Now, Woodard is working with owners of undeveloped land on a new office building, and he’s doing that at an auspicious time — Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will soon take the first steps in exploring possible extended use leases or EULs. These could involve the opening of federal property in that area to investors or users for possible leasing and development.
One parcel of land that the base has proposed for possible development is what it calls “Gerlaugh Farm,” adjacent to Col. Glenn Highway and the Mission Point property that has Woodard’s attention now.
We caught up with Woodard — who is a veteran not only of Miller-Valentine, but also RG Properties — Thursday to talk about his plans.
Credit: Cory Frolik
Credit: Cory Frolik
Dayton Daily News: You haven’t worked in Beavercreek since you were with Miller Valentine, have you?
Woodard: “We’ve done a couple of things outside of downtown (Dayton). But the bulk of our activities have certainly been in the downtown (Dayton) market.”
DDN: So what are you doing now?
Woodard: "We’re always looking for a variety of opportunities. I was very familiar, I worked at Mission Point when I was at Miller-Valentine. And I re-engaged with the (Mission Point) land owners. We are advancing a development plan. Really, we just saw that market as potentially having some really solid growth opportunities, just based on all the activity at the base, with the addition of programs and people, and that’s impacting what’s available for kind of an on-site co-location with some of the defense contractors.
“That’s a great location, a great market to try to take a look at.”
DDN: Where will you develop? Is this adjacent to Mission Point Office Park?
Woodard: “It’s actually one (new) building out there near Mission Point. Basically, we are on the east side of Mission Point Boulevard. For lack of a better description, there’s the Air Force property that they (the 88th Air Base Wing) identified for the EUL (extended use lease). We’re south of that, that property line, and then there’s Mission Point Boulevard, and then … generally over to (Interstate) 675. That’s the area we’re looking at.”
DDN: Did you see the EUL as a possibility?
Woodard: “I didn’t know that it was going to come about right now. Over the years, the EULs have been discussed, and I can’t recall if anything have been done locally or not. It seems like a great program, and we certainly will be keeping an eye on that, because it’s adjacent to the land we’re working on.”
DDN: The fact that these two parcels are next to each other, does that create a bigger opportunity?
Woodard: “Yeah, I think so. Whenever you can create a critical mass, with more acreage, adjacent acreage, you get a cohesive development … I view it as a positive thing.”
DDN: Tell me about the building you’re working on.
Woodard: "The core of the development is going to be defense contractor, office and lab-type space. That’s what our focus is …
“We have started design on an initial building out there, and I suspect that we’ll be moving that along to where we can start to enter into the public approval process in the first part of next year.”
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