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Capital University will likely take over the ownership and operation of Bexley Bed & Breakfast, 519 S. Drexel Ave., if Bexley City Council approves pending legislation that would grant the university a waiver to do so.
The third reading of the order by the Council is scheduled for October 12. The order says Capital has entered into a contract to purchase the Bexley Bed & Breakfast from owners Mike and Lesli Mautz. The Bexley Bed & Breakfast, which opened in April 2015, has five bedrooms.
“We thought this was another opportunity to get involved in the community,†said Bill Mea, vice president of business and finance at Capital. “It’s a well-established and respected company, and we would love to be a part of it as (the current owners) evolve. We would like to take over. “
The ordinance contains the following provisions if the capital becomes owner:
• A Capital University employee will live and occupy the premises full time.
• The bed and breakfast will remain open to the public and will be the subject of public marketing.
• Students in the capital will not occupy the bed and breakfast, unless the student has paid for and booked accommodation in the institution through the publicly available reservation system at market rate.
“We would do it exactly as it is today,†Mea said. “It would be for visitors to the city, visitors to the capital, visitors to the Columbus area.”
Capital students previously helped the Mautzes develop a marketing plan for the Bexley Bed & Breakfast, and the company presents additional experiential learning opportunities, Mea said.
“We would like to continue to involve our students in understanding the business,†he said. “We would have an employee running it, but we would like (the students) to understand what it takes to run a small business effectively, to participate in it.
“We would like them to help run the website for that, help do the marketing work associated with it. It would be an opportunity to help themselves get started in a small business and see what it is like.
Jessica Saad, chair of the council’s zoning and development committee, introduced the ordinance.
“I love that you are going to involve the students in the bed and breakfast concept and let them run this business model,†Saad said.
In response to a question from Saad, Mea said Capital does not have a hotel management program, but the university may collaborate with the Columbus State Community College program.
“We have a school of management and leadership,†he said. “And that would probably be the group that would most likely be involved.”
Capital also wants to continue working with the local suppliers used by the Mautz, Mea said.
“If there is a group that they source their food from in the morning, we would like to continue with that and keep those relationships moving,†he said.
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