BOUTIQUE HOTEL MIGHT BE ON THE WAY C-BUS

A funky novelty store predating the Greater Columbus Convention Center and today's trendy Short North may play a key part in the future of both.

The owners of Yankee Trader have enlisted a real-estate broker to seek a buyer who will convert their aging brick building at 463 N. High St. into an upscale hotel.

The downside: The potential development could hurt plans for a larger, convention-style hotel being considered a block away on property controlled by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, local officials said this week.

Yankee Trader co-owner Lynette Howard said she's not planning to close the quirky store, known for Halloween costumes, rubber eyeballs and plastic rats. But she says she might move.
"I would never sell the business," she said. "If the price were right, I might sell the building."
Broker CB Richard Ellis said the Yankee Trader building, directly across from the convention center, would be ideal for a "boutique" hotel -- an intimate, upscale property not affiliated with a name brand.

The price being asked for the building is $5.1 million, according to the CB Richard Ellis report. That's quite a change from 1966, when it was assessed at $20,630.

The report says an eight-story, 155-room hotel could have a strong 76 percent occupancy rate and fetch $186 per night by 2013.
"It's across from the convention center and just north of the Arena District with the North Market behind it," said Doug Goddard, senior vice president with CB Richard Ellis. "It's a prime property."
It also is next to the site where convention officials want to see a convention hotel -- a large "full-service" property with its own restaurant, ballroom and at least 500 rooms. Backers of that plan, which has gained steam in the past two years, fear that building more small hotels now would dilute demand for the bigger property.
"A limited-service hotel would likely do well, and it would certainly be cheaper to build," said Paul Astleford, president and chief executive of Experience Columbus, the city's convention and visitors bureau. "But would it open up new markets for us? No. Meeting planners are very clear about the type of hotel we need to attract new business, and it has to be a full-service hotel."

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*WHy not have both, whoever said variety was bad especially now that it seems Arena District is the designated heart of downtown rather than high&broad which is the real heart of downtown Columbus!