Vitria on the Square Takes Shape With Veteran Executive Team

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MEDIA CONTACT: Rochelle Young
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Vitria on the Square takes shape with veteran executive team
New images released of the 20,000 sq. ft. event center 

Vitria, a breathtaking new event space at University Square, developed by Campus Partners, is now in the hands of an experienced executive team that is preparing to open the much-anticipated venue in the spring of 2023. Columbus Hospitality Management has hired Todd Gauer as General Manager with Brittany Martell as Director of Sales. Corey Welch fills out the team as Executive Chef. As construction is well underway, new renderings offer insight into the final interior features of this dynamic, one-of-a-kind event space adjacent to The Ohio State University.

Vitria is being brought to life at the storied corner of N. High St. and 15th Avenue in a partnership between Campus Partners, a nonprofit leading redevelopment around The Ohio State University, and Columbus Hospitality Management, nationally recognized for 25 years of managing event centers and premier hotel and restaurant brands across the country. 

Gauer comes to Vitria from West Virginia University’s Erickson Alumni Conference Center, a venue he managed for five years to much acclaim. The opportunity to launch and run what promises to be a highly sought destination was irresistible. 

“When you walk into Vitria, it can take your breath because it’s so beautiful,” Gauer said.

Through 25-foot floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor of University Square North at the northeast corner of 15th and High, Vitria’s 5,500-square-foot Grand Ballroom offers unparalleled campus views. The expansive glass vistas inspired the venue’s name, a variation on the Latin word for glass, vitrum.

Vitria on the Square Grand Ballroom.

With 20,000 square feet in all, the Vitria experience will be “elegant, personalized service; that’s my dream,” Gauer said. 

Opening the new venue and making original decisions means “we get the chance to make everything the Cadillac,” he added.

The new GM’s management style is to take care of his staff so that they take the very best care of the guests and clients they serve. Whether working with new students of hospitality management or professional servers, Gauer said he helps staff develop their potential so they, in return, will assure repeat clients for the venue. 

Operating in university settings appeals to Gauer. Before his WVU stint, he helped operate the Graylyn International Conference Center at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for 13 years. He also managed hotels in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas after receiving his bachelor’s degree in business management in 1992 from Fairmont State College in Fairmont, West Virginia. 

Kathryn Burton, Columbus Hospitality Management Chief Operating Officer, said Gauer “is a relationship guy” whose nickname with staff at various venues was “the mayor” for his penchant to be out meeting and greeting people rather than sitting in his office. “His compassion, care and concern are second to none,” she said.

Martell brings an event planning and operations background to her new sales position. She is confident that Vitria, as an elite new facility in a beloved location, “will sell itself.” Premier events are already booked for April, May, and September of 2023.

Vitria represents a homecoming for Martell, literally down to the same intersection. While an Ohio State student and Pi Beta Phi sorority member, she was a bartender and manager of The O Patio and Pub, a popular campus bar then at 15th and High. 

The Westerville native graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management and worked several years in event planning and hospitality operations in Nashville, Tennessee, before returning to central Ohio and working with Columbus Hospitality Management, most recently as Director of Social Events for Nationwide Hotel & Conference Center. 

Burton said she regularly receives glowing letters from clients about Martell’s work. “Our purpose is to ensure each guest enjoys their entire experience so they can’t wait to come back. Brittany personifies that and she fulfills that every day,” Burton said. 

Vitria is also a homecoming for Welch, who was an Ohio State dining hall student manager from 2008 to 2010 before continuing his chef training at Columbus State Community College. His 13 years of professional experience includes opening the Marriott Columbus Ohio State as Executive Chef and previous assignments with Columbus Hospitality Management. 

“He knows culinary is the heartbeat of the overall experience,” Burton said of Welch. “He’s very passionate about local growers, local farmers. He’s also very big on seasonal ingredients and making sure they’re included in our menus during their peak season.” 

Luckily, receiving an elite event invitation won’t be the only way for central Ohio residents to experience the wonder of Vitria once it opens. “Sometimes we’ll hold our own events, like a jazz brunch or an upscale indoor tailgate to bring the public in,” Burton said, adding, “We’re known as the company that always asks the question, ‘What if?’” 

Amanda Hoffsis, Chief Executive Officer of Campus Partners, is excited about the executive team Columbus Hospitality Management has put together for Vitria. “It meets the very high standard that the space itself is setting,” she said. 

“Todd brings tremendous expertise and experience from collaborating with a university, which is obviously critical here. Brittany has impressed us in the work she has been doing with Columbus Hospitality Management for years. We’re tremendously excited that she’s taking on our venue. And Corey, all you have to do is taste his food and you’re sold,” Hoffsis said. 

Vitria on the Square is projected to open in Spring of 2023 and is accepting inquiries currently at info@vitriaonthesquare.com. More information can be found at vitriaonthesquare.com.

About Columbus Hospitality Management: 

Columbus Hospitality Management is a nationally recognized third-party management company with over 20 years of experience building trust and relationships with hotel and restaurant brands, partners, and hospitality asset ownership entities. Columbus Hospitality’s portfolio of managed assets includes fourteen event venues with a total of over 1M square feet of meeting, event, arena, and exposition space serviced daily. Columbus Hospitality Management’s hands on approach to business operations stems from our President’s personal values of integrity, passion, community, forward thinking, and motivation. Our vision of genuine hospitality is rooted in our Midwest values and embraced every day as an opportunity to make a difference in our guests’ lives. At Columbus Hospitality, people are our bottom line, and we believe in building a culture one associate and one relationship at a time. Learn more at www.columbushospitality.com.

About Campus Partners:

Campus Partners was formed in 1995 as a 501(c) 3, private, non-profit corporation working in the urban neighborhoods surrounding the Ohio State University.  The hallmark of Campus Partners’ work has been a market-based strategy which relies on community planning, a comprehensive approach to neighborhood renewal, partnerships among the major stakeholders and strategic projects that leverage private investment and change underlying conditions in the neighborhoods