Sale won’t affect P&G operation at Union center
A new owner has purchased the Procter & Gamble distribution center in Union for more than $93 million, but P&G’s operation will go on unhindered.
ILPT Properties LLC purchased the 1.8 million-squarefoot distribution center on Union Airpark Boulevard from ARCP ID Union OH, the limited liability company that has owned the property since 2014.
The transaction was recorded April 30, with a $93.3 million sale price.
“There is no impact on P&G’s business because of this sale,” Jeff LeRoy, a P&G spokesman, told the Dayton Daily News on Monday. “Recall we are merely tenants at the site, and have been since construction. The owner sold several properties in their portfolio, this being one. Our lease remains the same, our work remains the same, the number of employees at the site is unchanged.”
Drawn by Dayton’s location near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 70 — found some 600 miles of 67 percent of the U.S. population and within 600 miles of 60 percent of the nation’s manufacturing employment — P&G opened the center five years ago.
In 2017, a P&G spokesman told the Dayton Daily News that DHL had about 520 employees at the site; Impact had about 100 workers, while P&G itself had about 140, for about 760 workers total.
As of March 31, Newton, Mass.-based ILPT owned 277 industrial and logistics properties with 33.2 million rentable square feet. Questions were sent to the company Monday.
“We believe the U.S. retail industry is experiencing a major shift away from stores and shopping centers to e-commerce sales platforms and that this change is causing increasing demand for industrial and logistics real estate,” the company says on its website. “We intend to expand our business by focusing on properties that may benefit from the growth of e-commerce.”
The company also owns logistics buildings in Chillicothe, Lewis Center, Avon and elsewhere in Ohio.
UDRI to study C-130 flown from WrightPatterson
Researchers will work with a decommissioned C-130 Hercules plane in a University of Dayton parking lot to help the Air Force answer one of its most difficult and enduring questions: How best to keep older planes flying in a cost-effective manner?
The UD Research Institute began to receive disassembled C-130 wings Wednesday, arriving in several sections on flatbed trucks at a campus lot off South Patterson Boulevard.
The plane’s fuselage and other parts are scheduled to arrive this afternoon. In coming weeks, a barrier will be erected and a hangar will be built, sheltering the plane and the research.
Keeping older planes flying, and doing so in a cost-effective manner, is one of the Air Force’s bigger challenges. New technologies such as additive manufacturing — sometimes called “3D printing” — offer the Air Force a relatively low-cost way to replicate older plane components.
Once reassembled, researchers from UDRI will work with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Product Support Engineering Division and the center’s C-130 program office, both based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Wright-Patterson is the heart of the Air Force’s research and logistics work and home to some of the service’s best minds.
UD poured a 2,500-squarefoot concrete pad on its River Campus parking lot to bear the plane, which weighs 40 tons empty. Once assembled, the plane will have a wing span of more than 130 feet.
Pamela Gregg, a UDRI spokeswoman, said the university’s River Campus was chosen as a joint research site because it is central to both UD and Wright-Patterson.
Two Dayton companies win Third Frontier backing
Two companies with Dayton connections recently won Ohio Third Frontier grants.
Endo Guidance Technologies LLC, of Dayton, was awarded $150,000 for the development and commercialization of a radiation-free alternative to X-ray imaging during surgery.
And Strong Plastics LLC, also of Dayton, was awarded $100,000 for the development and commercialization of a strong load-bearing plastic to replace aluminum.
Endo was started by a Wright State University professor Caroline Cao, a professor of biomedical, industrial and human factors engineering in the university’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.
The company pursued an alternative to X-rays during endovascular surgery, eliminating the need for radiation-emitting X-rays during an invasive procedure.
Cao is working on the prototype of a lightweight sensor and display that would help guide surgeons — similar to GPS tracking — without exposing themselves or their patients to radiation, Wright State said in a release.
It is the first technology Cao has worked to commercialize, according to the university.
“Things we invent in the lab don’t usually get to this point,” she said in Wright State’s statement. “But this is both innovative and useful. It will change the way surgeons do work and will be a great benefit to the patients. And we’ll all become patients someday.”
Seth Hummel, of Strong Plastics LLC, also received a Third Frontier grant.
Hummel runs Dayton’s IQC, which helps companies navigate ISO system certification and auditing.
