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Entertainment, retail aspects remain part of proposed project

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 7:19 PM Thursday, February 16, 2012

HUBER HEIGHTS – Six months into a year-long planning stage, the development of The Heights, the city’s planned retail, commercial and entertainment complex, is taking a surprising turn, the project’s developer said.

In mid-August, city officials said they hoped the project at Ohio 201 and Interstate 70 would rival The Greene in Beavercreek and Easton in Columbus.

George Jenkins and Bill Jump of DEC Investment in Dublin, Ohio, were hired by the city to develop the project. This week, Jump made a presentation to an administrative group at Huber Heights’ city hall, and said his focus never was on a shopping center and that development would be market-driven.

He said he was surprised that a research and development firm could become the anchor tenant the area wants.

“I think we’re looking for an anchor and it could be an R&D facility, which could trigger some ancillary office developments around it, that will then bring hospitality (a hotel), that will then bring restaurants, that will then bring other retail components that will come in around that,” Jump said.

“R&D is just one component,” Jump stressed. “It came to us through a need (for the company) to be in Dayton and a need to be near Wright-Patt. We’re five minutes from Gate C at Wright-Patt. It’s a secret not too many people know about.”

He also mentioned another entertainment component, which could be an aquarium or museum. “There could be an arena or something like that,” he said. “Somebody might say this would be a great place to put a multipurpose arena.”

West Carrollton is already considering an arena, and Hara Arena continues to operate in Trotwood.

Four years ago, Jump said, his group had options on the land and could not find any interest. That was before Carriage Trails – the 625-acre housing development in Miami County, just over the Montgomery County line – began to build, and before the city put $6 million into the aquatic center.

It was also before the city had a large amout of TIF funds to use as incentive.

The timeline to see real development of the land is still three to five years, Jump said.

“Our partners are working on a master plan,” Huber Heights City Manager Gary Adams said. “The thing we don’t want to do is jump ahead of ourselves. We don’t want to push it just because other people are moving ahead. We want to take our time and make sure we do it right.”

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