But Tenneco’s planned departure from 2555 Woodman Drive allows time to plan and possibly pivot by marketing the former Delphi and General Motors facility in various ways, officials said.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
“The Dayton region has been realizing a significant boom in the logistics and distribution industry,” said Chris Kershner, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO. “Logistics and distribution follow a similar footprint to manufacturing facilities. And any former manufacturing facility can be a great re-use for a logistics and distribution company.”
A 2015 economic impact study on logistics and distribution in the Dayton region found the industry added $2.5 billion to the economy and 20,000 jobs were directly related, Kershner said.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Logistics jobs, said Market Metrics principal Doug Harnish, “seem to be kind of our hotbed and probably (are) still growing,” especially in the Interstate 75/I-70 corridor.
But “former manufacturing facilities also can be reused for new manufacturing facilities,” Kershner said, noting Fuyao Glass America’s growth at the former GM site in Moraine. “So I think there are some good options for potential reuse for any manufacturing facility that’s available.”
Tenneco site landowner Industrial Realty Group also bought the Moraine land before Fuyao converted it to a windshield manufacturing site now employing more than 2,000 workers.
IRG — while noting it’s early in the process — didn’t rule out a new use for the Tenneco site, but it specializes in industrial properties, said Dean Miller, senior vice president with Industrial Commercial Properties, which partners with IRG on the Kettering plant.
“We’re pretty optimistic given the state of the market out there for industrial space,” Miller said.
IRG bought 55.8 acres at 2000 Forrer Blvd. — the address of Delphi’s administrative offices — in 2012 for $3.29 million, Montgomery County land records show. Tenneco leased a large portion of the site, but much of it, including buildings, has been vacant, officials said.
The site has infrastructure, utilities and parking in place, Miller said. It could accommodate multiple tenants and be refurbished for a variety of businesses, he said.
“If we have an empty building and someone comes along with a use that we didn’t necessarily envision, we’re not closed to that idea,” Miller said. “And we like working with Kettering and we think a lot of the industrial market right now.”
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Kettering has said its main focus is helping impacted Tenneco workers and their families. But the city also plans to start exploring future uses for the site, Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman said hours after the company’s announcement.
“We’ve had a pretty good track record in Kettering and in this region of redeveloping sites and taking advantage of opportunities that are presented,” he said. “And we will immediately begin that process.”
Before Tenneco’s announcement, in fact, early talks had started about redeveloping the rest of the former Delphi and General Motors land, which for decades has been part of “one of largest industrial sites in Kettering,” Schwieterman said.
“It may certainly remain an industrial site in our city,” he said. “But we’re also willing to discuss what the region needs and what industry needs from that site.”
However the Kettering site is marketed, Tenneco’s plan to “wind down” production, as Schwieterman termed it, starting in 2023 should give IRG and the city “a window of opportunity to get something in place” on at least part of the property, Harnish said.
A key factor for future use could be an available workforce, Kershner said, now “the number one issue” for businesses.
“They need people,” he said. “They need people with specific skill sets and manufacturing employees have those skill sets that are in high demand. I think there’s a lot of opportunity for anybody who is in the manufacturing or logistics industry.”
BY THE NUMBERS
•$2.5 billion: Amount of economic impact a 2015 study found the logistics and distribution industry had in the Dayton region.
•$3.3 million: Estimated sale price of 55.8 acres on Forrer Boulevard that IRG Kettering LLC bought from Delphi Automotive Systems in 2012.
•648: Number of Tenneco jobs in Kettering.
•2.76: Percentage of all jobs Tenneco accounted for in Kettering in 2020, when it employed about 800 people.
SOURCES: Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery County Auditor’s Office, Tenneco, city of Kettering.
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