if you have any days off. Clearly you're a really busy guy,
but when you do or you justget the chance to just drive around.
You do you have a favorite neighborhoodthat you're just very fond of? Um,
you know, I do. Imean, I love coming downtown.
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I lived in German Village for alittle while, and so I just love
h I love German Village and umMy, my wife and I had our
first meal in Columbus together. Shewas from out of town at Lyndy's and
um, you know, it's alwaysa great experience. So I love,
I love being downtown and and uhin the different neighborhoods that you know make
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downtown great. Jimmy, what areyou most excited about the continuous changes that
are happening in Columbus. What excitesyou the most about now in the future.
Yeah, I think that there's alot of momentum around the downtown and
the city in general and the growthand the things we need to do to
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make this a great community for all. And um, one of the things
that's great about Columbus is the publicand private sectors work really well together and
and really try to make a difference. And sometimes it's slower than you know,
the entrepreneur would like. And butit's it's been very deliberate, and
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as I mentioned earlier about putting theinfrastructure in place is so important. And
I think now I think more andmore people are believing in the trajectory of
Columbus. And when you have nationalbusinesses like Intel, you know, building
their most sophisticated chips here in Columbus. One of the reasons they came here,
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one of the big reasons they camehere, is that they felt that
they could work with the private andpublic sectors and that they could attract the
talent to Columbus. And what makesColumbus a great distribution and industrial market is
also what makes it a great marketfor growth and talent is when you have
you can bring people in now fromMichigan and from Indiana and from you know,
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from Pennsylvania and and bring that talenthere. And I think that's exciting
for the backdrop of Columbus. Andour job is to make it sticky so
when the people come and they wantto stay here, that this is a
great community and they can build theirlife in Columbus. And we've had a
lot of people, as I mentionedearlier. We've had a lot of people
that have joined Rockbridge and then leftto start their own business and they've stayed
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here to start it and that's beenreally really exciting. Yeah. Yeah,
Jimmy, when it comes to something, and I'm not I'm not asking you
to be critical of Columbus, butone thing I'll hear that Columbus maybe needs
more of, or hopefully it canbe more advanced in the future, and
that's transportation and in all different forms. That's just an example. But is
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there anything that we probably do needto work on. There's just tons of
things that we always have to workon, but we have to believe that
it's possible. I think that oneof the challenges that that Columbus has always
had is it's been can we doit? Can it work here? Can
it? And I think that themore that people believe, the more the
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more investment that we make in thehospitality and the culture of Columbus that there's
a lot of there's a lot ofthings going on, but so I think
the culture and the investment in theinfrastructure and the backdrop of believing that it
can happen here, Yeah, iswhat's going to make things happen in the
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future. I like that Jimmy Merkelis with a CEO of Rockbridge. Also
make ready. Of course we're talkingabout the explosive growth in Columbus. Of
course hotels. For those that arelistening Jimmy and have never visited or plan
on visiting, any recommendations on howwould you know? We've already talked about
how you describe Columbus to others outof town. But what's something they should
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experience here? Well, you knowwhat, and this is this is a
little self serving, but I thinkit tells a little bit of a story.
In twenty seventeen, when we gotinvited to be the hotel group on
the Peninsula to develop a hotel,I came down. I'd grown up here.
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I really have not spent a lotof time on the West River bank
and um and it's just a littlewest of downtown and it's right there,
but I hadn't spent a lot oftime. And then I got on the
side a mile and I walked aroundand I'm looking up at the city and
I see what's happening with the VeteransMemorial Museum COSI and I was blown away,
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And this is right in my backyardand I had not spent enough time
down there and so, um,so I'm really excited about is what is
possible? And um and so we'redeveloping this hotel and that was um.
You know, I think the backdropof all that infrastructure, the COSI and
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the Veterans Memorial on the side ofa mile, to name a few down
there that are really great assets ofour city that I think are under visited.
Uh. And so I think thatI think people will come down to
the Peninsula and experience, experience ourhotel or experience a Veterans Moral or Persai,
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and they'll want to be down theremore. Well. And Jimmy,
it's so beautiful, especially right there, you can you can walk across the
bridge and then go into downtown,whether it's you know whatever, you catch
a show at the Palace or theOhio Theater. You Jimmy, you said
something just moments ago. I wasjust curious about the process with regards to
the development on the peninsula. Yousaid, you are invited. That took
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me back, because this isn't somethingyou can just throw money at you.
There's a process where you you actuallyhad to be invited to be there.
Yeah, So the Columbus Downtown DevelopmentCorporation, the CDDC, who controls the
land. UM. They they haddone an RFP and they had a developer
that was going to do all themixed uses, the hotel, the office
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and the residential and that developer wasunable to pull the deal together and so
then they put it back out UMfor our pe and they invited us to
UH bid on the project and UMand so we did and we were fortunate
enough to to win. What theywhat they wanted to do was UH bring
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a residential developer, a hotel developer, and an office developer, so that
you'd bring the expertise to each eachpiece of real estate. And it's been
it's been a really wonderful experience,and the the CDDC has been spectacular UH
partners and UM and then the otherdevelopers Daimler and Flirty and Collins out of
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Indianapolis, but Dameler here, who'swho's local, who did the office building.
