Fairgrounds development follows University of Dayton River Park boom

Nearly eight years after the University of Dayton purchased 115 acres of former NCR land, new businesses have built on the land and UD has renovated, filled and renamed the NCR Headquarters as University of Dayton River Campus. The next big step for the area is rebuilding the old Montgomery County Fairgrounds.

>>PHOTOS: Aerial views of the UD, River Park area

2013

GE opened its $53 million, 138,000-square-foot EPISCenter, the headquarters of GE Aviation’s electrical power business on River Park Drive across from the Marriott. The building was specifically built for designing and testing power generators, distribution boxes, power converters and energy management systems that create and move electrical power around an airplane.

2014

The University of Dayton, in partnership with Concord Hospitality, purchased the Dayton Marriott. UD and Concord Hospitality jointly own the property, which was purchased for $18.5 million, according to a release. It remains a full-service Marriott hotel.

2016

Emerson Climate Technologies opened its $35 million Helix Innovation Center on UD’s campus on West Stewart Street across from the Fairgrounds. Inside the Helix, are life-size models of a two-story home, a 2,500-square-foot grocery store and a 1,500-square-foot working restaurant kitchen and technologies allowing researchers to simulate conditions on a summer’s day in Florida — or a winter’s day in North Dakota.