Lira Italian Kitchen will move into the former Chase Bank building at 4056 E. Main St. in Hilliard, with the city announcing the project this week and an opening targeted for 2028. The rehab is another project from Westwood Collective, a developer already behind several Hilliard projects as well as work in London and Plain City, Ohio.
Westwood partnered with Around the Clock Hospitality, the group behind Clocktower Kitchen + Bar, which opened in downtown Plain City last year inside a building co-owned by Westwood and local investor Rayce Robinson. Around the Clock Hospitality is owned by Benjamyn Greig, Jenna Fisher, Shane Whitacre and Chelsea Whitacre. Fisher and Greig, who are married, are restaurant industry veterans, while the Whitacres, also married, own Chef’s Table, a restaurant Greig has also helped with.
Lira is described as a modern, neighborhood Italian restaurant, with a menu built around handmade pasta, wood-fired dishes, seasonal ingredients, European wines and craft cocktails.
The bank building is only part of a larger vision for the site. A new mixed-use building is planned for the adjoining parking lot, adding more ground-floor dining and retail space along with luxury apartments on the upper floors.
According to the Columbus Business Journal, Hilliard Downtown Manager Angela Zody called the project a “tremendous investment,” while a quote attributed only to “Warnock” in the city’s announcement described the investment as especially meaningful given their ties to the Hilliard community, though the article does not identify who Warnock is or their role in the project.