UH. They we've all worked reallywell together and I think people are
going to see it in the community. It's not just our hotel, you
know, there's a lot of wonderfulattributes there and they offer space is over
half leased, and I think whenwe get our project open, I think
people are going to see, oh, this is uh, this is a
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place that would be a wonderful placeto to office. You have fourteen hundred
parking spots in the garage that thecity built there that is really convenient to
the area that I think will obviouslybe one of those big factors of people
convenient parking and in getting people downthere and getting people to office there.
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Yeah, Jimmy, I was gonnasay, two, you touched on,
you know, leasing space. Ijust saw something a few weeks ago where
boy, we are blessed here inColumbus because those that are occupying space and
businesses in downtown the percentage seems tobe higher than a lot of other cities
right now. Yeah, yeah,it is. You know, this is
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uh one of those things that's outthere that you know, office is dead
and people are working remotely, andthat's just not true. There is there
are certain you know, businesses thatneed office space. And what we've had
is we've had a we have aglut or a too much office space that's
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obsolete. It doesn't have the floorplans, it doesn't have the access doesn't
have the parking, and so someof these older office buildings are getting converted
to other uses, and you seethat downtown, you know that's happening.
And but you're also seeing new officebuildings that are modern and have the floor
plates and have the window and theceiling heights and the parking convenience. Those
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are ninety plus percent occupied. Andso what you're seeing today is that we
need to evolve our office space.And this is happening around the country.
It is a it is a it'sa big issue that but when you build
high quality space that is what peoplewant today, it leases up, and
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it leases up relative really quickly.That's I never thought about it that way.
I just assumed, well, it'sa problem, got to fix it,
right that You're right, you justhave to evolve. Yeah, you
have to involve. And you know, it's interesting and I've been telling people
that were you know, since Igot into this business in you know,
nineteen ninety five ninety six. Hotelshave always been viewed as a riskier type
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of real estate. And but what'shappening is that hospitality is coming into a
golden age of hospitality, where hospitalityis at the center of the other real
estate as well. They're realizing thethings that we do in hotels and creating
a sense of community, creating thisengagement with the guest that people want to
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come back for, that they cometo rely on. So when you know
when people come and travel to theJunto and that the hotel tell knows what
their preferences are and knows them personallyand by name. In creating the sense
of community, well that's what's happeningin residential as well. You see these
residences and right in our backyard whereBrett Kaufman at Gravity, you know,
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he's creating a brand there and tryingto create a sense of community and you
know, I respect that a lotwith what he's done there in the investment.
But that's what's happening in other placesas well, because people want to
be a part of something, andthat's what hospitality does. You feel like
you're part of something. That hasto happen in office as well, and
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where you're part of something and yousee and around one of that was we
work, you know in this coworking space where you're part of a community,
but that that business is evolving aswell, and I think offices you're
going to see in office spaces.The successful offices are going to be in
destinations that have more hospitality, whereyou're part of a community and you can
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um and you can engage with it, depending on what time of day it
is, whether you're gonna have breakfastat our in our lobby of our hotel
and have a business meeting there,or let your hair down at night and
go to the go to Brass Eye, which is our rooftop, you know
venue that's going to have you know, interesting cocktails and and and be a
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place that people can relax and havea good time. By the way,
Jimmy, you're the big boss,so I have to ask you, how
hands on are you instrumental in youfrom obviously design and development, but down
to the food to hospitality. Hey, how are you today? How involved
are you in all of that?Um? So, I'm probably more involved
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than a lot of people would like. But I'm very I'm very good lead.
Yeah, I'm very involved, andum, you know, I set
the vision and and want to seeit come through. But no good leader
can be great if they don't havegreat people around them. And so,
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um, the blessing that I haveis I have an incredible team, a
team that really loves what we doUM and wants to be continue to be
better and challenge ourselves and UM.And so we have that at Rockbridge,
and we have that at make Readyand and UM and so putting great people
around around us, UM is whatwhat makes uh, what makes it great.
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And so I try to keep thatuh, that true north. And
but I'm you know, I'm passionateabout it, and I can't help it.
I I'm half Greek and I gotI got the passion side of my
uh, my family from or mypersonality from that side of my family,
and UM, and I love it. I love what I do. And
the you know the best part isthat we get to work with great people.
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And that's what hospitality you gotta.It gets in your blood. Yeah,
it gets in your blood. Whenyou work in hospitality and you meet
the people that come to work forus and that engage with the engage with
the guests day to day, youjust come to really appreciate it and really
appreciate the team and the people thatuh, you know, that really do
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the hard work. The hard workis is making meeting people where where they
are when they you know, dothey want to engage with, you know,
with the staff or do they needto be left alone? Is it
a you know, and having thatintuitive service you know that that we've put
in place that make ready is sois so important. But really engaging with
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them and um, making sure thattheir stay that's in art um and um
you have it, you have itin your blood if you work in hospitality.
