Miller said ICP envisions attracting businesses that would “likely be a mix, smaller than Synchrony,” a major Kettering employer that left the city at the end of 2020 as part of a global work-from-home strategy.
Credit: STAFF
Credit: STAFF
The land includes two buildings — about 200,000 square foot each, Miller said — and is the focus of a change that will allow broader uses to attract more jobs, city officials have said.
The 36.5-acre property was purchased by F1 Kettering LLC of California in 2008 for an undisclosed price, Montgomery County land records show. It bought the property from Forward One LLC, which paid $37.9 million for it two years earlier, documents state.
The buildings are currently vacant, officials have said.
The land accounts for nearly one third of the 120-acre business park, which houses major employers Alternate Solutions, Amazon and Kettering Health, according to city records.
F1 Kettering owns about 47 acres at the KBP and nearly 43 acres belong to other businesses, city officials said. Kettering owns nearly 28 acres.
ICP would like to have office and/or light industrial tenants at 950 Forrer, but doesn’t currently have commitments from particular users, Miller said.
“We’re not counting on it being a pure office call center or anything specific like that,” he said. “That’s exactly why we’re seeking the flexibility for different users…we actually see it most likely as a multi-tenant building with a mix of different kind of uses” that are not “substantially different from what it is now.
“In fact, we like the looks of the buildings. I think there’s a good chance that they’ll look very much the same, but might need to be changed a little bit to accommodate a light industrial use or something like that,” Miller added.
“It also could very well have some office tenants,” he noted. “We just think it will likely be a mix, smaller than Synchrony” that “form kind of a business community, thus the change to designation business park.”
ICP also owns four properties at Miami Valley Research Park in Kettering and the former General Motors land occupied by Tenneco, which plans to close Kettering operations that house about 600 jobs.
It also worked with Industrial Realty Group to acquire most of the LexisNexis office campus in Miami Township last year.
The Forrer land is currently zoned office. A proposal to change that designation to business park would allow for industrial-type uses, including laboratories, manufacturing, fabrication and product assembly, Kettering Planning and Development Director Tom Robillard has said.
The change would not have an adverse impact on neighboring lands, he told city officials last week.
“We feel the particular use…will not have any negative impact on adjoining lands,” Robillard said.
Kettering City Council expects to vote on the issue at a future meeting, Kettering Mayor Peggy Lehner said.
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