Flatiron building owner plans to clean the building and explore new uses for the landmark.

Another longtime Columbus restaurant has called it quits as the year draws to a close: the Flatiron Bar & Diner at 129 E. Nationwide Blvd. closed Thursday evening.

The restaurant, which sat across the street from the Greater Columbus Convention Center for 30 years, informed patrons on social media, a phone message and a posting on its door.

"We have closed our doors indefinitely," read a post on the restaurant's Facebook page. "Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years, you are like family to us and we will miss you all!"

The Facebook post quickly attracted dozens of comments and more than 100 reactions. Most expressed sadness at the closing, though one commenter said changes to the menu had driven him away in the past two years; one man recalled that he met and fell in love with his wife while they both worked at the restaurant, which was "great...in its hey day."

The Columbus-based Wittmann Company owns the building and the restaurant, along with several other buildings in the block.

Stephen S. Wittmann, an owner of the company, said his company will miss the restaurant, but felt it was time to explore new uses for the distinctive, historic 1914 flatiron building.

"We're regretful. ... We ate there often," Wittmann said of the restaurant. Wittmann said he doesn't have a specific plan for building, but said he has no plans to sell it or the surrounding buildings he owns.

"We're going to step back, clean the place out a little bit. ... my guess is that someone will come to us and say 'We'd like to be there,' " he said.

The upper two floors of the three-story building have been used for storage in recent years, Wittmann said. They originally served as rooms for rent, while the lower level was operated as a bar and grocery when the building sat in the shadow of the Union Station railroad terminal. That property became the convention center.

The Flatiron joins such longstanding institutions as the Blue Danube in the University District, the Worthington Inn and Shaw's Restaurant in Lancaster that have recently closed or, in the case of the Worthington Inn, announced imminent plans to close.

mrose@dispatch.com

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