Jimmy, you're a very passionate man. So this might be a tough
one. But can you describe Columbusin one word? Uh? One word?
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I would say unexpected is what Ibelieve. I believe that when people
come here, they are surprised.They didn't expect what we have to offer
as a as a community. Andand so what I tell people is that
we as a community and as ahospitality community, and with experienced Columbus,
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what we have to tell the storyis we need to have an expectation.
We need to have a high expectationfor people that come here, and then
we need to exceed that. Andso our goal is not to have no
expectation. Our goal is to havean expectation and then continue to exceed that.
And um, and I think that'swhat is happening, and there's a
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ton of collaboration and experience. Columbushas been great with our with our team.
Um, one of the things thatwe get to do is we get
to sell Columbus. That's our ourjob is to sell Columbus. And we
had a we went on a presstour and we got picked up by Travel
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and Leisure in our hotel. Butthat's that's great. We because we're doing
what we're doing now we can continueto sell Columbus. Jimmy, when it
comes to Columbus, as we wrapup here, what is one or a
few things that you live for?Well, you know, you you started
this by throwing me under the buswith the Michigan graduation. Here's I'm gonna
here's I'm gonna. I'm gonna share. Something that is even more strange is
(34:28):
that I'm an Ohio State fan.So um and I love I love Ohio
State athletics and um and I'm passionateabout that. And that's um, you
know, that's a little unique.So I think that what makes Columbus unique
as a community is that we haveOhio State. We have you know,
you know the alumni. I don'teven know how big the alumni is but
(34:50):
one of the largest alumni networks inyeah, in the world. And um,
but it makes Columbus very I thinkengaging. I think Ohio State is
a big component of what when peoplecome here, is that people are passionate
about Ohio State and the athletics andthe things that are going on and um,
and I think that's great. Andthen what our job is is to
(35:15):
keep you will come in for thatis to what else can they experience?
And we have a growing culinary scene. Um, they're working on, you
know, deepening our music scene here. Um, all these cultural events,
I think I'm most proud of,you know, looking forward, um,
(35:35):
you know, to seeing all thosecome to fruition. You took the words
out of my bath. I wasactually going to ask you if you've root
for Ohio State or if you stilldo you do you ever ever say go
blue anymore? Oh I do?I do, I do. But nobody
gives me more grief about how strangethat is than my wife. She thinks
it's terrible. How could I goto Michigan and root for High State?
(35:58):
It's terrible. Um. So youknow, I'm blessed with you know,
with a support that keeps me grounded. Jimmy Merkels, CEO of Rockbridge and
Make Ready, and of course ourfirst guest on a new season of Live
Forward Live and Experienced Columbus podcast.It's been a real pleasure, Jimmy,
and congratulations on all your success.Thank you Boxer, thanks for listening to
(36:29):
Experience Columbus is Live Forward Live.For this podcast and others, go to
Experience Columbus dot com.
Fun experience. Columbus's Live Forward Livepodcast introduces you to a new frontier of
undiscovered possibility. Columbus is a citywith an energy of its own. Joined
Boxer, Kelsey and their guests foran insider's look at a destination that invites
(00:25):
visitors and locals alike to share andexplore. We'll go behind the scenes of
popular attractions, uncover best kept secretsfor things to see and do, and
meet people who embody what it meansto Live Forward. Welcome back to a
new season of our brand new seasonof Live Forward, Live and experienced Columbus
(00:46):
podcast. I'm your host, Boxer. Unfortunately Kelsey could not be a part
of this one today. Kelsey's alittle bit under the weather. But our
brand new guests for this season ifsomeone I've been interested in talking to you,
but just because I get the chanceto talk with various business leaders throughout
another podcast that I do, andit gives me great pleasure to welcome CEO
(01:07):
Jim merkel Now. Jim co foundedRockbridge also Make Ready not too long ago.
Jim, It's good to have youwith us. Thank you, boxer,
you have you have a really richhistory. First of all, one
of My favorite behind the scenes stories, although it's not behind the scenes about
you is you're from here Central Ohio. Right, that's correct, and you
(01:27):
found yourself graduating from the University ofMichigan. You have to start with that.
I couldn't resist. Yeah, allright, Well, yeah, I
grew up in Bexley and wanted togo to a large school and ended up
I was a golfer and ended upgoing up there to play golf. Jimmy,
(01:49):
what was the reaction like to yourwith your family when you told them,
well, I'm gonna go to Michiganstudy. Well, you know I
was. I was fortunate to havevery supportive parents and uh, you know,
they they cringed a little bit,but we're supportive, all right.
