Momentum is building in Old Hilliard, where visitors can now find recent additions like the Crooked Can Brewery Company and Center Street Market alongside established favorites like Otie’s Tavern & Grill and the Starliner Diner. Those not in the know might also be surprised to see a quaint park and a bike lane that leads from the center of the suburb to the six-mile Heritage Trail.
Andy Warnock wants to see the area become even more of a destination, with options not just for recreation, eating and drinking but also for shopping, working, and staying overnight. About five years ago, the father of four decided to take some of the industry knowledge he had acquired from his years in the real estate business and start applying it to the place he and his his family call home.
“In 2017, my wife and I really wanted to start investing heavily in the town where we’re raising our family,” he says. “I felt like it was the time for Hilliard…the city had spent a bunch of money on sidewalks and parks and a splash pad in Old Hilliard, and I just thought, you know, if they’re going to spend money, it’s time for some private investment to follow.”
Warnock’s Westwood Collective has been acquiring property in the area ever since, and now has several different projects under its belt, including the Junction, a co-working space and business incubator on Franklin Street that shares a building with Sexton’s Pizza; and Legacy Smokehouse, a BBQ restaurant on Main Street that occupies a renovated single family home.
Other Westwood project include Norwich Square, a new-build development that will bring eight patio homes to a plot of land off of Norwich Street, and Old Hilliard’s first Air BnB, which was recently approved by city council.
Warnock says the work that other Columbus suburbs have done to develop their town centers – like Creekside in Gahanna or the new development on Lane Avenue in Upper Arlington – can serve as models for Old Hilliard. He also thinks Hilliard can learn from Dublin, whose Bridge Park district is probably the most dramatic example in central Ohio of a sprawling suburb building out a new, mixed-use core.
“I look at Bridge Park and I say, never do I want Hilliard to be the east side of the river, where it’s six stories, it’s uber-dense, it’s all brand new,” he says. “But I think Hilliard could very much model its redevelopment and its next couple of decades after the west side of the river [in Dublin], where you have a nice mix of three-story, newer, dense product, next to an old Victorian home that’s been converted to office/retail/restaurant…I think that’s the right taste and charm and feel.”
Another place that caught Warnock’s eye is Bellefontaine, where a local company called Small Nation has renovated over 50 historic buildings in the small city’s downtown.
“I was inspired, I went and met with [Small Nation founder] Jason Duff in Bellfontaine last year, and we kind of struck up a friendship,” Warnock says. “You have great toy stores and shops…loft apartments and great restaurants; and I kept telling myself when I’m there, how can a town of 15,000 people support all of this, but in Hilliard, when we have 35,000-plus, and probably a higher area median income, have we not done all this?”
Westwood’s plans for the near future include a golf-simulator lounge in the Junction building, as well as bringing four new retailers to Main Street, including the Urban Market clothing boutique and a store called Old Hilliard Mercantile, which will sell home goods and furniture. Not yet finalized but on Warnock’s radar are plans for a wine bar and a new fine dining option, which he hopes will complement the current mix of businesses.
The company has bought up more than 20 properties in Old Hilliard, and is working on plans for new development projects that would help to fill in some of the gaps along the streetscape while bringing more residents to the town center. One concept calls for a four-story, mixed-use building with 12 apartments on Franklin Street, next door to the Junction.
Warnock thinks that Old Hilliard can succeed by catering primarily to Hilliard residents, while other projects closer to I-270 – like the mixed-use development recently proposed for Trueman Boulevard, near Mill Run – are more likely to draw customers in from surrounding suburbs.
“I always will believe that a town like a Hilliard – or Delaware, where I grew up – has to have a downtown core that’s exciting, that people want to go to,” Warnock says. “As not only a real estate guy, but as a Hilliard community member, I want that place to be vibrant, and a place we’re excited to call home.”
For more information, see hilliardohio.gov and westwoodcollective.com.