Vendor plans to grow downtown
Sweet P’s Hand Crafted Ice Pops, a permanent vendor in the 2nd Street Market, has been sold to Danielle Edwards, a third generation Daytonian who has very big plans for the business that include the addition of a retail space sometime in the next year.
Pam Bertke, founder and former owner of Sweet P’s, sold her brand a month ago after the women formed a sweet friendship over a love for the paletas (or ice pops).
Edwards said Bertke has been the creative powerhouse behind Sweet P’s for the last 12 years. Now, Bertke will be able to enjoy retirement and travel more with her husband. The production process and ingredients for the 175 flavors Sweet P’s offers, Edwards said, will remain exactly the same.
She just added a space for production in the former Fronana store at 27 W. First St. in downtown Dayton and a Sweet P’s vehicle that has the capacity to bring the ice pops to food truck events, sell at farmers markets and cater to large numbers of customers. Within the next year, Edwards plans for the First Street shop to become a retail space.
Dayton grocery store strikes U-Haul deal
Dayton has a new U-Haul provider, and this time, it’s a grocery store.
Grocery Lane at 1451 Troy St. in Dayton has signed on as a U-Haul neighborhood dealer. The grocery store will offer U-Haul trucks for rent, towing equipment, moving supplies and in-store box pickup, according to a statement.
“U-Haul and Grocery Lane are striving to benefit the environment through sustainability initiatives. Truck sharing is a core U-Haul sustainability business practice that allows individuals to access a fleet of trucks that is larger than what they could access on an individual basis,” according to the statement.
There are other U-Haul providers at Auto Plus Sales and Service, North Dixie Hardware, Star One Auto, All Tune & Lube and other auto and car wash locations.
Sinclair graduate launches food truck
A Dunbar High School grad is taking her desserts on the road.
Bridgette’s Cakes & Pastries owner Bridgette Rodgers, also a graduate of Sinclair Community College’s culinary arts program, launched her food truck trailer outside of TheZe DealZ boutique last fall.
Rodgers said she is ready for its first full season with sweet and savory dishes.
Four of a dozen cakes created by Rodgers — her banana pudding cake, her red velvet cake cheesecake and Reese’s cake included — are featured at each event her business attends.
Rodgers also sells an assortment of dessert cups in flavors that include s’mores, cookies and cream, lemon curd and raspberry lemonade.
After working in the kitchen of several local restaurants, Rodgers took time off after marrying Myron Rodgers and having children, now ages 5 and 7. She launched her pastry shop in 2014 from her home near Dayton’s border with Clayton.
Several people asked her to go into business with them, but Rodgers said she has other ideas. “I wanted to see if I could do it myself,” she said.
She started with custom and specialty cakes and eventually came up with her recipe for the strawberry shortcake cheesecake.
Office park sold for $4M
A Washington Twp. office park development has sold for more than $4 million, local records show.
Shery and David Oakes LLC sold the property at 1700 Lyons Road to 1700 Lyons Road LLC for $4,025,000 Thursday, according to Montgomery County property records.
The statutory agent for the purchasing limited liability company was PS&E Corporate Services Inc., based in Stratacache Tower, in downtown Dayton. Amron Lichter is listed as the incorporator in filings with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office.
The development serves as headquarters for Gem City Homecare, a home health agency that serves 23 counties in southwestern Ohio and counted about 475 employees in 2015.
“The building features luxury finishes throughout, ample parking and a high-profile location on Lyons Road in the south Dayton market,” its real estate listing said. “Its location provides high visibility with excellent access and close proximity to” interstates 675 and 75.
Shery Oakes is president of Design Homes and Development in Washington Twp. Shery & David Oakes’ LLC was organized in Ohio in 1995 before filing dissolution papers effective Dec. 31, 2011.
New Submarine House store proposed
Submarine House is working on plans for a new restaurant in Kettering.
The locally-based chain applied for a liquor license for a new store in the 3700 block of Wilmington Pike on land now owned by the city of Kettering.
Co-owner Brody Danner said they business is under contract to buy the property and hope to have more information in the coming weeks.
“As long as everything checks out OK, we’ll close and it will be a go,” he said.
Danner said that he and his family have lived in Kettering for almost 20 years and he is looking forward to opening a store in the community.
Sub House, as many refer to it, has been expanding in recent years. The Huber Heights location opened in September 2016 and Centerville opened in January 2017.