Thank you for reading. You can reach me at tom.gnau@coxinc.com and (937) 681-5610. Drop me a line, tell me what’s going on.
Anyone who has covered business in this town can tell you: Innovation happens here every day. It’s happening as you read these words.
Tech, talent and culture: Why Dayton entrepreneurs never stop innovating
I recently spoke with entrepreneurs and leaders from GE Aerospace, Aeroseal and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base about the ground they’re breaking to serve customers and solve problems. I could have interviewed people at any of a hundred other businesses and organizations.
Money quote one: “I think there are three things that the Dayton region has,” Scott Koorndyk, president of Dayton’s Entrepreneurs Center (EC), told me. “We have technology, we have talent and we have culture.”
Money quote two: “The future of flight is still being invented in Dayton,” said Chelsey Levingston, a spokeswoman for GE Aerospace.
Oldest Dayton-area companies
We recently visited with three of the older businesses in town as part of our package of stories celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Dayton Daily News.
But there are other worthy contenders who should not escape our notice. Among them: The Siebenthaler Co. landscaping and gardens business in Dayton got its start in 1870.
And Merchants Security Service was established in 1901 in Dayton. I am told the company still has security at many of Dayton’s premier office buildings, plants, factories, hospitals, distribution centers and more.
Dayton Stencil has been operating since 1859.
I know there are others. Has your business been around for a century or more — or even close to it? I’d like to hear about it. Let me know at tom.gnau@coxinc.com.
Kettering Field will be a ‘premier’ sports complex
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
City officials said Kettering Field can become a very special sports complex if it undergoes millions of dollars of renovations, and the city has hired a consultant to develop a plan to help make that happen.
Play ball: “The goal is to build a premier, multi-use sporting complex that will really add to our recreational assets,” Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein told Reporter Cory Frolik.
Avelo Airlines confirms it will stop service at Dayton International Airport
Credit: Getty Images for Avelo Air
Credit: Getty Images for Avelo Air
Avelo Airlines, Dayton’s newest airline, will cease service at the Dayton International Airport, the airline confirmed to Frolik.
That means the airport will lose one of its two flights to Orlando, Fla.
‘Good things:’ Dayton International still has twice-a-week service to the Orlando-Sanford International Airport through Allegiant.
And Dayton will see service to Denver restored next month, after losing that flight several years ago during the pandemic.
“There are good things on the horizon,” an airport spokeswoman said.
Huber Heights considers development agreement for land near Rose Music Center
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Credit: CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The city of Huber Heights is looking to enter into an agreement with a developer as part of a $40 million residential housing project proposed for a quickly-growing area of the city, Reporter Aimee Hancock recently learned.
Huber housing: Huber Heights council will vote Monday on the development agreement with Metropolitan Holdings for a project to construct a 312-unit apartment complex on a 25-acre site on Executive Boulevard.
Business moves
Capital lease deals: The Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority’s Board of Trustees voted Monday to approve capital lease deals on two local business expansions.
In a capital lease structure, and the port owns a ground lease at a construction site and is able to abate sales taxes on construction materials purchased for construction projects. It has been one of the go-to incentives the port has deployed to help boost local business expansions.
One deal trustees approved Monday will save Sierra Nevada Corp. some $1.8 million in sales taxes on construction of a $47 million maintenance and repair hangar at Dayton International Airport, the company’s second.
The second deal will boost a Midmark Corp. expansion in Versailles, saving an estimated $376,252 in sales taxes for construction of a $5.2 million, 75,360-square-foot expansion at 60 Vista Drive.
PFAS detected in 15 local public water systems over proposed EPA guidelines
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Four little letters — “PFAS” — are getting a lot of attention these days.
Standing for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the chemicals have been the subject of class-action lawsuits, increasingly stringent national regulations and growing concern by anyone who prizes safe drinking water (which is everyone, of course).
The chemicals are also the subject of a rigorously researched series of stories from Reporter Sydney Dawes.
At least 15 area public water systems together serving hundreds of thousands of residents have detected toxic, man-made chemicals at levels that exceed future U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, a Dayton Daily News investigation found.
What we found: Dawes tell us that Montgomery, Greene and Warren counties were among the five counties in Ohio with the most water systems that detected PFAS and PFOA over the U.S. EPA’s proposed limit.
Also: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Aullwood Farm Discovery Center had the third and fourth highest detected levels of these compounds in Ohio.
Quick hits
We are 125 years old. Not me personally, but the Dayton Daily News.
Concerned about PFAS contamination? Here’s what you can do at home.
Photos from Dayton’s history: You’ve seen a lot, Dayton.
Timeline of Dayton history: You’ve been through a lot, Dayton.
Exotic dancing in Dayton? Edgemont district residents have qualms about the idea.
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