Former Synchrony Financial property acquired
A Kettering Business Park property that formerly housed about 1,900 jobs has been sold for $7.5 million, Montgomery County land records show.
An Industrial Commercial Properties executive told the Dayton Daily News last month the business was under contract to buy the 36.5-acre site at 950 Forrer Blvd. It now appears to have completed the deal.
The former site of Synchrony Financial — one of Kettering’s top employers before it moved out at the end of 2020 — has been sold to Kettering 950 Forrer LLC, records state.
The buyer’s agent is Edward A. Hurtuk, a filing with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office shows. Hurtuk, a real estate attorney, also is listed in separate records as an agent for the Cleveland-based ICP.
The Kettering Business Park location is also listed on ICP’s website among “featured properties.”
Earlier this week, Kettering City Council voted 7-0 to rezone the land at the request of ICP. The company sought the change to allow for more flexibility to attract jobs and businesses to the site, Dean Miller, ICP’s senior vice president of leasing and acquisitions, had said.
The land includes two buildings — about 200,000 square foot each — that are currently vacant, officials have said.
Miller has said ICP envisions attracting businesses that would “likely be a mix smaller than Synchrony,” which left Kettering as part of a global work-from-home strategy.
The land accounts for nearly one third of the 120-acre business park, which houses major employers Alternate Solutions, Amazon and Kettering Health, according to city records.
Gold Star reopens Germantown location
Gold Star Germantown, located at 2395 Beechwood Drive in Germantown reopened Saturday after closing for a few weeks to update the dining room.
“It’s been an honor serving the Germantown community for nearly 10 years, and we are glad to share an updated dining room with our guests for years to come,” Gold Star Germantown Owner Emad Hamdan said.
The renovations included updates to the kitchen layout as well as new flooring, seating and other amenities to enhance the guests’ experience.
Eudora Brewing bringing in famous Seattle bakery
A Seattle bakery known for its famous line at Pike Place Market is bringing its hand held pies to the Dayton area.
Piroshky Piroshky is partnering with Eudora Brewing Co., located at 3022 Wilmington Pike, to host a pre-order pickup event on May 24 from 4 to 6 p.m.
A piroshky (Pee-roash-KEE) is a hand held pie made of yeast-leavened dough, stuffed with a sweet or savory filling and either fried or baked. Common fillings include meats, vegetables, fruits or jams. It’s described as a great on-the-go food that you can enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a snack.
The owner of Piroshky Piroshky, Olga Sagan, said it feels “indescribable” to know people across the country are enjoying her hand held pies.
Piroshky Piroshky is currently touring across the United States, making 20 to 24 stops a month, to celebrate its 30th anniversary. This will be the first time the bakery has traveled to Ohio. The bakery choose to make two stops in Ohio - Dayton and Cincinnati - because that’s where its fans suggested. Other stops include Texas, California Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Illinois and North Carolina.
Dayton-area residents must pre-order by Sunday, May 22 at 6:30 p.m. for pickup at Eudora Brewing Co. There is a $50 minimum purchase.
Steak Thyme owners opening second location
Miamisburg natives Jake and Jordan Shteiwi are opening a second Steak Thyme location in their hometown next week after success at their original location in Kettering.
Steak Thyme Bar & Grill, at 103 N. Springboro Pike in Miamisburg, is opening Tuesday, May 17.
The twin brothers, both graduates of Miamisburg High School and Sinclair Community College, took over ownership of Steak Thyme, located at 4040 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, over 10 years ago. The brothers’ parents, Musa and Huda Shteiwi, opened the restaurant together in October 2005, just before their father, Musa, died in 2006.
The original restaurant on Wilmington Pike is a standard, casual dining and carryout restaurant, Jake explained. The second restaurant will have a full-service bar, a large dining room, outdoor seating and new menu items.
The space was a former Stacked Pickle, an Indianapolis-based sports-themed restaurant chain that opened in 2019 and closed in 2021. Before Stacked Pickle, the space housed a Roosters Wings restaurant.
Greek Street to open restaurant
A food truck known for its authentic Greek cuisine has opened a restaurant in Centerville.
Greek Street, owned by Centerville native Chris Spirtos, officially opens today with a grand opening celebration.
Greek Street, located at 101 E. Alex Bell Road Suite 186 in the Cross Pointe Shopping Center, is offering a larger variety of Greek cuisine compared to its food truck. Spirtos said the restaurant will have more gyros and desserts - including baklava soft serve ice cream.
For the last six years, Greek Street’s desserts have been made by Spirtos’ mom, Kali. This will continue at the new restaurant.
He explained he was inspired to start cooking after spending time in the kitchen with his family. After high school, he attended Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago and returned to the Dayton area to share his love of food with his hometown.
Spirtos said what sets his restaurant apart is that he serves whole muscle meats.
Greek Street’s most popular menu items include lamb, chicken and pork belly gyros, Greek fries and baklava.
Spirtos said if they are able to find enough employees, he plans to continue to run the food truck. If you are interested in a position at the restaurant or food truck, send your resume to greekstreetohio@gmail.com
Spirtos said he hopes to eventually expand his restaurant to Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland and even trying to franchise down the road.
