Kettering purchased the land more than 20 years ago after the owners of Hills and Dales Shopping Center contacted the city saying the site was dilapidated, according to Kettering records.
Kettering Vice Mayor Steve Bergstresser said the city is redeveloping the site into a mixed-use business park, selling about 20 acres to businesses that will create hundreds of jobs and establishing a 30-year tax incremental financing (TIF) district to help maintain the area’s infrastructure.
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Bergstresser called the upcoming improvements “the first major maintenance project we’ve done since Governors Place Boulevard was first created.”
Kettering purchased the shopping center land for about $1.76 million and was able to redevelop it through tax district funds ($200,000 to $400,000 per year) and recoup its investment, Bergstresser said.
There are still small parcels of land remaining in the city, but most of them are privately owned and home to various companies, including Heapy Engineering, Bergstresser said.
Kettering Health owns land in Governors Place, which was the centerpiece of a proposed Sheetz site last year, but the city rejected the plan.
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Within Governors Place, Bergstresser said the city is responsible for resurfacing roads and maintaining boulevard areas, sidewalks and park areas.
“Like anything in landscaping, eventually you get to a point where it becomes overgrown with weeds,” he added.
“And just like your own home, the landscaping is overgrown with weeds and needs to be replaced,” he said, “so we’re in a similar situation here with plans to refresh the landscaping areas in the median.”
Bergstresser said the city plans to put the project out for bids next month, with construction to begin in the winter and continue through the spring and summer.
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