A downtown dining establishment that has been closed for about two years has been purchased by the same foundation that owns the Crump Theatre and North Christian Church.
John Wilhelmi, owner of Joe Willy’s Burger Bar at 1034 Washington St., has sold the property to the Columbus Capital Foundation. The price was $412,500, according to the Bartholomew County GIS system.
“Considering the possibilities of someone buying that and … turning it into just an office building, Columbus Capital made the decision to acquire that property, to hold it until the right developer came along with the right idea that we think benefits all of downtown,” said board president Hutch Schumaker. “And that hasn’t happened yet, but we’ll start looking for viable partnerships.”
According to the Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, the Columbus Capital Foundation was established in 1994 to support the Heritage Fund, the city of Columbus and Bartholomew County “by preserving and maintaining land and buildings of historical or architectural significance to the community.” The foundation also acquires “key properties for future development.”
“This has nothing to do with preservation,” Schumaker said, in regards to the recent purchase. “It has nothing to do with historical significance. It’s about key properties at the corner of … 11th and Washington Street.”
The foundation wants to promote the idea that downtown starts at 11th Street, he added.
Columbus Capital purchased the property through a holding company named 1034 Washington Street, LLC, similar to how they own North Christian, located at 850 Tipton Lane, through a company named 850 Tipton LLC. They also hold the deed to the downtown post office, Schumaker said.
According to property records, the foundation owns the land through 450 Jackson Street LLC, having purchased it in the summer of 2021 for $1.167 million from the “Board of Trustees of Ind State Teachers Retirement Fund.”
While the foundation has no plans for the Washington Street property, Schumaker said it’s not going to be reopened as a restaurant due to a lack of sufficient on-site parking.
In discussing the property, he noted that the building is in “extreme disrepair.”
Wilhelmi and Joe Carman opened Joe Willy’s Burger Bar in August of 2012. The two men spent over a year turning the more than 100-year-old house at 1034 Washington St. — which has served a number of purposes over the years — into a restaurant.
In late 2021, the business closed for the season, and a for sale sign was posted on the property some time later.
When asked how it feels to let go of the property, Wilhelmi replied, “I owned it for a long time, so kind of bittersweet, I suppose.”