See. You know, Jimmy Merkelis with us from rock Bridge, also
(02:10):
a founder of make Ready. Ifthere's anyone to talk to about how the
landscaping of Columbus has changed, you'dbe the guy. I'm convinced of it,
just because of your background. Forthose that don't know, maybe we
should start here. Tell us aboutthe company you founded, well well over
twenty years ago, twenty two,twenty three years ago. That's rock Bridge,
(02:32):
Yes, yes, so I grewup here in Columbus. I was
away for four short years and thenmoved back and had the opportunity to intern
with a group that had started ahotel chain in the eighties. Pickett Sweet
Hotels was the name, and JimPickett and Ron Callentine started the company and
(02:54):
they had they had started an investmentcompany to invest in hotels, and um
I got the opportunity to intern withthem and fortunate to join them right as
they were beginning, and that wasninety five ninety six, and thought I'd
move back and take this great opportunityand then you know, move on and
(03:14):
and and leave Columbus. And hereI am, you know what, twenty
five twenty seven years actually later,and you know, haven't regretted a bit
and seeing Columbus change, and youknow, we're trying to do our small
part to help, you know,help improve the community, both uh philanthropically,
(03:36):
but also now you know, throughour through our core our core business,
which is you know, building andredeveloping and creating hospitality brands, which
by the way I read and Idon't know if it's changed, but top
ten in the country when it comesto hotels and developing, Is that right,
that's right. Yeah, we've Yeah, we've we've done over four hundred
(03:58):
and forty investments when you include ourpredecessor firm and as Rockbridge, we're just
under three hundred hotels around the country. And you know, we're unique in
this regard is that we're located here, but we've done the majority, if
not close to all, of ourbusiness outside of Columbus, and so we're
(04:20):
we have this opportunity to bring thingsthat we've been doing in other cities back
to Columbus, and that's what we'retrying to do to bring the best back
to Columbus. Well, Jimmy,I'm so glad that you brought that up.
By the way, Jimmy Merkel iswith the CEO of Rockbridge and make
Ready, And that's one of thethings I want to bring up because you
have a lot of excitement even morenow because you were doing all this work
(04:44):
across the country from and I'm sureyou'll add other cities to Nashville, Charleston,
what Dallas, Denver to name afew, and you finally get this
opportunity to develop and create hotels inyour backyard. Yes, yes, so
that uh, that has been uhexciting. You know, I travel a
(05:04):
lot, obviously because our projects havebeen all over the country, but to
be able to do it here intown and um, you know, we're
we're just about to open here willbe open, you know in June,
beginning of June. And that isit Juneto? Is that the one,
the Juneto the Junto the Junto whichhas a cool story and we can get
(05:25):
into that in a minute, butdefinitely, um, but it uh,
it's been uh, it's been reallyexciting to get connected into the community in
a different way. Yeah, youknow, than than we have been in
the past. Well, Jimmy,let me ask you about that, because
you see so much development going onfrom the Peninsula, the Franklinton area there
(05:46):
too, you know, all overtown. My question is what took so
long? Is is it just ispart of it just the stars in the
moon and everything have to be aligned, the you know, the timing.
What what is it? Yeah,I think that's right. I think that
Uh. You know. I wasactually a history major, and so when
you study the history of Columbus andhow we are where we are today,
(06:10):
there's a lot that has gone intoit and a lot of building blocks and
infrastructure that's been put in place.Really, the peninsula itself was forty years
in the making, and and sosaving saving Central High School and putting COSI
there, and and then buying allthe land around it, and then doing
(06:31):
the siout a mile and engaging theriverfront. M just takes time and getting
all the infrastructure in place. Ithink you're going to see a lot of
development downtown over the coming years aswe you know, as we really build
on a you know, really spectacularfoundation from you know, the business leaders
(06:53):
that came before. Jimmy, wetalked a little bit about you founding rock
Bridge and investing and developing hotels.Tell us a little bit more about make
Ready. What specifically does make Readyto do. Yeah, so make Ready
in twenty and sixteen started make Readyto operate our independent hotels. And what
(07:14):
we saw in the marketplace is thisopportunity to it's a growth segment of hotels
where independent lifestyle and luxury hotels thatwere independent. And what that means is
that you don't have a franchise withit. And when you're independent, you
(07:35):
can take the dollars that you spendon a franchise and invested in the community.
Invested in your customers and build anexperience that locals and the community can
can be really proud of. Andthis is happening all over the country,
and this is what travelers want,you know, they want, you know,
(07:58):
they want to go places, theywant to feel like a local,
they want to experience, and we'llhave a team and an experience at the
junto that will enable them to reallyengage with um, you know, with
the community, and our team isgoing to be trained and uh and connected
into to give a different experience thanthe other hotels here in the community.
(08:22):
Have you know that in other communitiesthe hotel is a hub locals go use,
use the hotel. We're not doinganything or shattering that it's not happening
in other places. We're just bringingsomething that works and what people want to
the community, and I think Ithink people are going to really like it.
(08:43):
Sixty percent of our demand for anindependent hotel comes from locals, and
that's not typical for the product here. This will be a property that engages
the locals to come to our restaurantsand bars and coffee shops. And so
(09:03):
we had to build a business tobe able to execute on that. Because
It's very different to operate an independenthotel than it is to operate a franchise.
