The Kettering Business Park is a large commercial development on the site of the former Gentile Air Force Station and Defense Electronics Supply Center (DESC), just south of the Dayton-Kettering border.
Kettering City Council has approved an agreement to sell three parcels totaling 14.2 acres to TW Development Group of Cincinnati for $210,001. If the final deal goes through, the city will reimburse the developer up to $1.1 million for demolition of a 200,000 square-foot warehouse that sits on the property.
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Zoning Administrator Ron Hundt told the commission Monday that the zoning request met all of the requirements in the city’s zoning code and Amazon’s desire to come to the business park will be a win-win for the city.
“We are pleased with what they are doing with the design,” he said, adding it is an added bonus that the proposed project is, “very respectful of what the city wanted for this property.”
Prior to approving the conditional-use permit the commission had to make a determination involving four criteria: the proposed distribution center is permitted conditional use; proposed distribution center should benefit the community without detriment to surrounding properties; the center is compatible with surrounding properties and public interest, health, safety general welfare can be promoted by approval of requested distribution center.
“All the standards have been met with this request,” Hundt said. “This is called the ‘Last Mile of Delivery’ for Amazon. Really what they are doing is bringing in trucks late at night and will be offloading for delivery the next day.”
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He added that there will be 5 to 7 loading docks with truck access and room for van storage as well as employee parking.
There were conditions attached to the approval that included sufficient screening be provided around all vehicle parking and storage areas.
Jim McCarthy of TW Development Group said his group acquired the building a-year-and-a-half ago, and it was in distress.
“We’ve put a bunch of money into the building to bring it back to life with the idea that we would have multiple tenants in the building,” he explained. “So, we were fortunate enough to have Amazon approach us to occupy 87,000 square-feet of the building.”
McCarthy said he’s currently negotiating a lease with Amazon.
“It is 80 percent there, and we will hopefully start construction in March and they should be occupying by the middle of July,” he said.
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