In with the new and different uses for the old is Ohio State’s approach to accommodating guests.
This fall when the Fawcett Center Hotel, located at 2400 Olentangy River Road, closes, the Roger D. Blackwell Inn at the Fisher College of Business will become the university’s official hotel.
“The closing of the Fawcett Center Hotel has nothing to do with the opening of the Blackwell Inn. They were two separate business decisions,” said Ruth Gerstner, special assistant in communications in the Office of Student Affairs.
The decision to close the Fawcett Center hotel was made for spatial, financial, and competitive reasons, Gerstner said.
The Fawcett Center’s 70 hotel rooms will be converted into office space for the building’s three tenants: the Office of University Development, Conference and Hospitality Services, and WOSU radio and television stations.
“WOSU needs more space to accommodate the switch to digital technology,” Gerstner said.
New meeting rooms will be added to those existing on the ground floor, while the auditorium and Oxley’s restaurant and catering will remain.
These changes will help meet the growing need for conference and meeting spaces.
In the short term, the Fawcett Center Hotel is self-supporting. But long-term financial considerations, such as the future need for renovations, played a role in the decision to close the hotel, Gerstner said.
Fewer hotels were located just north of campus on Olentangy River Road in 1970 when the Fawcett Center, named after OSU’s 8th president, Novice G. Fawcett, opened for business. Another recent development is that many of the hotel’s customers come from central Ohio and do not need a room.
The closing of the Fawcett Center Hotel is a decision that makes sense, Gerstner said. It will continue to act as a communication hub for the university and promote life-long learning, she said.
“The university will still have an official hotel,” Gerstner said.
The Fawcett Center will close Sept. 9. The Blackwell Inn will begin lodging guests June 1.
Construction of the Blackwell Inn, the fifth building in the Fisher College of Business complex, began in August 2000 and is scheduled to be completed in June.
“The existence of the Blackwell is not affecting the transition taking place at the Fawcett Center. We have a different position in the marketplace,” said Doug Koyle, general manager of the Blackwell Inn.
The Blackwell Inn, located at 2110 Tuttle Park Place adjacent to the Pfahl Hall Executive Conference Center, will contain 151 hotel rooms.
The Blackwill Inn will have a lounge and exercise room for its guests. The inn will also have a ballroom and terrace seating for up to 500 people.
“The important benefit will be to the participants in the Executive Education programs, students of the Executive MBA program, and other guests of the College of Business,” Koyle said. “They will have closer proximity to their sessions and will have services and facilities that are not currently available to them.”
Student money is not being used to finance construction, which will cost slightly more than $30 million, Koyle said.
The inn was named in recognition of Richard Blackwell, a professor of marketing, and his wife Tina, who contributed $7 million to the Fisher College of Business.
