COLUMBUS, Ohio - Who knew Columbus was so cool?

My husband and I had no idea. But when work brought us here, we found it to be nothing like we expected. There was a large and bustling arts district. There was a gourmet food market to rival Seattle's famed Pike Place Market. There was a historic district, German Village, with cobbled streets, rehabbed brick homes and cafes. There were restaurants that bested many of our dining experiences in Chicago.

It was downright hip. And so was The Lofts, a boutique hotel built into a historic 1882 former brick warehouse.

The look at The Lofts is minimalist and luxurious. There are high-tech desks, exposed brick walls and Frette bathrobes. A fashionista fellow guest with a cute little dog and a cute little sports car, here because she was relocating from New York, looked right at home.

The location is perfect. The hotel is a few blocks from downtown Columbus and across the street from the Greater Columbus Convention Center. It is in the Arena District, home to Columbus' hockey and arena football venues.

But best of all, a short walk brought us to the North Market, a bustling indoor space crammed with purveyors of high-quality food, coffees and housewares. Go when you're hungry; you can get Indian food, pastas, breads, coffee and mouth watering petits fours. Locals stock up on top-quality fish and meats. On weekends, you will find yourself squeezing through cheerful crowds and wondering why Chicago has no equivalent.

A few blocks farther is the Short North arts district. This impressive strip of art galleries, restaurants and boutiques is worth hours of wandering. On the first Saturday of every month there's a Gallery Hop, when stores and galleries stay open late and the sidewalks buzz with street vendors and musicians.

The indie vibe of The Lofts fits right in.

CHECKING IN: The lobby, small and underwhelming, looks like the ground floor of an office building. My husband checked in at the small concierge desk there and found the welcome efficient and cheerful. Because I arrived separately after the concierges went off duty at 11 p.m., I had to retrieve my key from The Lofts' attached sister hotel, the Crowne Plaza. The clerk there was friendly, though he had the wrong name attached to my key card, prompting me to ask my husband who Carol was.

ATTITUDE: The concierges manning the lobby desk were eager to be helpful. One young man looked up restaurants for us in German Village, printed out menus and called a restaurant to check on the wait time.

A post-visit complication got two different responses. I accidentally left two pairs of shoes in the room, for reasons explained below. The first concierge I talked to seemed undone by the problem and said I would have to hire someone to come to the hotel and box up my shoes so they could be picked up by UPS. Cooler heads apparently prevailed; when I called the hotel a second time, I was assured that the hotel would pack and send my shoes, which it did.

ROOMS: The 44 rooms are laid out in 11 different designs, but share the same industrial/chic aesthetic. Ours, No. 2005, had high windows and high ceilings with exposed ductwork. The sleek king bed had a gleaming cherry wood headboard and built-in steel end tables with small lights. It was outfitted with Frette linens and feather-and-down pillows. The down comforter was enveloped in a velvet duvet cover. The clean-lined desk was of cherry wood and had plenty of work space and an adjustable-arm task light.

There is free high-speed Internet access, a coffee/tea maker and a mini-bar stocked with sodas, water and alcoholic beverages, along with cereal bars, candy and breath mints. In a thoughtful twist, the wardrobes have cloth sides, the better to let clothing breathe. It holds two white terry cloth robes, and an iron and ironing board.

At the bottom, there is an ingenious fold-out cabinet for shoes. But beware: It hides shoes so well that you may forget yours are there and leave them in the room, as I did.

BATHROOM: Black-and-white retro-chic, with gunmetal-gray walls, a glass shelf suspended from the wall by wires and a pull-out makeup mirror. The highlight was a deep tub and a superb hot water supply. Combined with the Aveda bath products, it made for a deliciously relaxing soak.

KID FRIENDLY: Sports-minded kids will enjoy seeing hockey and arena football only a few blocks away. The Lofts offers packages that include adult and child tickets to the Columbus Zoo, the adjacent Wyandot Lake Amusement and Water Park, the Columbus Museum of Art or the COSI science museum.

ROOM SERVICE: Available during restaurant hours from the Max & Erma's on the first floor .

PERKS & PEEVES: Free, if mediocre, breakfast at Max & Erma's, and a free daily newspaper. There is a small fitness room on the lower level, but guests can also use the larger facilities at the attached Crowne Plaza.

The bed at The Lofts was blissful, and the room was stylish and mostly quiet. But the lighting was dingy, the exposed beam ceilings failed to block the sound of people walking upstairs, and the windows were permanently shut, forcing the warm-weather visitor either to use air conditioning or let the room get stuffy.

BOTTOM LINE: Rates range from $169 to $349 for a two-room Garden Tub Suite with a two-person soaking tub. We paid $189 a night; taxes of 16.75 percent added $31.66. Handicapped guests should keep in mind that there are no roll-in showers, only deep tubs.