July 3, 2025 • 8 mins
Doug Buchanan of Columbus Business First has the latest local business news including Chapman's in German Village is closing after the summer season
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now then on a Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line,
it is Douglas Buchanan, Editor in chief Columbus Business First.
You can check him out Columbus Business First dot com. Doug,
good morning, How are you good? How are you guys
doing very well? Thank you for jumping on. Kind of
a different day, different time typically, but we're all going
to be enjoying the fourth of July holiday tomorrow. And
(00:20):
a couple of stories I wanted to touch on that
you've got at Columbus Business First dot com. Nationwide arena
is looking for four hundred million bucks to renovate. What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, so the arena is twenty five years old this year,
so it has a lot of things that need upgrade.
And now a lot of this stuff is mechanical structural,
but they also want to completely overhaul the entrance, primarily
so that fans aren't left standing outside so long, and
they'll move the team shop. They've just got a lot
of things that they want to do the arena. The
(00:51):
tab is four hundred million dollars and they announced this
last week just as the state legislators were wrapping up
the budget. And you know the headline in that budget
is six hundred million dollars for the Brown Stadium up
outside of Cleveland, but there's also four hundred million dollars
for other UH stadium projects around the state and nationwide. Arena,
(01:13):
this project would be eligible for about one hundred million maximum,
and so that's what they're going to go for. Uh So,
as you can imagine, that would go a long way
toward making this project possible because you know, it's a
county owned a facility and h uh, you know they
could they could use that contribution. So we'll see. I
think this is I don't know how many other stadium
projects are out there in Ohio. It's going to be
(01:35):
buying for this pot of money. But I would think
that an NHL stadium in Columbus would be uh for
you know, good bet to get a share that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, and this this whole notion of using unclaimed funds
is a kind of a new thing, and you know,
it's got its detractors on that, but it does seem
it seems better than charging taxpayers or or bonding it out,
which is essentially a loan. So yeah, we'll see. It's
a it's kind of interesting there. And of course I
can't believe Nationwide is twenty five years old. I mean,
(02:04):
that's it still seems like a new arena to me.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
It does. And you know, the the entire arena district,
I mean they're still building down there, right, you know
when they built that arena, I mean, none of that
stuff was there. The Huntington Park wasn't there, Lower dot
Com Field wasn't there. It was just you know, kind
of placing a marker out in the middle of a
you know, a pretty desolate part of downtown. And now
it's you know, it's one of the hottest places in
(02:28):
the city.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, no doubt. And then in a kind of a
coincidental bit of timing. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's not.
You mentioned the Browns Stadium moving to brook Park and
the six hundred million for that the HASLMS sold. They
sold ten percent of their stake and the Columbus Crew
to the other minority owned the family of doctor P. Edwards.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, exactly. So it was the interesting part of this
deal is that it values the club at nine hundred
million dollars, which, if you think back ten years ago,
even they had an owner who didn't want to be here.
They were playing in a stadium that wouldn't be out
of place in some high schools in Texas. They had
(03:11):
a stadium naming sponsor that nobody had ever heard of.
And now you have local ownership, at least minority ownership,
brand new stadium in the arena district. They're selling that
thing out. And if you've been inside lower dot Com field,
I mean, every available service is classed through corporate logos.
So they're I mean, they're just doing fantastically well. Now
(03:31):
they've won two MLS Cups. So it's just a remarkable,
remarkable turnaround for that team and all MLS teams, all
sports teams in general. You're seeing values really go up.
But you're nine hundred million, that's an eyepoppy number.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, you're approaching a billion dollars. It's pretty remarkable.
