Walk the two blocks of West Olentangy Street between Liberty and Depot on a Thursday evening and the change is easy to miss until you count doorways. A donut counter that was not there in January. A rooftop bar in permitting review. A run club spilling out of a brewery taproom at quarter past six. The Powell most of us moved to was a destination strip of restaurants surrounded by subdivisions. The Powell taking shape this summer is something closer to a walkable core, and the pace of small openings is what tells the story.
This is a field report, not a forecast. Here is what has actually opened, what is on the council's desk, and where to spend the next six weekends without leaving the 43065.
The doorways that were not there in January
The most concrete change on the ground is a bakery. At Glazed Over, every donut is hand-rolled and hand-cut in small batches throughout the day. The shop originally opened in Sandusky in 2019, and the new location is inside Liberty Plaza at 240 N. Liberty St. in Powell. Hours run 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., which makes it a morning stop rather than a dessert stop, and it fills a gap the downtown strip has had for years: a place to sit with coffee before the lunch rooms open.
Coming behind it is a bigger swing. Khaab Indian Kitchen & Bar announced plans for a new Powell location in 2026, promising traditional recipes, a contemporary vibe, and elevated hospitality. The expansion builds on the success of the group's Bexley location, which matters for one specific reason. Powell's dinner scene has leaned heavily on independent operators like Novella Osteria and Kraft House No. 5. A Bexley chef bringing a second concept north is a vote of confidence in the daytime foot traffic, not just the weekend reservation crowd.
What 147 and 173 West Olentangy will decide
Here is the item most residents have not read closely. In November, a local developer walked into a Powell City Council Development Committee meeting with a plan that would reshape the west end of the downtown strip.
Transform Construction submitted plans for a two-story restaurant at 147 W. Olentangy St. and a three-story building at 173 W. Olentangy St. that would house another restaurant, retail space, and a 16-room boutique hotel. The combined investment totals about $7.8 million according to a presentation made during the Nov. 5 meeting. City officials are weighing 75% property tax abatements over 15 years for both sites; under that structure, the developer would save about $190,000 on the restaurant project and roughly $1.5 million on the hotel building.
The economics the city put on the table are worth reading against a baseline. The development team estimates the hotel could generate roughly $1.9 million in annual visitor spending if fully occupied year-round, based on the Ohio Department of Development's average that an overnight visitor typically spends about $327 per day. Over 15 years, that would amount to $28.7 million in economic activity. City figures show the projects would support more than 70 full-time jobs and bring about $1.95 million in new payroll to downtown, generating around $39,000 annually in payroll taxes.
What is the "so what" for a resident on Grace Drive or off Murphy Parkway? Two things. First, a 16-room hotel is not a Marriott. It is small enough that its restaurant partners and rooftop are effectively neighborhood amenities that happen to also serve overnight guests. Second, the abatement conversation is a live one. If you have opinions about density, parking, or the pace of downtown build-out, the council's Development Committee is where those decisions actually get made, not the comment section of a Facebook post.
The character of what the hotel would add is already sketched out. A Hawaiian-inspired rooftop bar, the Lani Rooftop Lounge, will be open to the public and available for private events. Rooftop bars are rare enough in Delaware County that this one, if it opens, will pull traffic from Dublin and Worthington on summer evenings.
The COhatch effect nobody is talking about
Layer the hotel proposal on top of what is already coming. COhatch's Powell location is expected to support nearly 200 jobs and about $1.5 million in annual payroll, and will include coworking offices, meeting rooms, event spaces and the "60 East Member House," a renovated historic home.
Two hundred coworking members is not a small number for a downtown this size. It is a daytime population that did not exist here two years ago, and it is the reason a 6 a.m. donut shop and a lunch-forward Indian restaurant both make sense at the same time. The projects are not independent bets. They are betting on each other.
Where the evenings actually happen
If you are a resident, the practical question is not "what is being built." It is "where am I this Saturday." Downtown Powell has quietly organized its summer around three anchors: Village Green Park, Nocterra Brewing, and the Powell-Liberty Historical Society's programming.
Nocterra deserves specific mention because it has become the closest thing Powell has to a third place. The Nocterra Run Club meets every Thursday at 6:15 p.m. for a healthy run, followed by a hangout in the taproom or beer garden. The group works with Columbus Running Company, incorporates all levels of ability, pace, or distance, and is open to the public year-round. That is a standing weekly commitment most residents I talk to do not know exists.
Village Green, meanwhile, is doing double duty. Powell Parks and Recreation is partnering with Body Alive Powell to offer free Pilates In The Park at Village Green Park, 47 Hall Street, with a session on Saturday, August 15 at 8:30 a.m. Bring a mat, water, and your friends. The same lawn hosts Movie Night on the Green at the Village Green Amphitheater in downtown Powell, shown on a large LED screen, with the invitation to grab food and drinks from the surrounding restaurants first.
The next six weeks, on one page
Rather than a running list, here is the calendar to actually put on the fridge.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, Aug 8, 7 a.m. | Kidslinked Powell Bubble Run | Olentangy Liberty Middle School |
| Sat, Aug 8, 9 a.m. | KidsLinked Powell Back to School Bash | Olentangy Liberty Middle School |
| Sat, Aug 8, 11 a.m. | Yoga in the Vineyard | Echo Spirits on the Vine |
| Sat, Aug 15, 8:30 a.m. | Free Pilates In The Park with Body Alive | Village Green Park |
| Sun, Aug 16, 10 a.m. | Larry Coolidge Cruise In | 47 Hall Street |
| Sun, Sep 13, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. | Powell Street Market & Business Expo, with 60+ local vendors, food trucks, and downtown restaurants | Downtown Powell |
The Powell Street Market is the one worth clearing a schedule for. Sixty vendors along the downtown strip is the closest the city gets to a full street festival outside of the Powell Festival itself, and it is a good day to walk the block that the hotel proposal would reshape and form your own opinion before the abatement question gets settled.
A walking loop for out-of-town guests
If you have family coming through, the honest version of the downtown loop looks like this. Start at Glazed Over on North Liberty for coffee and something warm. Cut south to Village Green Park, where the Larry Coolidge Cruise In or Movie Night crowd will give you a sense of the town's Saturday rhythm. Walk west on Olentangy past the two lots at 147 and 173 that everyone in the room will be arguing about in five years. Finish at Nocterra for a beer in the garden, or at Kraft House No. 5 if the group wants dinner.
The whole loop is under a mile. That is the point. A year ago, a walking loop of downtown Powell would have felt thin. This year it does not, and the reason is the accumulation of small openings rather than any single project.
A note on the pace
The proposal for two new dining spaces is, according to Powell's Economic Development Administrator Sean Hughes, a response to ongoing demand from residents. "Why more restaurants? Quite simply, it's because our residents want them," Hughes told the committee. "They want to see more choices and restaurants here in our downtown in particular, and Powell in general."
That is a useful quote to hold onto. Every wave of downtown investment somewhere gets rationalized after the fact as inevitable. Powell's current one is being rationalized in real time, in council meetings that are open to the public, in a district small enough that the difference between 12 storefronts and 16 storefronts is legible from the sidewalk. If you live here, this is a good summer to pay attention to the sidewalk.
If you own a home in downtown Powell or the neighborhoods that feed into it, the changes on Olentangy Street are the kind of shift that shows up in property values two to three years after they show up in foot traffic. When you are ready to understand what that means for your specific block, Cece Miller Real Estate Group offers a private market consultation grounded in the same on-the-ground reading of downtown Powell you just read. Request yours when the timing is right.
