The new facility will offer 19,150 square feet of office space, a 523-square-foot atrium and 6,090 square feet of community space, according to a preliminary development plan submitted to the township.
CRG founder and CEO Patrick Hood said the company has grown about 22% per year compounded since it launched in 1997.
“We’ve been successful at commercializing and spinning companies out, but it’s not the best structure to make it most efficient,” Hood said “And I also wanted to clean up the CRG balance sheet. Having an operating company that also holds other companies is not the right structure for business.”
Hood said that’s why he created a family office, Rushlight Assets, the holding company of multiple tech-forward companies, including CRG. He also created sister company Rushlight Ventures, which is focused on commercializing defense technology for CRG as well as other businesses that carry out small business innovative research programs for the Defense Department, he said.
Hood said he and his wife, Brenda, share a vision for the enterprise.
“One is we want to cultivate philanthropy in the region,” he said. “Two is we want to build community and community is both giving back to the community but also building community within our business and also creating opportunities for relationships to be built. And third, is to grow businesses. Those are our three pillars.”
The new building fits into that vision of supporting those three and creates a place for Rushlight Assets to be that is separate from day-to-day operations within CRG, Hood said. It also will be a place for Rushlight Ventures and an incubation area for new starts.
“It provides flexible office space for staff who are operating businesses as they get launched, whether it’s part of CRG or part of the commercial side of this,” he said.
The community space aspect of the facility initially will be focused on the businesses within the Rushlight ecosystem, Hood said. It also will provide a place for non-profits in the region.
“We’re very focused on the Miami Valley and supporting the Miami Valley and creating a place for them to hold fundraisers (and) gatherings for that, as well as corporate functions within that space,” he said. “We may open it up to the community at large, but that’s not in the near term.”
The new building likely won’t be complete until the end of 2024, at the very earliest, Hood said. Overall cost of the project is estimated at between $6 million and $8 million, he said.
It will be the first of two planned additional buildings. Hood said the second one likely won’t be constructed until 2028.
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