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Austin Landing isn’t finished, and neither is the entrepreneur behind it.
Randy Gunlock is president of RG Properties Inc., the firm that is developing the 142-acre Austin Landing mixed-use project in southern Montgomery County.
Gunlock plans to break ground next year on the south side of Austin Boulevard just east of the new interchange with Interstate 75. RG Properties will extend the development south, eventually building 200,000 square feet of retail space, 150 apartment units, a hotel and 700,000 square feet of office space.
Last summer, with the assistance of Eubel Brady & Suttman Asset Management, RG raised about $55 million in an investment fund for further work at Austin Landing. In June, Gunlock wrote Miami Township Trustee Michael Nolan seeking $6 million more of tax incremental financing for the site’s second phase.
With Teradata Corp.’s world headquarters, a 125-room Hilton Garden Inn, a Kroger’s store, Kohl’s, the region’s first drive-through Panera Bread and other businesses, Austin Landing is arguably the region’s fastest-growing developments.
As Gunlock, 58, sees the project, he is building not just another mixed-use development or “village.” He is building a magnet for employees living in Cincinnati or points south who might not otherwise consider working or living in the Dayton area.
Bruce Langos, chief operating officer of Teradata, agreed. Austin Landing “is an attractive location for recruitment for companies in the area. Having the ability to acquire talent from the Cincinnati and Dayton corridor is attractive for both experienced people as well as college graduates from many of the region’s great colleges,” he said.
Gunlock wants to do more. He is interested in downtown Dayton, although he doesn’t yet own property there and declined to elaborate on what he might do.
“What’s good for the region is good for me,” Gunlock said.
Gunlock and RG Properties have their critics. Some observers have said Austin Landing only pulls businesses from downtown or elsewhere. Merrill Lynch, for example, recently announced that it will consolidate its three Dayton-area offices at Austin Landing, including its 40 N. Main St. office.
Gunlock responds by saying these companies and jobs remain in Montgomery County. He agrees that a company such as Teradata — which has extensive international business dealings — could operate nearly anywhere.
“One of the misconceptions we have is that we can attract employers without thinking about who is going to work for them,” Gunlock said. “So first we have to find a way to make this a livable community — not that it’s not (livable), but that we may get more and more livable, that we are ahead of our time rather than behind it.”
Langos said he has found Gunlock “to be very business-savvy and passionate about the entire region. I believe some think he only thinks about and supports Austin Landing. But his thinking and actions have been just as supportive for other regional issues.”
Gunlock and RG Properties have had success building Wal-Mart stores and other kinds of developments, said Deborah Feldman, chief executive of Dayton Children’s Hospital. “But with Austin (Landing), he really had a vision for a development that would fill the need in the county for a kind of development we didn’t really have,” said Feldman, former Montgomery County administrator.
Below is an edited transcript of Gunlock’s recent interview with the Dayton Daily News.
Question: How do you see Austin Landing?
Gunlock: "It is true this project is a labor of love. I perceive and have perceived for years that for Dayton companies to thrive, that they needed to access the employee base of both Dayton and Cincinnati. And I think what success we have had from an office standpoint is largely tied to filling that need. So people can locate here and employees who live 20, 25 minutes away in Cincinnati can come to work here on I-75. It works.
“What are the other needs for these business-employers? Well, the employee wants and needs the live-work-play environment. So we need to create that. Not only for the employees of these businesses, but for the community as a whole. And when I’m talking about the community, I’m talking about Montgomery County, northern Warren County.”
Q: Is this unfolding the way you wanted, the way you thought it would?
Gunlock: "We're answering a problem that these companies had. We are usually gratified that these companies have seen that this (Austin Landing) can be an answer to their quandary.
“One of the big thrills that I get personally is when I sit on Austin (Boulevard) and see all the (eastbound) traffic turning left into the development. I see that we must be fulfilling a need.”
Q: Have you been disappointed in any way?
Gunlock: "No, actually, we brought in EBS (Eubel Brady & Suttman), and they have with their investors invested a large sum of money. And that was gratifying to us. If you think about it, you have this vision, and you talk to people, and they're telling you what the problem is, and you're trying to solve the problem. Then people say, 'Yeah, you are solving the problem.' And so they invest money. They lease office space. That's a wonderful thing."
Q: How much did they invest? Will there be future investment rounds?
Gunlock: "I think they raised in the neighborhood of $55 million. Whether there will be a future (round), I don't know. I don't know what the needs will be."
Q: What will you do with the money?
Gunlock: "It will all be invested here on the north and south side of Austin. We visualize that we'll break ground on the south side with development next year."
Q: Five years from now, 10 years from now, what will this area look like?
Gunlock: "We visualize that there will be approximately 400,000 square feet of office (space) and 600,000 square feet of retail on the north side, with about 225 apartment units and the existing hotel (Hilton Garden Inn).
“And then on the south side, we have planned another couple hundred square feet of retail. And then a hotel, 150 apartment units and about 700,000 square feet of institutional or general office (space).”
Q: Are you looking at development in other areas?
Gunlock: "You asked me earlier if I'm looking at anything in downtown Dayton. I'm very interested in that. And yes, I can say that we are. But that's all I can say. We don't have anything done yet. I think there are possibilities. So if we see a need, we should try to fill that need."
Q: Would it be the same kind of village concept? What could you do downtown?
Gunlock: "Again, it's about employment, right? And it's about living and working. That's about all I can say. We're attempting to do something that I think will be really cool. But I don't know if it's going to happen or not."
Q: Do you own land downtown?
Gunlock: "Not yet. That's why I can't say anything. We're working on it. I think we've identified a need, and we're going to do our level best to fill it."
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