A well-established relationship with customers on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a big reason why the company spent just over $1.3 million last year to buy the building at 714 E. Monument Ave.
“Thirty percent of our employees and 30% of our revenue are in and around the Dayton area, primarily Wright-Patt,” Austin Tsosie, DDC chief executive, said Thursday. “That’s our relationship.”
DDC has 716 employees nationally, with about 150 of those in the Dayton area, The CEO expects that local number to grow.
“As part of our investment, the investment with space, and also with work projections, we definitely will achieve the 100 (Dayton) jobs in a short amount of time,” Tsosie said.
Diné is wholly owned by the Navajo nation.
“It’s another great day for the Miami Valley,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said. “Those 100 jobs are coming right here. And we’re very happy with this investment being made by the Navaho nation. It shows their confidence in the Miami Valley, their confidence in the state of Ohio.”
Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was rich with history. References to the history of the Navajo “code talkers,” a group of 29 Native Americans who joined the Marines in World War II and developed an unbroken communication code based on the Navajo language that proved instrumental to U.S. and Allied victories.
The Monument Avenue building has been christened the “Navajo Code Talkers Building,” and a small museum dedicated to the history of the code talkers is underway there, expected to be complete next year.
For decades, the code-talkers’ contribution to the war effort was kept secret. Only gradually has their story been told. In 2002, a film starring Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach, “Windtalkers,” was released.
“Since the codes that they developed remained unbroken, the U.S. military wanted to keep the program classified in case the code talkers were needed again in future wars,” according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
In public remarks, Tsosie recalled visiting Wright-Patterson and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force with a code-talker. He said they received “red-carpet treatment.”
“That’s the spirit with which we have been welcomed here in the Dayton area,” Tsosie said.
DDC’s new building has a history of being a haven for new technology and manufacturing-focused companies. It was the home of the Entrepreneurs Center for years, before that organization moved to the downtown Dayton Arcade.
Diné bought the 714 E. Monument building from CityWide Development Corp. for $1,310,000, according to Montgomery County Auditor’s Office records in November 2023. At the time, the company had an office on Oak Court in Beavercreek.
In September 2023, the state of Ohio approved tax credits for Diné. The city of Dayton also approved a $150,000 grant for the building, and a $150,000 Montgomery County ED/GE (Economic Development/Government Equity) grant went to the project.
A $188,000 Dayton tax increment financing infrastructure grant also boosted the project.
Dayton developer Jason Woodard oversaw the renovation of the building.
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