Citywide eyeing new Tech Town building

“We’re far from done,” said Steve Nutt, senior vice president for Citywide.

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Although there is no imminent announcement about construction, Nutt's news comes three days after civilian employees of the Air Force Research Lab talked of anchoring a downtown "innovation district" about a third of a mile from Tech Town, possibly at 444 E. Second St., former home to a University of Dayton Research Institute sensors operation.

Citywide, which acts as the public development arm of Dayton city government, spearheaded development of the first buildings in the $40 million business park north and south of East Monument Avenue, most recently with Tech Town III, where construction was completed in 2011.

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Now, Nutt said, Tech Town is home to about 450 employees. With the campus 95 percent full, it’s time for the private sector to take the lead.

“We have sufficiently primed the pump, which was always the intent, so that a private developer would come with an end user and build the next building,” Nutt said Monday in an interview at Tech Town III.

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“We’re talking with a number of developers right now — and a couple of end users as well,” he added.

Dayton Children’s Hospital will move its chief technology officer and allied staff to Tech Town III, which is 100 percent full, Nutt said.

With construction on the nearby Webster Street bridge slated for completion in the third quarter this year, Nutt envisions a new gateway to the northeast downtown quadrant, with traffic being routed from Interstate 75/Ohio 4 off to Webster, to an area that features not only Tech Town, but the growing Water Street development, Fifth Third Field and more.

“Once that (the Webster bridge) opens up, the traffic count in that area of town will only help,” said Jason Woodard, developer, along with Columbus firm Crawford Hoying, of downtown’s Water Street area.

“We’re in the pathway of development,” Nutt said.