Business Briefs: Kohl's Property Sold At Auction - Indian Restaurant At Lizard Location
Weiler firm buys Westerville Kohl’s property for $5.8 million
The Robert Weiler Co. has purchased the property housing the Westerville Kohl’s department store for $5.8 million, acquiring a 10-acre commercial site with a lease that could keep the retailer there through 2041.
The 10.22-acre property at 133 Huber Village Blvd. includes a 99,380-square-foot building that Kohl’s has occupied for more than three decades.
Kohl’s current lease expires Oct. 31, 2031, leaving about five years and four months on the term. The retailer also has two five-year renewal options that could extend its occupancy through Oct. 31, 2041.
Robert Weiler Co. President Skip Weiler said the Columbus real estate company intends to keep Kohl’s as its tenant and has no immediate plans to change the property.
“Kohl’s has a number of years left on their lease, so we do not plan to do anything other than continue to keep them as our tenant,” Weiler said in an email to Columbus Business First.
He said the company would be interested in redeveloping the site if Kohl’s eventually leaves, although no specific plans have been proposed.
The property was sold at auction, with an opening bid of $2 million.
Kohl’s remained open throughout the foreclosure proceedings. The Westerville store also avoided the retailer’s 2025 decision to close more than two dozen stores nationally. None of the company’s 11 Columbus-area locations was included in that round of closings.
The Westerville acquisition follows a strategy the Weiler company has used in other parts of Central Ohio: buying land or income-producing property, holding it while collecting rent or waiting for surrounding development, and later developing or selling portions as market conditions change.
The property gives the company control over more than 10 acres in an established commercial area, while Kohl’s continues to pay rent.
The building was constructed in 1974 and remodeled in 1991. It is adjacent to West Park Plaza, whose tenants include Marc’s and a recently opened Planet Fitness.
Although Weiler has not proposed a future use, the company has experience with retail, apartments, offices, industrial buildings, subdivisions, and mixed-use developments. Its work has also included land acquisition, planning, brokerage, property management, and partnerships with other developers.
Some of the company’s most significant projects have been north of Columbus.
In 1987, Bob Weiler joined developers Bob Echele and Don Kelley in a partnership that began Polaris Centers of Commerce. What started as a large tract near Interstate 71 grew into a regional district containing offices, stores, restaurants, hotels, apartments, entertainment venues, and other commercial development.
The Polaris project also helped push development east toward Westerville and north into Delaware County. The company has cited Polaris and the neighboring Westar area among its major northern projects.
Farther north, the Weiler company assembled about 2,000 acres in Delaware County for Northstar, a planned residential and commercial community near Interstate 71.
The company began investing in the Northstar land in the late 1990s and later became an equal partner with Nationwide Realty Investors. Plans included single-family houses, condominiums, open space, and more than 1 million square feet of retail, office, restaurant, senior housing, and hotel development.
Northstar illustrates the long holding periods involved in some Weiler projects. The company bought farmland before roads, sewer service, and surrounding development made large-scale construction practical. Homes and other portions of the community were then built in stages.
The company has also been associated with residential development in the Westerville area, including West Albany and Barrington Estates. Its broader residential work has included subdivisions in Dublin, Reynoldsburg, Grove City, and elsewhere in Central Ohio.
Founded in 1938 by A. Robert Weiler, the family-owned company began developing single-family housing during the 1940s. Robert J. “Bob” Weiler Sr. joined the business in 1957, and his son, Skip Weiler, joined in 1985 as the third generation of the family involved in the company.
Over the following decades, the business expanded from housing and land development into retail centers, offices, warehouses, industrial parks, apartments, property management, appraisal, and commercial brokerage.
The lease guarantees Kohl’s control of the property through Oct. 31, 2031. If the retailer exercises both renewal options, redevelopment could be delayed until after Oct. 31, 2041.
Bombay House Restaurant & Bar plans early July opening near Polaris
Bombay House Restaurant & Bar is preparing to open in early July at 496 Polaris Parkway, occupying the restaurant portion of the former Winking Lizard and Lizardville location.
The upscale Indian restaurant is owned by the Kondhare family, who moved to Columbus seven years ago. Arnav Kondhare said opening a restaurant has long been his mother Archana Kondhare’s dream. His father, Mandar Kondhare, is also involved in the family business.
Its menu will draw from several regions of India rather than focusing on a single cuisine. Guests can expect familiar dishes such as butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, and South Indian dosas, as well as regional specialties.
Those dishes will include vada pav, a spiced potato fritter served on a buttered bun with house-made chutneys; misal pav, a Maharashtra dish made with sprouted lentils, spices, bread rolls and crunchy farsan; and pav bhaji, a buttery vegetable mash served with toasted rolls. Indo-Chinese dishes will also be available.
Bombay House will seat about 130 guests inside and another 60 on the patio. The Kondhare family plans to share the official opening date on the restaurant’s Instagram account once it is finalized.
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