The 120-acre business park is one of two main employment centers in Kettering along with Miami Valley Research Park.
The business park lost nearly 1,900 jobs after Synchrony Financial announced in 2020 that it would cease operations there. But it remains home to nearly 2,500 jobs and several of Kettering’s largest employers have a presence there, according to city records.
Alternate Solutions Health Network is the top on-site employer with about 800 jobs, Kettering records show. Others include Amazon, Kettering Health, the city and Solvita, formerly Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services.
The blood and tissue center bought the former Synchrony building in 2023 with plans to renovate it.
Building 46 houses Kettering Municipal Court but has more than 110,000 square feet of “underutilized space,” said Mary Azbill, Kettering community information manager.
Chodkowski said the city is open to “any potential end users. We’ve got a myriad of clients out there, largely in the health industry at the moment, and so we’d like to try and take advantage of that.”
Kettering plans to use market demographics data to “help us understand what potential market segments would best fit for this area,” he added.
Building 46 is currently zoned for offices, according to the city.
Kettering’s business park is one of more than a dozen Montgomery County projects to receive at least $1 million through Ohio’s One Time Strategic Community Investment Fund, according to state records.
Chodkowski said Kettering will seek other outside funding sources, but specific options are currently unclear.
Work needed on the building includes roof repairs, HVAC upgrades, asbestos removal, lighting and painting, he said.
While there is no set timeframe for the project’s completion, Chodkowski said he would like to meet particular goals by the end of this year.
“When we roll into December, I’d like for us to have a plan on how we’re going to advance these improvements,” such as “we’ve identified a scope of work, we’ve identified funding sources, and we’ve identified a method to get that work done,” he said.
That may include seeking bids on the project, performance contracting, or “some kind of other procurement method,” Chodkowski said.
“The idea would be that when we get to first quarter of 2025 we’re in the process of acquiring the services to get this work done,” he said.
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