And as you said, the team is performing very well
on the field, which always helps as well. So I mean,
is there any connection between the Haslam selling part of
that to create maybe some cat flow for their new
project in Cleveland?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, they they they're not talking about about why, but
I had the same thought. I mean, it's it's it's
not a you know, coincidental time. It doesn't seem like
it's Clinton at times that they're trying to raise all
this money for, you know, a very very large project
up in Cleveland at the same time. But you know
how billionaires spend their money, as you know anybody's.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Guests, right speaking with Doug buchannan editor in chief Columbus
Business First dot com, and I was sad to see
that Chapman's in German Village at one point was called
by the New York Times one of the best restaurants
in the United States. I've actually dined there before, had
a great experience. They're going to close later this summer.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, I've also been there a few times, had a
great experience. But you know, like every time a restaurant
that I like closes, yet you got to take back,
how often have I been there? When was the last
time I was there? And you know that's the case
with chapman you know, I think it was obviously very
highly regarded, as the New York Times called them out,
I think at twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, something
like that, but they during the pandemic they opened the
(05:02):
twenty twenty so you kind of had a rough start
and then interesting tidbit about that New York Times thing.
As you know, they were slammed for months after that,
And I actually talked to the to the owner of PJ.
Leverman last year about this and he said it had
a really long negative tale because people just assumed it
was difficult to get into Chapmans, when in fact, you know,
(05:22):
once that initial thing ran off, they were open to reservation,
so you know, their lease was up. And they also
have a couple of concepts in the Short North, including
one that they just re renovated and reopened. It's called
the met Season. Now it's an Italian place. So you
can see that the timing just kind of works out
that they're going to put all of their energy into
(05:43):
those two Short North establishments and then we'll see what
goes in German Village. I mean, it's still a great location.
It was the original max Nermans, so you can imagine
that somebody else will want to step into that shite.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Sure, that was one of those places where he would
book up six months at a time that you could
not get a reservation, and then every six months they'd
open it up for a couple of hours and you
had to be on your game to book up a
reservation otherwise you would miss out. That's exactly what we did,
and and it wasn't It's not a cheap dinner out either.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So you know, BJS James Beards semi final left. I
mean it wasn't you know, it wasn't the most high
end of restaurant, but yeah, I mean it was elevated.
It was elevated food and you know, having a in
the Short North. Now they've got the Jazz Ginger Rabbit
Jazz Lounge, which is a defined concept, and they've done
an Italian restaurant, you know, which which I think is
(06:34):
easier for consumers to get the mind around. So I would,
I would, you know, just hope for the best for
those two.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
But Doug, we've got a Korean restaurant on campus that
has closed. What's the story there.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, it's called Diaspora, and it's been there for for
a good number of years, but the owners got a
better offer from a local coffee or not a local
tam but and how to state coffee team that is
really trying to expand locally or it's called Seven Brew
and this is going to be their first location kind
of in Columbus proper. They've been putting some around the
(07:06):
outskirts of town, and so they had an offer to
buy out there at lease earlier and they took it.
And you know, this is a family when you include
the kids that have a couple of other concepts around town.
And you know what, Korean food is pretty hot right now.
So I can I can imagine that they'll get they'll
find a new spot, and I would not be surprised
to see them reopen somewhere else soon.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And Chris Corso, this guy is he's seemingly everywhere downtown.
He's got a new rooftop bar opening up, the Ac Hotel.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, so this is on Park Street, right across from
the North Market. Chris had a number of concepts there
for several years on Park Street, Park Street and Canteina,
Park Street Saloon, There's a couple of others, and then
kind of when that Acy Hotel project came along, he
switched his focus to the Short North and so he's
got Standard Hall on fourn Oh and maybe a couple
of others in the Short North. And so now he's
bringing his attention back here the Acy Hotel. He's going
(07:59):
to take over the rooftop bar at the AC Hotel,
which frankly I had forgotten existed. Uh and and so
he'll he'll he's going to redo that in place. He's
got several new concepts for along the ground floor along
Park Street there. So we'll see these roll out over
the next year or two. Uh and you can imagine
that the timing is kind of going to be like
the you know, eventually finished that North Market tower and
(08:22):
uh and so it'll be a, you know, just a
very different looking place along that stretch of Park Street.
