With a second unanimous vote, the trustees voted to sell the same land to nonprofit health insurer CareSource, also for $1 million.
The authority’s involvement made possible the land transfer without the school district having to put the land up for bid, which might have delayed the process and made it more expensive, said Jerry Brunswick, the port authority’s president and executive director.
“It really serves a public purpose,” Brunswick said Friday.
The votes were part of a development that appeared to come together quickly this week, paving the way for a 250,000-square-foot, seven-story office tower at Jefferson and First streets, near CareSource’s main North Main Street headquarters.
The construction of the tower, to be called CareSource Center City, will begin early next year and end in 2019, those involved said in a press conference Thursday. It will help house about 2,100 employees working for downtown Dayton’s largest employer, current spread out in four buildings.
“This is exciting news for downtown,” Brunswick said. “Not just for downtown, but for Dayton.”
“It’s a win for the school district,” said Ed McGarry, a port authority trustee and a senior vice president at PNC Bank. “It’s a win for downtown. It’s a win for CareSource.”
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