Downtown Columbus Inc. is pushing ahead with a roughly $17.6 million reboot of the Wyandotte Building at 21 W. Broad St., betting that a careful makeover of the Daniel Burnham-designed, 11-story landmark can both honor its history and lure modern office tenants back to Capitol Square. The plan keeps shops and other commercial uses at street level while crews tackle new mechanical, electrical and life-safety systems upstairs, a package that city officials and preservation voices say could steady the downtown office market and keep older buildings competitive.
The effort was first detailed by Columbus Business First, which reported that Downtown Columbus Inc. intends to preserve the Wyandotte’s historic detailing even as it retools the upper floors for contemporary office use. That reporting places the project squarely inside a broader push to wake up long-vacant space ringing Capitol Square.
Project costs and tax credits
State preservation filings peg the total Wyandotte project tab at $17,615,980, with $3,450,000 in historic tax credits requested to help make the numbers work, according to data compiled by Columbus Underground. Those credits are slated to support meticulous masonry, window and ornamental restoration while the building’s guts are brought up to current code.
Background: DCI's downtown play
Downtown Columbus Inc. picked up the Wyandotte as part of a broader package of former Huntington Bank properties, a multi-building deal first reported in late 2024 and later confirmed in county records. The move was designed to put a single steward in charge of several crucial Capitol Square parcels, Columbus Business First reported. DCI has said it favors holding and repositioning downtown stalwarts like the Wyandotte rather than flipping them straight to private developers.
What's next for Capitol Square
For now, Downtown Columbus Inc. is keeping quiet on construction timelines and potential tenants, and no official start date has been released. The state’s historic tax-credit awards two weeks ago removed a key financing roadblock, and preservation advocates say a finished Wyandotte overhaul would pump meaningful office inventory back into the downtown market while leaving Broad Street’s historic streetscape largely intact, according to Columbus Underground. City watchers are eyeing the next round of permit filings and any tenant news as early clues to when hammers might finally start swinging.
