Columbus State Community College’s Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts program has consistently been highly rated, both in Ohio and nationwide. And today, the college took a giant leap into the future by breaking ground on a brand new facility.

The new building will be christened Mitchell Hall, named for one of Columbus’ favorite sons, restaurateur Cameron Mitchell.
Mitchell and Columbus State President Dr. David Harrison began conversations about creating the new state-of-the-art facility over 4 years ago. A combined private sector and community partnership has culminated in the groundbreaking for the new building today.

The new school will not only update the program’s facilities, but will also introduce a number of new academic programs for students including Beverage and Mixology, Culinary Arts, Hotel Administration, Hotel Management, and Sommelier programs.
In addition to the new programs, the facility will add new amenities for staff, students and faculty:
In addition to doubling Hospitality and Culinary Arts enrollment capacity to more than 1,500 students, the new 80,000-square-foot, three-floor facility will include a professionally managed, student-staffed, 100-seat sit-down restaurant and bar and 20-person retail café and bakery, both with outdoor seating; and a 400-plus seat banquet-capacity conference center with onsite catering and a sweeping balcony overlooking downtown. The site will also feature a teaching and innovation kitchen, farm-to-table food production gardens and a 100-seat culinary theater, among many other student education assets.
Today’s event was attended by a mix of city government, community and business leaders including Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther, City Council president Shannon Hardin, president of Franklin County Board of Commissioners Kevin Boyce, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants president David Miller and our own Brad Wasserstrom, president of the Wasserstrom Company.
In addition to the new culinary arts facility, the city is also upscaling the Cleveland Avenue corridor to provide a more college campus feel, including greenspaces and infrastructure improvements to enhance the entire neighborhood.
With growth of over 13% in the hospitality job market over the next decade, the upgraded school facilities will continue to insure that businesses looking for qualified employees will have a robust pipeline of candidates for years to come.
Columbus State and its partners hope to have the project completed by the summer of 2019.

[Ed. Note: The Wasserstrom Family of Companies is a proud partner in this venture with Cameron Mitchell Restaurants and Columbus State Community College to assist in the design of the facilities and to provide the highest quality equipment and supplies for the teaching kitchens and classrooms for the Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts program.]