Hammond Harkins Galleries in the Short North is closing, and its 92-year-old owner is working with a court-appointed receiver to manage its assets. Marlana Hammond Keynes opened her first gallery in 1973 in Lancaster before moving to Bexley and, in 2015, settling in the Short North. According to a September motion asking Franklin County Common Pleas Court to appoint the receiver, recent changes in the neighborhood as well as Keynes' "advanced age" prompted the decision to shutter the business. The gallery suffered during Covid-related lockdowns in 2020 and the "riots and demonstrations" in the neighborhood that summer, according to the motion, and recovery in the years since has been slow. "Since the end of the nationwide pandemic, the Short North area has continued to struggle from an increase in gang-related and violent crime," the motion stated. "What was once a promising area for an art gallery to thrive has since become a location people are less willing to frequent, which has proven harmful to businesses reliant on guest attendance." As it heads toward closure, the business' creditors include artists who may be owed money from art sold by the gallery, Huntington National Bank and the U.S. Small Business Administration, according to court records. Jack Harris of Intercept Management has been appointed receiver and will oversee distribution of assets to those and other potential creditors. "While it is not known at this time how much will be eventually distributed to creditors, the company believes that proceeding through a judicial dissolution with the appointment of a receiver is the most equitable manner for achieving a maximum return for creditors," the gallery said in its motion, filed by attorneys from Allen Stovall Neuman & Ashton LLP. Short North art gallery outlook Betsy Pandora, executive director of the Short North Alliance, said the neighborhood tends to see business closures toward the end of the year, but the overall outlook is positive. "Moments of transition with tenured businesses in our community always elicit feelings, no matter the circumstances," Pandora said in an email. "We are ahead of opening trends at this point in the year and are in keeping with normal rates of closure." Harris said there has already been interest in buying the gallery business and/or leasing the prime High Street space; the gallery buyer could take over the 641 N. High St. space or the business and the lease could be sold separately. "We want to get a good tenant in there," Harris said. "The Short North is still a viable, wonderful place." The gallery is located in a building owned by Wood Cos. Tyler Puhl, the company's senior vice president of development, called the quotes in the court filing about the state of the Short North "irresponsibly inaccurate." "The Short North remains a vibrant district filled with new independent businesses with new ideas and long term stalwarts that are doubling down in new and larger spaces," he said in an email. "Our Short North retail portfolio, as the largest owner of High Street frontage, is the strongest it’s ever been with only two vacant spaces, with one being Hammond Harkins and the other, 700 N. High, is close to a lease signing." Puhl said Wood Cos. "remains dedicated to supporting the arts," noting the company's tenants include the Sharon Weiss Gallery, Lincoln Street Studios, Marcia Evans Gallery, Studios on High, and Lindsay Gallery. Amelia Jeffers, an art auctioneer, appraiser and consultant, will help sell the artwork and business assets. Nearly $1 million of art inventory by popular artists including Paul Hamilton, Denny Griffith, Aminah Robinson, Karen Snouffer and Tim Brown will be available for purchase. The gallery will be open for one more Short North Gallery Hop this Saturday as well as a private event later this month. "She started a lot of art careers in Columbus," Harris said of Hammond Keynes. "We want her 50-year legacy to live on."