Columbus invests $4.2 million to revamp streets around North Market, 32-story tower

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- City leaders are taking steps to improve the streets surrounding the North Market and its 32-story tower under construction in Columbus.

Columbus City Council authorized $4.2 million in spending on July 28 to update the roadways outlining the North Market at 59 Spruce St. in Downtown. Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said the project will include reconstructing Spruce and Wall streets as paver roadways, resurfacing Vine Street, and updating curbs, sidewalks, trees and lighting.

"That square around the North Market certainly [needs] a lot of road repairs to make it safer for pedestrians," Barroso de Padilla said during the July meeting. "These are much-needed roadway improvements."

Rory McGuiness, deputy director of the Department of Public Safety, said the streetscape project will start work this fall, possibly as early as September, but "it's going to be dependent on the material procurement and coordination" with the [North Market tower]. Construction is expected to be completed by the time the tower is finished next year, he said.

"We've done extensive outreach and will continue to work with visitors, business owners and residents in the project area to work to minimize inconveniences due to the construction of the improvements," McGuiness said.

Named "The Merchant Tower," the North Market's 32-story building is being erected on the food hall's former parking lot. The tower will be home to a 206-room hotel, more than 170 apartments, 68,000 square feet of office space, and a parking garage.

Construction for the $345 million tower kicked off in 2023 and is expected to wrap in 2026 in time for the market's 150th anniversary. Work included the excavation of centuries-old grave shafts below the market's parking lot, which was once a section of the 11-acre North Graveyard, one of the city's five original cemeteries that opened in 1813.

The market also announced plans in April for a 15,000-square-foot expansion to the original food hall that will include the addition of new merchant stalls, a bar area and an outdoor plaza. The project, which aims to enhance the market's capacity, will feature a dedicated events and programming facility with a covered balcony, and an additional guest common area.

Operators expanded with another central Ohio location in 2020, taking over the entire ground floor at 6736 Longshore Street in Dublin's Bridge Park.