At long last, the Worthington Gateway project is casting a shadow on the horizon.
Travelers through the intersection of High Street and West Wilson Bridge Road no doubt have noticed significant progress on construction of this project last month. Businesses are expected to open doors beginning in late summer and throughout the rest of the year as construction continues.
The Worthington Gateway project slowly has been taking shape along West Wilson Bridge Road. (Spotlight photo by Cliff Wiltshire)
The former Holiday Inn site soon will be home to six mixed-use buildings, housing office and retail space. Four buildings will line West Wilson Bridge Road west of the BP gas station.
Another building will face High Street south of BP and north of Caren Ave. The sixth building will occupy the interior of the project site and will sit west of the Caren Avenue entrance to the complex.
Both retail and office square footage is nearly fully leased. Matt Gregory of NAI Ohio Equities is handling the leasing for the office space.
“We have actually had very good activity on the office buildings,” he said. “We have three leases out that are being finalized and hopefully ready for signature in the next month or so.”
While construction continues, Gregory feels like the project is in good position to be leased to capacity upon completion, he said.
“The office space I think will be fully leased by the end of the year,” he said.
On the retail side, a handful of familiar nameplates already have inked deals. Five Guys will anchor the southern space of the building fronting High Street. The first building west of High, on West Wilson Bridge Road, will house a Tropical Smoothie Café and The Now, a massage chain that will make Worthington its first Ohio location.
Moving west, the next building will hold an Orange Theory Fitness and a Club Pilates. Leases for most of the remaining retail space are currently under negotiation. Dan Clark of Goodman Real Estate Services Group is managing the leasing of the retail space. Because of ongoing negotiations, he said he was unable to divulge the names of any prospective tenants.
The third building features two stories of office space, which is fully leased. The last building, nearest the new West Wilson Bridge Road entrance to the complex which has been configured to match a roadway into the Shops at Worthington Square, also houses office space only.
Why is all the landscaping planted mostly dead on the Northeast Gateway project as well as the grass not being cut regularly. There is still cardboard on the walk signs in areas. Seems like with the amount of money spent , that we would have had a budget in place for upkeep so it would not be an eyesore to the people that have had to live through this.