And so that's what make Ready does. Make Ready they have the talent
and the team, and we're buildingthe infrastructure there to be able to execute
on these independent lifestyle and luxury hotelsand then do it and grow it.
(09:28):
Yeah, Jimmy, obviously I wantto get more into specifically Columbus two and
with what you're doing here, inyour investments here, in your commitment to
our community. Jimmy merkel is witha CEO of Rockbridge and make Ready.
It wasn't too long ago, maybetwo three years ago. Jimmy, I
feel like I heard that we aren'tup to par as far as capacity occupancy
(09:50):
with hotels. Are we getting closerso that we can attract more conventions for
example? So this is this isan interest dynamic in that, um,
you know, we have hotels thatneed to be reinvested in, and so
when those hotels get reinvested in,then you have capacity. The conventions want
(10:13):
quality hotel experience for their conventioneers,and that's why the city and the county
built the Hilton. The Hilton isa brand new it's a beautiful hotel.
It's attached to the convention center,and these these types of hotels are really
important to you know, to buildin order to attract conventions. But you
(10:37):
also need different segments. We don'thave luxury hotels, and so we have
to be able to accommodate at differentprice points and at different levels. And
so I think that when you areaspirational and build good properties and product,
then you're going to induce demand intothe market. I think that that's what
(11:00):
the Hilton is going to do.I think that's what our hotels are,
other great hotels in town that arereinvesting in themselves and UM, and you're
going to see a transformation of thehospitality product here that is going to be
more attractive to guess. Yeah,Jimmy, tell us more about the June
too, and why Columbus, whyyou felt like it's finally time to plant
(11:22):
the seeds here. Yeah. I'ma big believer that, uh, you
know, uh, you can't sellwhat you don't have. We just don't
have that product here in town,and we're delivering it. And we have
another prop you know, project comingon on its heels that UM will be
another version of this lifestyle and luxuryhotels and so um, we think the
(11:46):
market's here. We just think it'suh, it's time. It's very entrepreneurial
at the same time. So it'sthis, it's this crossroads that makes makes
us a really special community. That'smost people that I'm here, they are
surprised by the experience. And soI think that Columbus is definitely it's best
(12:11):
years from a hospitality standpoint and asa community are are ahead of it,
and I think people are gonna cometo expect a great experience when they come
to Columbus going forward. Jimmy,when it comes to I don't know what
kind of data you have or longterm for June to the Juneto, but
(12:33):
is there a demographic or a personor people that you are zeroing in on
to come to the Juneto. Yeah, So the type of hotel, lifestyle
hotel, what does that mean?It really is creating an environment that makes
you feel welcomed and where they're You'recurious about the community. You want something
(12:56):
more than just a place to putyour head um for the evening. You
want to engage, You want tohave opportunities to engage. So we have
really thoughtful spaces and living rooms andum, you can experience a courtyard with
a fireplace in the back. Youcan have a coffee and uh be at
a study table. You can goup on the roof and have uh,
(13:20):
you know, a cocktail and umand and it's very convivial and and and
there's a lot of different ways toengage with the property. And so um,
you know that's that's the experience,and I think it will attract those
travelers that want something more. Theywant to they want to experience the community
and they want to engage with it. Um. And that's how the space
(13:43):
is designed and and how it howit's worked for us and you know on
other properties. So um, it'llit'll be special. Jimmy, in your
twenty plus years of doing this,especially with rock Bridge and now make Ready
specifically Columbus, is there any thingthat you visualize that you were wrong about
(14:03):
or that surprised you when it comesto development? Surprises me in terms of
development in Columbus. Yeah, so, um, we've made plenty of mistakes.
I mean that's the beauty of beingin an entrepreneur is that, Um,
you know, you you go anddo and you go and try and
(14:24):
Um, you know, we're we'revery aspirational in that regard, and I
think in a lot of ways that'svery connected to the Columbus community. And
there is a very strong entrepreneurial underbellyto Columbus. And there's also a little
bit of we can do it too, an underdog type of mentality, and
(14:48):
I think that's what connects us toColumbus in a in a big way,
that we can do great things herein our community too, and we've got
to show and lead and show andmake people believe. And so my experience
developing here has been very collaborative.And Um, we're a big believer in
(15:11):
both and not either or. Andwe think that everybody can win here.
And we're in a growing market andlet's work together and make this community great
and let's have lots of people winalong the way. Um. But there's
that opportunity here which is really reallyexciting to us. I like that.
Jimmy. By the way, JimmyMerkel is with a CEO of Rockbridge and
(15:33):
Make Ready. He's this week's gueston our first new season of Live Forward,
Live and Experienced Columbus podcast. Jimmy, you said you travel a lot.
So when you're when you're traveling someplaceelse and you're talking with people,
how do you describe Columbus to them? You know, the thing that makes
Columbus special is the people we oftenhave. UM. We've recruited people from
(16:00):
out of town and UM, andthen they come here, and that's always
a threshold of getting them, uhto to move. It's less so today,
UM, you know, and butUM when they come, you know,
they really they really like it,UM because the people are engaging.