Now then on a Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone line,
it is Douglas Buchanan, Editor in chief Columbus Business First.
You can check him out Columbus Business First dot com. Doug,
good morning, How are you good? How are you guys
doing very well? Thank you for jumping on. Kind of
a different day, different time typically, but we're all going
to be enjoying the fourth of July holiday tomorrow. And
(00:20):
a couple of stories I wanted to touch on that
you've got at Columbus Business First dot com. Nationwide arena
is looking for four hundred million bucks to renovate. What's
going on?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, so the arena is twenty five years old this year,
so it has a lot of things that need upgrade.
And now a lot of this stuff is mechanical structural,
but they also want to completely overhaul the entrance, primarily
so that fans aren't left standing outside so long, and
they'll move the team shop. They've just got a lot
of things that they want to do the arena. The
(00:51):
tab is four hundred million dollars and they announced this
last week just as the state legislators were wrapping up
the budget. And you know the headline in that budget
is six hundred million dollars for the Brown Stadium up
outside of Cleveland, but there's also four hundred million dollars
for other UH stadium projects around the state and nationwide. Arena,
(01:13):
this project would be eligible for about one hundred million maximum,
and so that's what they're going to go for. Uh So,
as you can imagine, that would go a long way
toward making this project possible because you know, it's a
county owned a facility and h uh, you know they
could they could use that contribution. So we'll see. I
think this is I don't know how many other stadium
projects are out there in Ohio. It's going to be
(01:35):
buying for this pot of money. But I would think
that an NHL stadium in Columbus would be uh for
you know, good bet to get a share that.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, and this this whole notion of using unclaimed funds
is a kind of a new thing, and you know,
it's got its detractors on that, but it does seem
it seems better than charging taxpayers or or bonding it out,
which is essentially a loan. So yeah, we'll see. It's
a it's kind of interesting there. And of course I
can't believe Nationwide is twenty five years old. I mean,
(02:04):
that's it still seems like a new arena to me.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
It does. And you know, the the entire arena district,
I mean they're still building down there, right, you know
when they built that arena, I mean, none of that
stuff was there. The Huntington Park wasn't there, Lower dot
Com Field wasn't there. It was just you know, kind
of placing a marker out in the middle of a
you know, a pretty desolate part of downtown. And now
it's you know, it's one of the hottest places in
(02:28):
the city.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, no doubt. And then in a kind of a
coincidental bit of timing. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe it's not.
You mentioned the Browns Stadium moving to brook Park and
the six hundred million for that the HASLMS sold. They
sold ten percent of their stake and the Columbus Crew
to the other minority owned the family of doctor P. Edwards.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, exactly. So it was the interesting part of this
deal is that it values the club at nine hundred
million dollars, which, if you think back ten years ago,
even they had an owner who didn't want to be here.
They were playing in a stadium that wouldn't be out
of place in some high schools in Texas. They had
(03:11):
a stadium naming sponsor that nobody had ever heard of.
And now you have local ownership, at least minority ownership,
brand new stadium in the arena district. They're selling that
thing out. And if you've been inside lower dot Com field,
I mean, every available service is classed through corporate logos.
So they're I mean, they're just doing fantastically well. Now
(03:31):
they've won two MLS Cups. So it's just a remarkable,
remarkable turnaround for that team and all MLS teams, all
sports teams in general. You're seeing values really go up.
But you're nine hundred million, that's an eyepoppy number.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, you're approaching a billion dollars. It's pretty remarkable.
And as you said, the team is performing very well
on the field, which always helps as well. So I mean,
is there any connection between the Haslam selling part of
that to create maybe some cat flow for their new
project in Cleveland?
