No shortage of Kettering highlights in 2017
Each year I look forward to presenting my annual State of the City address. Please join me at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 23 in Kettering City Council Chambers to hear about all the important projects and services the city of Kettering offered to our community in 2017 and to learn what lies ahead in 2018. Here are just a few of the great accomplishments I will highlight.
2017 was another exciting year for redevelopment and reinvestment in Kettering.
In late 2017, the city completed the purchase of nearly 300 acres of unimproved land from the Miami Valley Research Foundation for $1.5 million. As a landlocked community, the opportunity to acquire land for redevelopment is rare and exciting. In 2018 Miami Valley Research Park will see a surge of improvements to both existing facilities and available land. Kettering will aggressively market the land remaining for development and work with existing tenants to explore expansion opportunities.
Alternate Solutions Health Network completed a major renovation of their 200,000-square-foot facility at 1050 Forrer Boulevard in the Kettering Business Park. The expansion will allow a projected growth in employment of more than 340 jobs in the next five years. This reinvestment is critical to the ongoing success of the Kettering Business Park.
N12 Technologies, Inc., a manufacturing facility that services the medical, automotive, aviation and space sectors will relocate from Massachusetts to the Kettering Business Park. N12 Technologies will renovate and upgrade 6,000 square feet of the NCC Build- ing located at 2000 Composite Drive, bringing new local jobs in the valuable technology sector.
In 2018, Northwestern Tools, Inc. a manufacturing facility that services the medical, automotive, energy and commercial sectors, will relocate its Kettering headquarters to 4800 Hempstead Station Drive. This relocation will allow Northwestern Tools, Inc. to continue to grow and purchase additional machines, thereby retaining jobs and creating additional jobs in Kettering.
We are thrilled with the private redevelopment and renovation projects taking place throughout our community. We want to be sure you know that Kettering is committed to reinvestment as well. Kettering has grown significantly over the past 60 years and the city strategically devotes a great deal of our resources to maintain our infrastructure and promote both residential and commercial development and redevelopment.
The city and representatives from Kettering Business Park businesses worked together in 2017 to design a new signature entrance for the thriving business park on Wilmington Pike. The city-owned Kettering Business Park, formerly Gentile Air Force Station, was created in 1996 to offset the loss of more than 2500 jobs at the base. Today, the business park employs more
than 2,000 people through Synchrony Financial, PriMed Physicians, Alternate Solutions Health Network, N12 Technologies and the Kettering Municipal Court. In 2018, a new entrance sign and landscaping will be installed, creating a modern welcome to the business park.
The capital improvement program continues to be an area of emphasis for City Council. The proposed 2018 capital improvement fund budget is $17.5 million, $2.2 million of which is covered through outside funding. Major projects include the LED street- light project, mechanical upgrades at the Kettering Recreation Complex and Rosewood Arts Center, various park improvements, the final phase of street improvements in the Oak Creek neighborhood, Gentile Park construction and construction of our fourth and final new Fire Station 37 at 1300 W. Dorothy Lane.
Kettering remains committed to acting as a catalyst for reinvestment in Wilmington Pike for both economic purposes and for the impact the corridor has on our residents as well. A major streetscape improvement project on the Wilmington Pike corridor between Stroop and Marshall Roads will be complete in early 2018. The final stage of the project will bring new streetlights and abundant street trees. On the west side of the corridor a brand new 8-foot multi-use path offers a connection to regional bikeways and improved pedestrian access to businesses and the new Wilmington Stroop Library branch.