The Columbus Redevelopment Commission Monday agreed to lease more than 100 spaces to Toyota Industries North America, Inc. in advance of the company’s move to downtown Columbus by the end of the year.
Toyota Industries North America — the regional headquarters of parent company Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO) — has entered into an agreement with Cummins to lease the top floor of the Cummins COM building at the corner of Third and Jackson streets.
Redevelopment officials said the plan is for the company to move in by the end of the year, giving Toyota Industries a presence in downtown Columbus, but sought additional spaces for their employees before then.
The redevelopment commission passed two resolutions to provide Toyota Industries 55 parking spaces in the Jackson Street Garage and 53 spaces in the Second Street Garage.
A third resolution the commission passed amends the current parking contract with Cummins to reflect the change in spaces. Cummins leases 500 spaces in the Second Street Garage, but will now lease 447.
Director of Redevelopment Heather Pope said that the Jackson Street Garage, which has 400 spaces, will now be about 50% occupied.
There are two types of parking spots in the city garages— reserved spaces, meaning there is a singular space a person always uses and unreserved spaces, meaning that a person will always have a space in the garage, but it won’t necessarily be the same space. The spaces in the Jackson Street Garage that Toyota Industries will lease are unreserved spaces.
Toyota Material Handling (TMH), a subsidiary of TICO, had entered into an agreement with redevelopment in September 2024 to lease 75 spaces in the Jackson Street Garage as part of the potential purchase of the Irwin Office Building and Conference Center at 525 Jackson St.
That didn’t end up coming to fruition, however, as a result of a “reevaluation of our needs on campus here,” according to Stephen Rosenberg, director of marketing and communications at TMH.
The 75 spaces that had been allocated to TMH have essentially been voided because the purchase of the Irwin Office Building didn’t end up happening, Rosenberg said, adding that Toyota Industries gaining a presence in the downtown is something to be celebrated.
“We’re super excited to be bringing a downtown presence that we haven’t had,” Rosenberg said. “We wanted one for awhile, and the ability for us to work with Cummins and sublease some space out of the (Cummins COM building)— it’s going to bring a significant new population downtown, and I think it’s going to be kind of great for the community.”
Cummins in February 2024 announced that they would be selling the Irwin Office Building and Conference Center, along with the former Sears building, located at 323 Brown St.
The Irwin Office Building has been vacant since the pandemic and is still on the market, according to online real estate records.
The redevelopment commission entered an agreement with Cummins to purchase the former Sears building and adjoining parking lot for $4.2 million in March 2024, with the idea being that the building’s ultimate use would be contingent on the Columbus Downtown 2030 plan.
Cummins acquired the Irwin Office Building and Conference Center at the corner of Fifth and Washington streets from First Financial Bank in 2010, announcing plans to employ 350 people at the location, The Republic reported previously.
At the time, the company said it planned to invest $5.25 million to purchase and equip the 90,794-square-foot building.
The building, which was initially owned by Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co., was designed by famed Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen in 1954, and features “nine opaque domes” that “act as giant lamp shades” and flooring in some areas with “1-inch thick glazed, split paving brick in a rustic buff color,” according to the Columbus-Area Visitors Center.
The three-story glass arcade was designed by Kevin Roche and added in 1973.
First Financial Bank acquired the property after the demise of Irwin-Union Bank during the Great Recession.