Dayton Brick Shop moving locations
The Dayton Brick Shop, best known for its discount LEGO sets, is moving to a new location in the Miami Valley to offer more creative opportunities for kids and adults in the area.
Nick O’Donnell, owner of Dayton Brick Shop, opened the store in October 2020. He says within six months they had already outgrew its current space.
The Dayton Brick Shop, currently located at 90 Compark Road Suite A in Centerville near Centerville High School, will open Thursday, May 19 at 5519 Bigger Road in Kettering, right beside Ninjobstacles. The new space is nearly eight times bigger than its current space, O’Donnell explained.
O’Donnell said the new space will allow them to offer LEGO classes, build competitions, displays and a larger area for kids to build and play.
Dayton Brick Shop is open noon to 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A grand opening celebration will be planned at a later date.
Heart Mercantile opens new expanded location
Heart Mercantile, the Oregon District-based boutique and gift shop, has officially moved to a bigger location just down the road to grow their business physically and virtually.
“It was bittersweet to move from a spot where we experienced so much, but this new chapter is really exciting for us,” co-owner Kait Gilcher said.
Heart Mercantile, previously located at 438 E. Fifth St., has moved to 601 E. Fifth St., across from Trolley Stop and in between Puff Apothecary and Clash.
The new Fifth Street location gives the boutique 1,200 square feet of space, which is about double the size of the current shop.
Heart Mercantile was originally opened in 2015 by Brittany Smith. It is now co-owned by Smith, Gilcher and Carly Short.
AES Ohio wants to update reliability standards
Dayton electric utility AES Ohio wants to update its service reliability standards with a state regulator, a move that a consumers’ advocacy office opposes.
In a filing with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio last October, the Dayton utility sought to update standards to require an average of nearly two hours and 20 minutes to restore power in outage situations.
AES Ohio’s five-year average at the time of the filing was 121.58 minutes, or just over two hours.
The case has drawn comments from PUCO staff and the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC), neither of which agree with AES’s application, said Matt Schilling, a PUCO spokesman.
The next step is a PUCO hearing, which has not been scheduled. “The parties to the case — PUCO staff, OCC and the utility — may decide to engage in settlement discussions, but I do not know if they will come to any agreement and can’t speculate,” Schilling said in an email Tuesday.
AES Ohio (formerly Dayton Power & Light) has proposed a “CAIDI standard” or “Customer Average Interruption Duration Index” standard of nearly two hours and 20 minutes, or 139.82 minutes.
Parallax Advanced Research lands large contract
A Beavercreek defense contractor has been awarded a $97,500,000 contract for research and development work, the Department of Defense said late last week.
The contract to Parallax Advanced Research provides for the application of cognitive systems engineering and agile software development methods in a variety of operational domains, the DOD said.
Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and is expected to be completed by May 6, 2029.
This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and four offers were received, the DOD said. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $100,000 will be obligated at the time of award.
The contract came from Air Force Research Laboratory, which is headquartered at Wright-Patterson.
Also awarded last week, CDO Technologies in Riverside will be among 14 firms sharing a contract with a maximum value of $72.9 million for network infrastructure support services for the Defense Logistics Agency.
Company tests drones in Springfield
A Massachusetts-based company that tested a drone at the Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport Thursday that can reach speeds up to 100 mph is part of the effort to turn the region into a hub for Unmanned Aircraft System development and air mobility technology.
Local officials said they hope millions of dollars invested in new equipment and the planned construction of a National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence at the airport will pave the way for more testing related drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL).
The goal is to attract more companies and governmental agencies conducting research in both UAS and air mobility as well as aiding in the development of that technology. The hope is that work will eventually attract manufacturing and distribution operations related to that technology to the region, said Shannon Joyce Neal, a spokeswoman with the Dayton Development Coalition.
Though drone development is different than the work that is being done with eVTOLs, it all plays a role in attracting more industry leaders to the area, Joyce Neal added.
The company Sic Drone Inc. that tested Thursday says that it plans to continue to test its drone at the airport. The drone that it flew on Thursday could be used for industrial purposes, with the focus of being utilized by offshore wind farms, said Kevin Corrigan, the director of business development for Sic Drone.
Corrigan said that includes the drone being able to navigate through winds of 28 to 30 mph and that technology could be used to perform a variety of different task.
Miami Valley South to stop baby deliveries
Premier Health has confirmed that it will move its obstetric services out of Miami Valley Hospital South by early July.
The last day of baby deliveries at the Miami Valley South campus will be June 30, with the obstetrics unit ceasing operations no later than July 8, according to a statement from Premier Health.
Premier Health said the change is due to “tremendous growth” in the need for other health services at the hospital, including orthopedic and spine care, oncology and cardiology services, and emergency or trauma care.
During the pandemic, Miami Valley Hospital South saw a significant increase in demand for those and other services, said Mike Uhl, president of Miami Valley Hospital.
That demand has not abated. “While this was a difficult decision, it was clear that all our patients — and the community as a whole — would be best served if we transitioned obstetrics care to Miami Valley Hospital’s main campus,” Uhl said in an email response to questions.
Obstetric services will continue to be provided at the Miami Valley Hospital main campus in Dayton.
The health network said it will guarantee positions for all affected employees, who will be able to move to similar roles with the same shifts elsewhere in Premier Health.