(16:21):
You can come from anywhere and peopleare welcoming. And that's been the experience
that we've had, uh, bothas a operating our business here but also
recruiting people in for the juneto.UM. We've brought people in from Miami
of Florida, and our leaders fromDenver born and raised and Denver wife born
(16:42):
and raised, and UM they turnedus down twice until UM I told Jason
to you know, bring his wifeand you know, after she experiences the
community, UM, and you say, no, that's that's okay. And
she came and and UM, youknow, we introduced her to lots of
(17:02):
people and she just felt welcomed.And UM, I think people feel like
they can raise a family here andthey can live here and they, Um,
it's very accessible and engaging. Andso that's what I try to share
with people about Columbus. And I'mproud of that. I'm proud of that.
Jimmy, do you think that becauseyou grew up here, so are
the days and I feel like theyare are the days of calling this cowtown
(17:26):
over? I haven't heard that termin so long, I hope, so,
I hope. So. Yeah,we had we had a designer that
came in on the June too,and they were doing their research and there's
an agricultural backdrop to Ohio for sure, and um, they were, you
know, they were doing this designthat had you know, uh cow pasture,
(17:51):
uh design from the sky and wenixed that. We we that we
we don't we don't think of ourselvesthat way, um, and but we're
we're also proud of that, umyou know backdrop that that is a part
of the diversity of Columbus that makesit makes it great and we can be
so many different things here that um, you know, I think it's part
(18:17):
of the welcoming nature you know ofColumbus. Do you have and I don't
know if you have any days off. Clearly you're a really busy guy,
but when you do or you justget the chance to just drive around.
You do you have a favorite neighborhoodthat you're just very fond of? Um,
you know, I do. Imean, I love coming downtown.
(18:40):
I lived in German Village for alittle while, and so I just love
h I love German Village and umMy, my wife and I had our
first meal in Columbus together. Shewas from out of town at Lyndy's and
um, you know, it's alwaysa great experience. So I love,
I love being downtown and and uhin the different neighborhoods that you know make
(19:00):
downtown great. Jimmy, what areyou most excited about the continuous changes that
are happening in Columbus. What excitesyou the most about now in the future.
Yeah, I think that there's alot of momentum around the downtown and
the city in general and the growthand the things we need to do to
(19:22):
make this a great community for all. And um, one of the things
that's great about Columbus is the publicand private sectors work really well together and
and really try to make a difference. And sometimes it's slower than you know,
the entrepreneur would like. And butit's it's been very deliberate, and
(19:45):
as I mentioned earlier about putting theinfrastructure in place is so important. And
I think now I think more andmore people are believing in the trajectory of
Columbus. And when you have nationalbusinesses like Intel, you know, building
their most sophisticated chips here in Columbus. One of the reasons they came here,
(20:11):
one of the big reasons they camehere, is that they felt that
they could work with the private andpublic sectors and that they could attract the
talent to Columbus. And what makesColumbus a great distribution and industrial market is
also what makes it a great marketfor growth and talent is when you have
you can bring people in now fromMichigan and from Indiana and from you know,
(20:36):
from Pennsylvania and and bring that talenthere. And I think that's exciting
for the backdrop of Columbus. Andour job is to make it sticky so
when the people come and they wantto stay here, that this is a
great community and they can build theirlife in Columbus. And we've had a
lot of people, as I mentionedearlier. We've had a lot of people
that have joined Rockbridge and then leftto start their own business and they've stayed
(21:03):
here to start it and that's beenreally really exciting. Yeah. Yeah,
Jimmy, when it comes to something, and I'm not I'm not asking you
to be critical of Columbus, butone thing I'll hear that Columbus maybe needs
more of, or hopefully it canbe more advanced in the future, and
that's transportation and in all different forms. That's just an example. But is
(21:27):
there anything that we probably do needto work on. There's just tons of
things that we always have to workon, but we have to believe that
it's possible. I think that oneof the challenges that that Columbus has always
had is it's been can we doit? Can it work here? Can
it? And I think that themore that people believe, the more the
(21:52):
more investment that we make in thehospitality and the culture of Columbus that there's
a lot of there's a lot ofthings going on, but so I think
the culture and the investment in theinfrastructure and the backdrop of believing that it
can happen here, Yeah, iswhat's going to make things happen in the
(22:15):
future. I like that Jimmy Merkelis with a CEO of Rockbridge. Also
make ready. Of course we're talkingabout the explosive growth in Columbus. Of
course hotels. For those that arelistening Jimmy and have never visited or plan
on visiting, any recommendations on howwould you know? We've already talked about
how you describe Columbus to others outof town. But what's something they should
(22:37):
experience here? Well, you knowwhat, and this is this is a
little self serving, but I thinkit tells a little bit of a story.
In twenty seventeen, when we gotinvited to be the hotel group on
the Peninsula to develop a hotel,I came down. I'd grown up here.
