The Junto

Opened in June 2023 on the Scioto Peninsula in Franklinton, The Junto is Columbus's first independent lifestyle hotel — a 198-room, club-inspired property built from the ground up by Rockbridge and Makeready as the anchor of a brand-new riverfront district. Its design borrows the name and spirit of Benjamin Franklin's 1727 Junto club, betting that a hotel can double as a genuine community gathering place.

The place

The Junto sits at 77 Belle Street on the Scioto Peninsula, the first phase of The Peninsula mixed-use development in Franklinton, just west of downtown Columbus across the river from the Arena District and next to the COSI science museum.

The concept

Developed by local investment firm Rockbridge and operated by Dallas-based Makeready, The Junto opened in June 2023 as Columbus's first independent lifestyle hotel and the anchor of the new Peninsula development in Franklinton, a neighborhood the city has spent a decade trying to revive after generations of flooding and disinvestment. The name and concept borrow from Benjamin Franklin's 1727 Junto club, a mutual-improvement discussion society, and the hotel leans hard into that idea of a gathering place: a deliberately un-hotel-like lobby called the Trade Room mixes sectional sofas, communal worktables and a recessed front desk to read more like a members' clubhouse than a check-in counter. Architecture and interiors are by JNS Architecture + Interior Design, with brand and ID concept work from OMFGCo; the 198-room, multi-tiered building occupies a full block with internal mews, activated alleys and a public plaza, and references Franklinton's agricultural and industrial history rather than importing a generic downtown-hotel look. A custom chandelier by local glassblowing studio Glass Axis anchors the lobby, and the hotel employs an on-staff 'lifestyle curator' to run community programming, from trade talks to mushroom-foraging outings, aimed as much at Columbus locals as at overnight guests.

Dining & wellness

The Junto was built around food and drink rather than bolting it on afterward, with room for up to nine outlets across the property. Little West Tavern serves wood-hearth cooking around an open fire, Brass Eye is the rooftop bar, and Maudine's operates as the all-day neighborhood coffee shop; the Trade Room lobby doubles as an informal bar and gathering space. A fitness center, a bike- and gear-rental 'Gear Garage,' pet-friendly rooms and over 13,000 square feet of meeting and event space round out the amenities. No spa is advertised on the property.