COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — A historic Downtown hotel that has hosted several U.S. presidents is set to undergo renovations after being purchased for more than $10 million.
Whitestone Capital, a division of the Lewis Center-based Whitestone Companies, announced this week it made an all-cash transaction to acquire the Westin Great Southern Hotel at 310 S. High St. Franklin County auditor’s office records show the investment firm paid $8.85 million for the property and another $1.8 million for the hotel’s furniture.
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Built in 1896 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 142,326 square-foot Westin has welcomed several U.S. presidents, including William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
“When you step into the picturesque two-story marble lobby, you feel a century’s worth of history all around you,” said Jay Batra, CEO of Whitestone. “You see the passion that went into building it. They don’t build them like this anymore.”
The seven-story hotel is home to 189 guestrooms, an Italian restaurant called Bar Cicchetti and more than 10,000 square feet of event space, including a grand ballroom with marble flooring and stained-glass windows that “give off a roaring 20’s fairytale mystique that weddings gravitate to,” Whitestone said…