The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Port authority hopes to gain steam in 2010

‘We’re working on deals,’ director, sole employee, says

Ron Parker is the executive director for the Dayton/Montgomery County Port Authority. The port authority can make loans to companies or local governments, receive grants and purchase assets such as buildings or land for economic development purposes. Staff photo by Ty Greenlees

Ty Greenlees/Staff Photographer Ron Parker is the executive director for the Dayton/Montgomery County Port Authority. The port authority can make loans to companies or local governments, receive grants and purchase assets such as buildings or land for economic development purposes. Staff photo by Ty Greenlees

ENLARGE PHOTO

The last project the port authority financed was the $55 million headquarters CareSource in 2007. File photo

Teesha McClam/Dayton Daily News Staff Photogra The last project the port authority financed was the $55 million headquarters CareSource in 2007. File photo

ENLARGE PHOTO

Follow the latest business news on Twitter At twitter.com

Wright-Patterson project contract challenge dismissed
7:13 p.m.
Union, Behr reach tentative agreement
12:16 p.m.
AK Steel to raise prices for carbon steel
10:41 a.m.
State jobless rate jumps to 10.5 percent
Updated 13 min. ago
General's retirement plans include a dream trip to Antarctica
11/19/09
> More headlines

By Tim Tresslar, Staff Writer Updated 8:09 PM Saturday, October 31, 2009

DAYTON — It’s by now an all-too-familiar story.

When the economy ground to a near halt last year, Ron Parker, the Dayton/Montgomery County Port Authority’s executive director, was struck by what he didn’t hear — a telephone ringing. Most companies weren’t adding space, buying new buildings or sinking money into new equipment. By extension, they weren’t looking for ways to finance such projects, the authority’s primary role among local economic development organizations.

Ron Parker, the director and sole employee, said all that has begun to change. In late summer, pace of calls began picking back up and, while Parker didn’t identify the parties, he said the port has four proposals, ranging from $3 million to $50 million, before potential borrowers. He hopes to close at least one transaction before the end of 2009.

“The phone’s ringing,” Parker said. “We’re working on deals.”

Parker said the anticipated completion of the Austin Pike interchange near Interstate 75 in fall of 2010 will help generate more activity for the port authority, especially if the overall economy has gained steam. Near the interchange, the port holds about 110 acres that it will sell to developer RG Properties, probably sometime next year, Parker said.

The port authority, one of several in Ohio, can make loans to companies or local governments, receive grants and purchase assets such as buildings or land for economic development purposes. Established in 2000, the organization generates operating money through fees generated by its bond deals.

When the port authority sold $270 million in bonds for improvements to DHL’s Wilmington air freight hub, it received $350,000 at closing, Parker said. While DHL has ceased all operations in Clinton County, it continues to pay on the bonds, he said.

But as the stream of projects has dried up, so has much of the port’s revenue. The last project the port authority financed was the $55 million headquarters CareSource at the corner of Main Street and Monument Avenue in downtown Dayton in 2007.

This has led Parker to cut expenses. In April, the port authority moved into offices at 8 N. Main St., putting it under the same roof as CityWide Development, the city of Dayton’s development arm. Parker said the move is part of a wider effort to cut costs and it will save his organization about $15,000 per year in rent.

Parker, who retired as Montgomery County’s economic development director before joining the port, has become its sole employee and has cut his own hours to eight per week, he said.

Aside from cutting costs, Parker said locating his organization alongside CityWide development has allowed the two organizations to collaborate more easily on potential deals. The two organizations dovetail well, he said, because both work with large, established businesses.

Steve Budd, president of CityWide, said working with the port authority opens up more options for his organization because the port authority can handle larger projects and provide 100 percent financing.

“Just the fact that we end up at the table, some opportunities pop up,” Budd said.

Explaining the Port Authority

The Dayton/Montgomery County Port Authority, according to its Web site, can provide fixed-rate financing for construction, new construction, land and building acquisitions, facility improvements and large equipment acquisitions. In Ohio, port authorities can focus on development and don’t have to oversee airports or maritime ports. But it falls under the same section of the Ohio Revised Code that guides maritime ports, said Ron Parker, the Dayton/Montgomery County Port Authority’s executive director. The port in a news release said it has issued $426 million in bonds since 2001.

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

This was the most informative article that I have read in the DDN in about 6 months.Very well written, the DDN needs more article/stories that actually inform and educate.

jon
1:44 AM, 11/1/2009

REPORT ABUSE

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.