Original Article by Dan Eaton, Columbus Business First
A growing local pizzeria and bar chain is adding a third Central Ohio restaurant.
JT’s Pizza & Pub will join the Jerome Village Market – a retail center adjoining a Kroger Marketplace store that opened last fall.
Founder and co-owner Joe Hartnett started what is now JT’s 18 years ago inside what was then the Bier Stube in Linworth.
He expanded last year with a new restaurant at 845 Goodale Blvd. in the Southern Station project in Grandview Heights.
“Jerome Village is exactly the kind of neighborhood JT’s was built for – full of families and friends who become regulars,” Hartnett said in a press release. “As a Columbus-born and built brand, we couldn’t be more excited to bring our third location to the northwest side of town.”
Nationwide Realty Investors, developers of Jerome Village, said in the release that with the addition of JT’s Pizza & Pub, the 20,000 square feet of retail next to the Kroger is now nearly full.
“Retail activity follows rooftops, and once we achieved the optimal density of housing in this area, the retailers were ready to commit,” Nationwide Realty Investors President Brian Ellis said in the release.
JT’s Pizza & Pub is taking a 4,400-square-foot space plus a patio.
Hartnett started serving pizzas and running the kitchen of the old Linworth Bier Stube in 2007. The kitchen was rebranded as JT’s Pizza in 2011. Hartnett acquired the bar portion in 2015 to fully become JT’s Pizza & Pub.
The pizzeria not only has grown sales, which has fueled its expansion, but it’s also earned acclaim as a multi-time Best Pizza in Columbus winner.
Jerome Village spans more than 2,000 acres with 19 established neighborhoods already and an additional 12 in development.
Neighboring tenants in and around the center include Wendy’s and both Chase and Fifth Third banks, which are taking outparcel spaces. Jersey Mike’s is coming to the center in December. Great Clips is open. Perfect Nails and Best Brains Jerome are signed.
Village Vision, Burton Family Dental Jerome, Jerome Dental and Dublin Jerome Eyecare all are open. Minga Orthodontics is coming in December.
Memorial Health is building the 40,000-square-foot Memorial Jerome Medical Center.
Primrose School of Dublin Jerome is open. Barrington School will open this fall.
Read the original article HERE.
