Former iron foundry reopens as warehouse, manufacturing hub

A former iron and steel foundry in Columbus, Ohio, idled for several years but once led by a presidential family, has been reconfigured as distribution and light manufacturing space.

The new Castings Commerce Park is a three-building speculative industrial park developed on the site of the historic former Columbus Castings steel foundry.

From the late 19^th century until 2016, the site housed an iron and steel foundry that made products including farm implements, rail car couplers and frames and other heavy castings.

In the early 20^th century, the firm’s owner was Frank Rockefeller, a brother of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller. He hired Samuel Prescott "S.P." Bush as general manager, with Bush eventually becoming president, according to a Wikipedia page which draws from the company’s now archived website.

S.P. Bush was the grandfather of President George H.W. Bush and great-grandfather of President George W. Bush.

In this century, the company went through several ownership changes before folding in 2016.

Irvine, California-based global architectural and design firm Ware Malcomb provided architecture and interior design services for the redeveloped site, which offers about 862,000 square feet of floor space and room for up to 171 loading docks.

The buildings and the 71-acre site were redeveloped for its current owner, Atlanta-based private real estate investment firm Stonemont Financial. The original structure was slated for demolition in 2018 under a previous owner.

“Stonemont had a clear vision for redeveloping the historic site, which had been vacant for quite a while,” says Jason Jordan of Ware Malcomb. “We partnered to design highly flexible spaces that should help bring plenty of jobs to the local South Side Columbus community.”

The three buildings were designed with load bearing, insulated precast concrete panels on an interior steel column and joist frame, says the firm, making them suitable for both warehousing and manufacturing.

General contracting services for the project were provided by Sacramento, California-based Alston Construction Co.