(23:00):
I really have not spent a lotof time on the West River bank
and um and it's just a littlewest of downtown and it's right there,
but I hadn't spent a lot oftime. And then I got on the
side a mile and I walked aroundand I'm looking up at the city and
I see what's happening with the VeteransMemorial Museum COSI and I was blown away,
(23:26):
And this is right in my backyardand I had not spent enough time
down there and so, um,so I'm really excited about is what is
possible? And um and so we'redeveloping this hotel and that was um.
You know, I think the backdropof all that infrastructure, the COSI and
(23:48):
the Veterans Memorial on the side ofa mile, to name a few down
there that are really great assets ofour city that I think are under visited.
Uh. And so I think thatI think people will come down to
the Peninsula and experience, experience ourhotel or experience a Veterans Moral or Persai,
(24:12):
and they'll want to be down theremore. Well. And Jimmy,
it's so beautiful, especially right there, you can you can walk across the
bridge and then go into downtown,whether it's you know whatever, you catch
a show at the Palace or theOhio Theater. You Jimmy, you said
something just moments ago. I wasjust curious about the process with regards to
the development on the peninsula. Yousaid, you are invited. That took
(24:37):
me back, because this isn't somethingyou can just throw money at you.
There's a process where you you actuallyhad to be invited to be there.
Yeah, So the Columbus Downtown DevelopmentCorporation, the CDDC, who controls the
land. UM. They they haddone an RFP and they had a developer
that was going to do all themixed uses, the hotel, the office
(25:00):
and the residential and that developer wasunable to pull the deal together and so
then they put it back out UMfor our pe and they invited us to
UH bid on the project and UMand so we did and we were fortunate
enough to to win. What theywhat they wanted to do was UH bring
(25:22):
a residential developer, a hotel developer, and an office developer, so that
you'd bring the expertise to each eachpiece of real estate. And it's been
it's been a really wonderful experience,and the the CDDC has been spectacular UH
partners and UM and then the otherdevelopers Daimler and Flirty and Collins out of
(25:45):
Indianapolis, but Dameler here, who'swho's local, who did the office building.
UH. They we've all worked reallywell together and I think people are
going to see it in the community. It's not just our hotel, you
know, there's a lot of wonderfulattributes there and they offer space is over
half leased, and I think whenwe get our project open, I think
people are going to see, oh, this is uh, this is a
(26:07):
place that would be a wonderful placeto to office. You have fourteen hundred
parking spots in the garage that thecity built there that is really convenient to
the area that I think will obviouslybe one of those big factors of people
convenient parking and in getting people downthere and getting people to office there.
(26:27):
Yeah, Jimmy, I was gonnasay, two, you touched on,
you know, leasing space. Ijust saw something a few weeks ago where
boy, we are blessed here inColumbus because those that are occupying space and
businesses in downtown the percentage seems tobe higher than a lot of other cities
right now. Yeah, yeah,it is. You know, this is
(26:48):
uh one of those things that's outthere that you know, office is dead
and people are working remotely, andthat's just not true. There is there
are certain you know, businesses thatneed office space. And what we've had
is we've had a we have aglut or a too much office space that's
(27:11):
obsolete. It doesn't have the floorplans, it doesn't have the access doesn't
have the parking, and so someof these older office buildings are getting converted
to other uses, and you seethat downtown, you know that's happening.
And but you're also seeing new officebuildings that are modern and have the floor
plates and have the window and theceiling heights and the parking convenience. Those
(27:34):
are ninety plus percent occupied. Andso what you're seeing today is that we
need to evolve our office space.And this is happening around the country.
It is a it is a it'sa big issue that but when you build
high quality space that is what peoplewant today, it leases up, and
(27:59):
it leases up relative really quickly.That's I never thought about it that way.
I just assumed, well, it'sa problem, got to fix it,
right that You're right, you justhave to evolve. Yeah, you
have to involve. And you know, it's interesting and I've been telling people
that were you know, since Igot into this business in you know,
nineteen ninety five ninety six. Hotelshave always been viewed as a riskier type
(28:25):
of real estate. And but what'shappening is that hospitality is coming into a
golden age of hospitality, where hospitalityis at the center of the other real
estate as well. They're realizing thethings that we do in hotels and creating
a sense of community, creating thisengagement with the guest that people want to
(28:51):
come back for, that they cometo rely on. So when you know
when people come and travel to theJunto and that the hotel tell knows what
their preferences are and knows them personallyand by name. In creating the sense
of community, well that's what's happeningin residential as well. You see these
residences and right in our backyard whereBrett Kaufman at Gravity, you know,
(29:15):
he's creating a brand there and tryingto create a sense of community and you
know, I respect that a lotwith what he's done there in the investment.
