Development would add 400 jobs near Dayton-owned airport

The real estate development firm hopes to develop the property for a high-tech manufacturing project that could bring 400 new jobs to the area.

One area transportation leader called a deal between the city of Dayton and NorthPoint a “very positive step forward for all of the parties” and an example of what was envisioned when the Interstate 75/Austin Boulevard interchange was planned.

“That’s one of the reasons the interchange was actually built at that location,” said Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District Executive Director Steve Stanley. “That was a big, big part of what we did. ... The airport (and) the city of Dayton were engaged on that front. So it’s really no surprise that it would move forward at this point.”

On Wednesday, the Dayton City Commission approved a purchase option agreement with NorthPoint Development, which is a Kansas City firm that has constructed a collection of massive new commercial facilities around the Dayton International Airport.

Under the agreement, NorthPoint agreed to pay as much as $30,000 over three years for the exclusive rights to buy 170 acres of vacant property east of the Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport runway.

The small general aviation facility, located southeast of the Route 741 and Austin Boulevard intersection, consists of 527 acres.

The city has been working with NorthPoint to attract “Project Flyer” to the property, which would be a potential high-tech manufacturing project, according to a memo from Gil Turner, Dayton’s director of aviation.

The city’s agreement gives NorthPoint control of the site and the ability to perform geotechnical and other tests to help attract the prospective development, Turner said.

The agreement says the purchase price of the property would be the “fair market value,” which is expected to be between $39,000 to $45,000 per acre, city documents state.

NorthPoint has constructed around half a dozen buildings near the Dayton International Airport, totaling more than 3 million square feet of space that employ more than 2,200 people.

Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport is in the Joint Economic Development District (JEDD) the city shares with Miami Twp.

The JEDD income tax revenues are split 50/50 by the city and the township.

The airport has seen more than $20 million in private and public investment since 2014.

More than a year ago, the township rezoned more than 300 acres – mostly on the airport’s east side − as part of a business-growth strategy, using standards similar to nearby Austin Center, where development has flourished near Austin Landing.

The rezoning followed a pair of studies focused on best ways to use land at the airport.

The rezoning was intended to expand development “to non-aviation uses that complement the office and industrial needs” of Miami Twp., as studies have suggested.

Austin Center includes hundreds of acres on and around the Interstate 75/Austin Boulevard interchange. The district employs thousands — about 2,500 at Austin Landing – and is just west of the general aviation airport in Miami Twp., where about 320 people work.

The city’s rezoning created standards consistent with “other Austin Center office and commercial areas at the nearby Austin Center interchange,” Kyle Hinkelman, Miami Twp. deputy director of community development, said at the time.

“Future development of an industrial area to the east is anticipated to accommodate airport manufacturing uses, high-tech industrial uses, and/or corporate office uses,” records show.

Stanley, with the local transportation improvement district, said the aviation property was one of the reasons the city and other jurisdictions were involved in the interchange’s planning.

“That particular area was part of the land we looked at originally – as all the undeveloped land around there was looked at – as presenting a terrific opportunity for the whole community to have additional, new high-quality economic development,” Stanley said.

Stanley said the east side airport property is large enough to accommodate facilities for more than hundreds of jobs and was always supposed to be developed in the long term.

Stanley said an agreement between the city and NorthPoint may lead to building a road south from Austin Boulevard into airport property. A road south from Austin is an issue that’s been discussed for years, including when Miami Twp. rezoned airport land more than a year ago.

“It’s possible,” he said. “I would think with the depth of that ground there probably would be some public roadways that would need to be built.”