Meanwhile, Solvita, the research park’s second biggest Kettering employer with 1,240 jobs, wants to build a “large-scale,” 5.6-acre solar farm that could help add hundreds of new jobs, it told the Dayton Daily News.
And nearby businesses — organ donation center Life Connection of Ohio and medical device producer Resonetics — have both positioned their sites for future growth after adding jobs in recent years.
“Clearly, the biosciences (are) an element that is growing and expanding within the park,” Kettering Assistant City Manager Brian Chodkowski said.
The new STEM school would bring 25 faculty jobs, while defense contractor Two Six Labs, which has called Kettering a “front-runner” for its expansion, would bring 80 more jobs, officials said.
Kettering’s largest MVRP employer, Reynolds and Reynolds, said it has added 63 jobs since pre-pandemic January 2020 and now employs 1,520.
“I think what we’re seeing there is a clear validation that professional office space — contrary to what some might say — is not dead in the post-COVID era,” Chodkowski said.
“There is a need for this space,” he added. “There is a need for this type of collaborative space ... with respect to some of the growth and development.”
The new STEM school construction is targeted to start this fall after the school agreed with the city in April to buy 9.58 acres southwest of its existing 1724 Woodman Drive campus.
Plans call for the 58,000 square-foot building to open to students in grades K-2 and grade 4 next fall, Superintendent Robin Fisher has said. The following year, students in grades 3 and 5 would join them, officials said.
“We feel very good about where the research park is at this point,” Kettering Mayor Peggy Lehner said.
Negotiations for two other projects are ongoing but have been delayed, officials said. Two Six Labs’ decision on expansion at MVRP has hit a snag, but the defense contractor “remains committed to that project,” Chodkowski said.
“We’ve been told to expect some more activity … to their use of space at research park” this fall, he added.
Two Six Labs Vice President of Corporate Development David Leach declined to comment for this report.
A similar hold-up is impacting the timeline to file plans for an apartment complex on about 28 acres at the intersection of Research Boulevard and Patterson Road, said Dean Miller, a vice president for Industrial Commercial Properties, which owns the land.
The economy prompted potential real estate developers to reconsider partnering on the proposal, he said.
“We had a lull with the project because the interest rates increased and it caused anybody that was interested to rethink,” Miller said. “I think we’re now refocused.”
Miller said he’s hopeful the project will move forward next year.
Solvita’s plans for a large-scale solar farm would not immediately impact jobs, “but it promotes our growth as we continue to hire and fill new positions,” company spokesman Mark Pompilio said.
“We are using the sun as part of our long-term strategy to manage our use and expense of energy and demonstrate our commitment to helping solve problems and improving our world,” said Solvita CEO Christopher Graham in a released statement.
The specific impact on jobs directly related to the solar project is unclear, but Graham said “it could aid in the growth of hundreds” of new positions, according to Pompilio.
The not-for-profit organization said it is working with IGS Solar on the project, which would provide energy to its research park manufacturing facilities, according to Solvita.
Earlier this year, both Life Connection and Resonetics each took measures to that would pave the way for “future development,” according to Kettering records.
Resonetics expanded its building space in 2022 and has room to add more jobs there before constructing more space, Zack Etzler, Kettering operations director, said recently.
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