By Jacob Fisher Staff Reporter, Dayton Business JournalOne of the region’s most active real estate developers is drafting plans for what could become among the largest and most ambitious luxury apartment projects in Kettering to date.
An early glimpse at the proposed 300-unit multifamily community details a 35-acre mixed-use development that would provide walkable access to several of the region’s largest employers, including Reynolds & Reynolds Co., Kodak, Woolpert, Community Tissue Services and dozens of others.
Industrial Commercial Properties (ICP), the Cleveland-area real estate developer that recently snapped up nearly 29 acres of shovel-ready land at the Miami Valley Research Park, is looking to build a luxury apartment complex at the intersection of Patterson Road and Research Boulevard.
The upscale community would be built immediately west of an office portfolio ICP purchased earlier this year for $5.2 million.
“The plan is to try to create a ‘live-work’ environment,” Chris Semarjian, owner of ICP, told me. “We saw an opportunity to bring in residential here. With the campus the way it’s originally designed, we could really have a very unique environment where we can live, work and play.”
A preliminary site map showcases three five-story apartment buildings, each with about 100 units. Resident parking would include 204 garage spaces and 314 surface spaces.
Renderings created by RDL Architects, a Cleveland-based firm, offer a first look at several design concepts for the community. Click through the slideshow above to preview the conceptual renderings.
Walkways would link the campus to various “activity pavilions” and a clubhouse featuring a bevy of residential amenities. A foot bridge and adjoining walkway would connect the luxury community to a 6-acre site immediately west, where ICP plans to build two single-story, 5,000-square-foot retail establishments with about 40 surface parking spaces.
“With all the other corporate users in the park, we think we need a little bit of service retail,” Semarjian said, noting he’d like to attract food vendors with patio dining and drive-through capabilities. “It’s going to be a very contemporary-looking retail.”
ICP plans to link up the development via the Iron Horse Trail — a 7-mile multi-use paved path that connects with the Creekside Trail, which stretches from Riverside to Xenia. The idea, Semarjian said, is to provide residents walkable access to the hundreds of corporate users in and around the research park.
With enough funding and support, ICP also hopes to build a “gateway bridge” over Research Boulevard, which would connect the residential community to Reynolds & Reynolds Co. and various other commercial tenants dotted across Kettering’s northeastern edge.
A closer look at site maps detailing the proposed multifamily development, with the “gateway bridge” pictured in the lower left corner.
Because ICP mainly specializes in commercial and industrial properties, its existing portfolio doesn’t contain many residential developments, Semarjian said. That’s why the firm plans to recruit a multifamily partner to help bring the project to fruition.
“We’re talking about a developer who is an expert in this type of multifamily,” Semarjian said. “Because we truly want to build fantastic products here. We think the market is calling for it, we think the park needs it, and we think bringing in a partner is a better move.”
Semarjian said his firm already has one offer from an interested multifamily developer, and he hopes to solidify a partner within the next three to six months.
ICP has long been interested in pursuing opportunities at the 1,250-acre Miami Valley Research Park, which was envisioned four decades ago as a cutting-edge campus unlike anything else in the Dayton area. Semarjian and his partners began working closely with PNC Bank, city officials and the park’s owners this year as ICP expanded its holdings there.
“Really, multifamily was just part of the overall plan once we dug into the project,” Semarjian said. “We really wanted to differentiate the park, and we think going for this multifamily concept is going to be good — not just for our development, but for Reynolds & Reynolds, Woolpert, Kodak, the tissue center and all the other users in the park.”
“Think about how many people are employed on that quadrant,” he said. “To be able to have a ‘live-work’ concept, I think it’s a really neat addition.”
In the Dayton area, ICP’s portfolio encompasses about 6 million square feet of space. Its largest property in Kettering is the 1.2 million-square-foot former Delphi plant on Forrer Boulevard, which is now fully leased by Tenneco Inc.
The company has been active in the Dayton area for about 10 years and specializes primarily in acquisitions and redevelopment. Statewide, ICP also focuses on new development, and its portfolio spans about 40 million square feet. LINK TO ARTICLE.
