Stratache: $30M, 300 jobs coming
Dayton’s tallest building also gets new name
The chief executive of digital signage company Stratacache announced sweeping pla ns Wednesday for 300 new jobs in downtown Dayton, investing $30 million in two key buildings, with the creation of a venture capital arm that could lead to even more jobs.
Chris Riegel, founder, CEO and president of the Dayton-based tech firm, said his company will invest $20 million into what will become Stratacache Tower.
An additional $10 million will be invested in the 10 N. Ludlow St. Courthouse Plaza building the company bought in December.
Together, these buildings will anchor a growing global digital technology business aiming for $5 billion in sales worldwide by 2025.
“We have 30 offices all around the world,” Riegel said at a press conference at the Dayton Club, on the tower’s top floor. “What we see ... is building an ecosystem for the right environment for smart people to be successful.
“We believe these buildings in the city are key to that new growth,” he added.
During the next 18 to 24 months, Stratacache will make the rebranded Stratacache Tower its headquarters, leaving current offices at 2 Emmett St.
The company will occupy three to four floors, creating a customer technology experience center on one of the floors, Riegel said. And the CEO pointed to still-tentative retail and restaurant plans for the Tower’s lobby and first floor.
He estimated the tower will be 95 percent occupied in about two years, up from about 50 percent occupancy today. The company’s Trotwood assembly facility will continue to operate.
The plan as outlined by Riegel: move 150 current Dayton jobs into the two recently purchased buildings, then add “at least” 300 technology and engineering jobs with average salaries reaching about $100,000 annually.
Stratacache intends to invest in four key areas: advanced software for digital displays, next-generation digital signage, artificial intelligence and “deep computer learning,” and consumer insights/smart sensor platforms.
“We’re building the systems for leading companies around the world that will help them deliver on that next-generation experience in a retail store, in an airport, in a stadium,” Riegel said.
That technology will be born in Dayton, he said.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who hails from the Miami Valley, said the announcement goes well beyond one company’s expansion. Young people and families will take notice, he said.
“You can work for a global company right here in Dayton,” Husted said.
Phil Parker, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, said it’s a “strategic disadvantage” for cities to have outside owners owning “iconic buildings” like the former Kettering Tower. Outside ownership is sometimes remote and doesn’t always make adequate resources available for a property’s operation, he said.
Local ownership alters that for the better, Parker said.
“Chris, thank you for the commitment,” he told Riegel.
Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said private-sector partnerships, such as the one between Dayton and Stratacache, help Dayton “punch above its weight.”
Traditionally, the company has not availed itself of government development incentives. Riegel said this time, he is open to having a “dialogue” with the state and localities on that subject.
But he also said: “This growth is not based on government subsidy or incentives. It’s based on Dayton being a great place to do business. All the right conditions are here in this region to be a world-class tech business.”
The CEO has cited the need for the “best and the brightest employees” as one reason for the purchase of the former Kettering Tower.
Sometimes, companies showing the same desire for younger workers move south of Dayton — to Austin Landing, for example.
Stratacache — a local company since 1997 — is doing the opposite, investing in Dayton’s central business district. That’s no accident, Riegel said in an interview before Wednesday’s announcements.
Young people “increasingly like living in cities as opposed to suburbs,” he said. “I get that Austin Landing five years ago, seven years ago, was cool, but ... the trend is very specifically snapping back to cities.”
“You’ve seen a brain drain from Dayton — NCR, Teradata, others that have left the region,” he said.
Stratacache is in the business of creating striking digital displays. Asked about the possibility of creating a memorable visual statement at Kettering Tower, Riegel said that’s something the company will consider, but zoning laws and aircraft flight patterns toward Wright-Patterson Air Force Base will need to be taken into account.
“We’re absolutely looking at those options,” he said in his earlier interview.