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, they they they're not talking about about why, but
I had the same thought. I mean, it's it's it's
not a you know, coincidental time. It doesn't seem like
it's Clinton at times that they're trying to raise all
this money for, you know, a very very large project
up in Cleveland at the same time. But you know
how billionaires spend their money, as you know anybody's.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Guests, right speaking with Doug buchannan editor in chief Columbus
Business First dot com, and I was sad to see
that Chapman's in German Village at one point was called
by the New York Times one of the best restaurants
in the United States. I've actually dined there before, had
a great experience. They're going to close later this summer.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, I've also been there a few times, had a
great experience. But you know, like every time a restaurant
that I like closes, yet you got to take back,
how often have I been there? When was the last
time I was there? And you know that's the case
with chapman you know, I think it was obviously very
highly regarded, as the New York Times called them out,
I think at twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, something
like that, but they during the pandemic they opened the
(05:02):
twenty twenty so you kind of had a rough start
and then interesting tidbit about that New York Times thing.
As you know, they were slammed for months after that,
And I actually talked to the to the owner of PJ.
Leverman last year about this and he said it had
a really long negative tale because people just assumed it
was difficult to get into Chapmans, when in fact, you know,
(05:22):
once that initial thing ran off, they were open to reservation,
so you know, their lease was up. And they also
have a couple of concepts in the Short North, including
one that they just re renovated and reopened. It's called
the met Season. Now it's an Italian place. So you
can see that the timing just kind of works out
that they're going to put all of their energy into
(05:43):
those two Short North establishments and then we'll see what
goes in German Village. I mean, it's still a great location.
It was the original max Nermans, so you can imagine
that somebody else will want to step into that shite.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Sure, that was one of those places where he would
book up six months at a time that you could
not get a reservation, and then every six months they'd
open it up for a couple of hours and you
had to be on your game to book up a
reservation otherwise you would miss out. That's exactly what we did,
and and it wasn't It's not a cheap dinner out either.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
So you know, BJS James Beards semi final left. I
mean it wasn't you know, it wasn't the most high
end of restaurant, but yeah, I mean it was elevated.
It was elevated food and you know, having a in
the Short North. Now they've got the Jazz Ginger Rabbit
Jazz Lounge, which is a defined concept, and they've done
an Italian restaurant, you know, which which I think is
(06:34):
easier for consumers to get the mind around. So I would,
I would, you know, just hope for the best for
those two.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
But Doug, we've got a Korean restaurant on campus that
has closed. What's the story there.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah, it's called Diaspora, and it's been there for for
a good number of years, but the owners got a
better offer from a local coffee or not a local
tam but and how to state coffee team that is
really trying to expand locally or it's called Seven Brew
and this is going to be their first location kind
of in Columbus proper. They've been putting some around the
(07:06):
outskirts of town, and so they had an offer to
buy out there at lease earlier and they took it.
And you know, this is a family when you include
the kids that have a couple of other concepts around town.
And you know what, Korean food is pretty hot right now.
So I can I can imagine that they'll get they'll
find a new spot, and I would not be surprised
to see them reopen somewhere else soon.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And Chris Corso, this guy is he's seemingly everywhere downtown.
He's got a new rooftop bar opening up, the Ac Hotel.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, so this is on Park Street, right across from
the North Market. Chris had a number of concepts there
for several years on Park Street, Park Street and Canteina,
Park Street Saloon, There's a couple of others, and then
kind of when that Acy Hotel project came along, he
switched his focus to the Short North and so he's
got Standard Hall on fourn Oh and maybe a couple
of others in the Short North. And so now he's
bringing his attention back here the Acy Hotel. He's going
(07:59):
to take over the rooftop bar at the AC Hotel,
which frankly I had forgotten existed. Uh and and so
he'll he'll he's going to redo that in place. He's
got several new concepts for along the ground floor along
Park Street there. So we'll see these roll out over
the next year or two. Uh and you can imagine
that the timing is kind of going to be like
the you know, eventually finished that North Market tower and
(08:22):
uh and so it'll be a, you know, just a
very different looking place along that stretch of Park Street.
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