What does it take to stay in business for a century or more? We’ve asked some of them. Products or services continually in demand. Succession plans that serve customers and employees. Adaptability reigns supreme, of course. And a little luck doesn’t hurt.
An historic sale: Requarth Lumber has a new owner
The bottom line: Alan Pippenger, chairman of the F.A. Requarth Co. board of directors, announced the sale of downtown Dayton’s Requarth Lumber to the Schockman Lumber Group, of St. Henry, Ohio.
Requarth was founded in 1860 and is famed locally for, among other reasons, having sold wood to the Wright brothers for their early airplanes.
What they’re saying: “This is bittersweet, but it is time for us to let go and position the company for its next century of success,” Pippenger said.
ALSO: How do you live to be 100?
ALSO: Longtime Miamisburg diner finds new owner.
Board rejects $2M big for local YWCA property
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
What happened: The Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services board unanimously rejected a $2.13 million bid for the former YWCA Huber Heights campus.
Blue Logic Capital, an investment company owned by Tom Manning, won the recent auction for the property at 7650 Timbercrest Drive, which was previously meant to serve as another location for YWCA Dayton, a domestic violence shelter.
One issue: Manning faces multiple indictments in Franklin County over allegations related to investment fraud, which he says are false.
Middletown packaging plant to close, lay off workers
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The situation: Graphic Packaging Holding Co. is closing its Middletown manufacturing location, affecting 136 workers, the company said.
The facility is at 407 Charles St.
What the company said: “The Middletown team...has played an important role in the company’s success, and we are focused on providing support and re-employment assistance to them,” said a spokesperson.
Dayton-area postal facility, one of just a few, has seen upgrades
Improvements: Recent revamps to the U.S. Postal Service’s Sorting and Delivery Center in Montgomery County are designed to deliver faster, more dependable service, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
The updates to the Washington Twp. center at 7525 Paragon Road are part of a $40-plus billion investment nationally.
What they’re saying: “What we can tell you is that the Washington Township SDC (Sorting and Delivery Center) is part of a larger investment across the state of Ohio and the nation focused on transforming the Postal Service,” a Postal Service spokesperson told us.
Ohio House ditches DeWine tax proposal, funds new Browns stadium
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Columbus is busy these days.
Ohio House GOP leadership unveiled its first official budget priorities this week, making significant changes to Ohio’s public school funding formula and eliminating governor-proposed “sin” tax increases to fund new programs, our Avery Kreemer reported.
Provisions: The House’s proposal enacts sweeping eliminations to some of the governor’s most notable proposals.
And: It enacts a package of $600 million in 30-year, state-backed bonds to help the owners of the Cleveland Browns fund a domed stadium.
Contact me: Thank you, as always, for reading and being here. Tell me about your business (or job) at tom.gnau@coxinc.com or at X and Bluesky, where direct messages are open. I’m also on LinkedIn and on our Dayton Business page, with my colleagues.
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