Major employers left - Synchrony Financial from the business park and WilmerHale from the research park - bringing “significant loss in revenue” for the city, Patterson said in his final state of the city address last week.
Meanwhile, land deals involving Life Connection of Ohio and Industrial Commercial Properties for dozens of acres combined at MVRP are helping to blunt those departures, said the four-term mayor who is ineligible by city charter to run again.
Credit: FILE
Credit: FILE
COVID-19-related shutdowns brought job losses and health mandates that made 2020 “exhausting with crushing moments of loss, along with unforgettable opportunities to serve one another,” he added.
But Patterson also said “our employers are thriving, our business parks are benefitting from reinvestment and our commercial properties remain in great demand.”
City officials “certainly place a great deal of focus on attracting new businesses and helping those already in Kettering grow and thrive here,” he said. “The vast majority of our amenities and valued city services are funded by income tax. If we don’t have the jobs, we don’t have the resources to support the infrastructure, facilities and services our residents and businesses treasure.
“In the end, our goal is to protect the investment that you made when you decided to call Kettering home,” Patterson added. “That means that we invest in our commercial centers to support job growth, as well as our neighborhoods…”
Patterson also noted that the city “saw some of the highest gains in residential property value in the region, proving that moving to Kettering is a wise investment.”
Synchrony’s nearly 1,900 jobs created about $120 million in annual payroll, giving the city more than $2 million in income tax revenue each year, officials have said.
At the research park this year, Life Connection of Ohio will complete the purchase of more than 8 acres at the intersection of Research Blvd and Woodman Drive, Patterson said.
The organ donation center plans to move its regional office from Dayton to Kettering as part of an expansion that could eventually nearly double its number of jobs, its Chief Executive Officer Matthew Wadsworth has said.
The move to a location expected to be nearly 30,000 square feet will put Life Connection closer to Community Tissue Services, a significant customer, Wadsworth said.
CTS broke ground in 2018 for a 132,000 square-foot expansion at the research park as part of a $50 million expansion that is expected create more than 200 jobs, according to Patterson.
During 2020, Industrial Commercial Properties purchased four buildings and 28 acres the research park. One of those sites, a building on 10 acres at 1900 Founders Drive, will receive state and local aid for renovation to attract new tenants, it was announced last month.
Kettering will provide up to $600,000 in grants to attract tenants to 135,000 square feet of available space to a building JobsOhio officials said would be an ideal regional office for businesses working with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The Cleveland-based ICP has also said it is looking to build a 300-unit multifamily housing complex on about 28 acres at the northwest corner of Research Park Boulevard and County Line Road.
Residential is a not a permitted use at the research park, Kettering officials have said.
The proposal is in its early stages, but a company executive has told the Dayton Daily News that he expects plans to be submitted to the city by the end of this year.
Once plans go forward, any approval would involve a lengthy process including both the city and the association overseeing MVRP, Kettering City Manager Mark Schwieterman has said.
The site of the proposed housing is near where Kettering plans this spring to widen County Line from the intersection of Dorothy Lane to the intersection of Vale Drive.
Over the next 20 years, this corridor is expected to see a further increase to the average daily traffic flow, according to the city.
The project estimated to cost $3.1 million will widen County Line to five lanes, with two through lanes in each direction and a center left turn lane, city records show.
It will also replace the sidewalks on the west side of the corridor with a new 10-foot multi use trail which connects to the existing trail to the north, according to the city.
Credit: FILE
Credit: FILE
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