Nationwide Insurance announced today it will construct a multi-building corporate campus at the Grandview Yard development in Grandview Heights and, over several years, will move 3,000 workers from its offices in Dublin and Westerville into the new location.
In all, 3,600 Dublin and Westerville employees will be moved from those suburban locations, the remaining 600 to be relocated to Nationwide’s offices Downtown.
Nationwide Realty Investors, the company’s real estate arm and the developer of Grandview Yard and the Arena District, will present plans for the new campus to the Grandview Heights City Council on Monday.
The Grandview Yard campus will be composed of several buildings with a combined total of at least 500,000 square feet of office space, but that’s all Nationwide Realty officials will say for now.
“We’ll provide all the details Monday at the council meeting,” said Brian Ellis, president of Nationwide Realty.
He did say the architectural style of the buildings will be similar to the brick-and-glass designs of the company’s projects in the Arena District and Grandview Yard.
Nationwide employees would begin moving out of their Dublin and Westerville offices over a four-year period beginning in the spring of 2016 as the current leases on those suburban buildings expire.
About 3,400 of the employees are currently in Dublin, with the remainder working in Westerville, Ellis said. When all the moves are completed, Nationwide will have about 10,000 employees Downtown, plus another 3,000 about a mile away in Grandview Heights.
“The goals of this new campus are to bring associates together in a campus environment to create collaborative work environments, better align our business units and take advantage of Nationwide-owned properties in a way that best positions us to serve the needs of our members and associates,” said CEO Steve Rasmussen in a statement.
Grandview Heights officials seem poised to welcome the Nationwide campus at Grandview Yard.
“We’re exactly where we hoped we’d be at Grandview Yard,” said Patrik Bowman, the city’s director of administration and development.
“From a revenue standpoint and also in terms of repositioning our town as a commerce district, and following the mixed-use plan we identified 10 years ago, this all fits together.”
Grandview Yard currently includes 154 apartments in three buildings, the Hyatt Place Columbus, a 90,000-square-foot office building, LA Fitness gym and a 500-space parking garage.
Projects under construction include a Giant Eagle Market District, two office buildings, a 505-space parking garage, the Hofbrauhaus Columbus and Panera restaurants, and another 120 apartment units.
Capitol Square Ltd., the real-estate arm of The Dispatch Printing Company, publisher of the Dispatch, has a 20 percent stake in Grandview Yard. However, the new campus project will be wholly owned by Nationwide Realty, which will lease the space to Nationwide Insurance, Ellis said.
by Steve Wartenberg, The Columbus Dispatch
