The LeVeque Tower

(Firstly, a very big thank you to all of my blip friends who acknowledged my 2000th blip yesterday. Your kind words and comments help keep me going. They are greatly appreciated.)

This landmark tower is a 47-story skyscraper located in Columbus, Ohio. At 555 feet 6 inches (169.32 m) it was the tallest building in the city from its completion in 1927 to 1974, and remains the second-tallest today.

Designed by C. Howard Crane, (known for grandiose designs) the 353,768 square feet (32,866.1 m2) art deco skyscraper was opened as the American Insurance Union Citadel in 1927 and at the time was the fifth tallest building in the world. Built at a cost of $8.7 million, the tower's design incorporated ornate ornamentation and a terracotta facade, and it was designed with 600 hotel rooms in two wings as well as an attached performance venue, the Palace Theatre. Subsequently its owner went bankrupt in the Great Depression.

In 2011 with the office space around 1/3 empty, the tower was purchased by Tower 10 LLC, a joint venture of Columbus real estate investors for an incredible $4 million. By that point, the office building's vacancy rate had risen to 43 percent. The partners planned about a $22 million project to fix cracked terracotta on the tower and convert it from an office building to a hotel and residential structure. In 2012, the owners announced the renovation would cost $26.7 million. Completed in 2017, extensive work was done to repair the building's facade and modernize its interior. LeVeque Tower was redesigned as a mixed use development, including the hotel, a new restaurant, offices and apartments. The viewing platform at the top was closed after 9/11.

Detail of the Art Deco ornamentation on the upper stories can be seen in my distance shot in extras. I blipped a B&W shot of this building when I was in Columbus in 2014.