But that's what's happening in other placesas well, because people want to
be a part of something, andthat's what hospitality does. You feel like
you're part of something. That hasto happen in office as well, and
(29:36):
where you're part of something and yousee and around one of that was we
work, you know in this coworking space where you're part of a community,
but that that business is evolving aswell, and I think offices you're
going to see in office spaces.The successful offices are going to be in
destinations that have more hospitality, whereyou're part of a community and you can
(30:00):
um and you can engage with it, depending on what time of day it
is, whether you're gonna have breakfastat our in our lobby of our hotel
and have a business meeting there,or let your hair down at night and
go to the go to Brass Eye, which is our rooftop, you know
venue that's going to have you know, interesting cocktails and and and be a
(30:22):
place that people can relax and havea good time. By the way,
Jimmy, you're the big boss,so I have to ask you, how
hands on are you instrumental in youfrom obviously design and development, but down
to the food to hospitality. Hey, how are you today? How involved
are you in all of that?Um? So, I'm probably more involved
(30:42):
than a lot of people would like. But I'm very I'm very good lead.
Yeah, I'm very involved, andum, you know, I set
the vision and and want to seeit come through. But no good leader
can be great if they don't havegreat people around them. And so,
(31:03):
um, the blessing that I haveis I have an incredible team, a
team that really loves what we doUM and wants to be continue to be
better and challenge ourselves and UM.And so we have that at Rockbridge,
and we have that at make Readyand and UM and so putting great people
around around us, UM is whatwhat makes uh, what makes it great.
(31:29):
And so I try to keep thatuh, that true north. And
but I'm you know, I'm passionateabout it, and I can't help it.
I I'm half Greek and I gotI got the passion side of my
uh, my family from or mypersonality from that side of my family,
and UM, and I love it. I love what I do. And
the you know the best part isthat we get to work with great people.
(31:52):
And that's what hospitality you gotta.It gets in your blood. Yeah,
it gets in your blood. Whenyou work in hospitality and you meet
the people that come to work forus and that engage with the engage with
the guests day to day, youjust come to really appreciate it and really
appreciate the team and the people thatuh, you know, that really do
(32:12):
the hard work. The hard workis is making meeting people where where they
are when they you know, dothey want to engage with, you know,
with the staff or do they needto be left alone? Is it
a you know, and having thatintuitive service you know that that we've put
in place that make ready is sois so important. But really engaging with
(32:34):
them and um, making sure thattheir stay that's in art um and um
you have it, you have itin your blood if you work in hospitality.
Jimmy, you're a very passionate man. So this might be a tough
one. But can you describe Columbusin one word? Uh? One word?
(32:57):
I would say unexpected is what Ibelieve. I believe that when people
come here, they are surprised.They didn't expect what we have to offer
as a as a community. Andand so what I tell people is that
we as a community and as ahospitality community, and with experienced Columbus,
(33:22):
what we have to tell the storyis we need to have an expectation.
We need to have a high expectationfor people that come here, and then
we need to exceed that. Andso our goal is not to have no
expectation. Our goal is to havean expectation and then continue to exceed that.
And um, and I think that'swhat is happening, and there's a
(33:43):
ton of collaboration and experience. Columbushas been great with our with our team.
Um, one of the things thatwe get to do is we get
to sell Columbus. That's our ourjob is to sell Columbus. And we
had a we went on a presstour and we got picked up by Travel
(34:04):
and Leisure in our hotel. Butthat's that's great. We because we're doing
what we're doing now we can continueto sell Columbus. Jimmy, when it
comes to Columbus, as we wrapup here, what is one or a
few things that you live for?Well, you know, you you started
this by throwing me under the buswith the Michigan graduation. Here's I'm gonna
here's I'm gonna. I'm gonna share. Something that is even more strange is
(34:28):
that I'm an Ohio State fan.So um and I love I love Ohio
State athletics and um and I'm passionateabout that. And that's um, you
know, that's a little unique.So I think that what makes Columbus unique
as a community is that we haveOhio State. We have you know,
you know the alumni. I don'teven know how big the alumni is but
(34:50):
one of the largest alumni networks inyeah, in the world. And um,
but it makes Columbus very I thinkengaging. I think Ohio State is
a big component of what when peoplecome here, is that people are passionate
about Ohio State and the athletics andthe things that are going on and um,
and I think that's great. Andthen what our job is is to
(35:15):
keep you will come in for thatis to what else can they experience?
And we have a growing culinary scene. Um, they're working on, you
know, deepening our music scene here. Um, all these cultural events,
I think I'm most proud of,you know, looking forward, um,
(35:35):
you know, to seeing all thosecome to fruition. You took the words
out of my bath. I wasactually going to ask you if you've root
for Ohio State or if you stilldo you do you ever ever say go
blue anymore? Oh I do?I do, I do. But nobody
gives me more grief about how strangethat is than my wife. She thinks
it's terrible. How could I goto Michigan and root for High State?
(35:58):
It's terrible. Um. So youknow, I'm blessed with you know,
with a support that keeps me grounded. Jimmy Merkels, CEO of Rockbridge and
Make Ready, and of course ourfirst guest on a new season of Live
Forward Live and Experienced Columbus podcast.It's been a real pleasure, Jimmy,
and congratulations on all your success.Thank you Boxer, thanks for listening to
(36:29):
Experience Columbus is Live Forward Live.For this podcast and others, go to
Experience Columbus dot com.
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