A second site, “Stratos Valley,” will be built less than two miles to the southwest off Col. Glenn Highway.
Together, both sites will have nine planned buildings on more than 40 acres of Wright-Patterson property — land made available for civilian use thanks to a painstakingly negotiated “enhanced use lease,” first announced in February 2025.
The complex development is one of the biggest commercial projects in Dayton-area history, advocates have said.
John Kopilchack, vice president of Stratos developer Synergy Buildings Systems, recalled discussing the challenge of the project with Jerad Barnett, Synergy’s chief executive and president.
They decided the project would take five years and cost some $1 million before spades even hit the dirt.
“It would have been nice to have spent only a million dollars,” a smiling Kopilchack said to laughter at the groundbreaking event.
The overall plan involves two parcels touching parts of Fairborn, Bath Twp. and Greene County.
The demand is there, advocates believe. The base’s military and civilian working population has doubled over the past two decades, with some 38,000 people working there today, making Wright-Patterson the largest employer on roughly one location in the state of Ohio.
Barnett said Synergy’s office portfolio has a total 726,000 square feet of office space, not counting what’s under construction. (Most of that space is leased.)
But in the immediate environs of Wright-Patterson, only about 1,000 square feet of space are available, he said.
That demonstrates the demand, in his view.
“We as a region probably can’t emphasize enough the importance of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, what it brings to us from a technology investment, innovation, the jobs they provide,” he said in an interview after the groundbreaking.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine praised Synergy, which has only 16 employees, for its work, saying the sites could prove to be a “gold standard” national model of cooperation between federal, state and local governments.
“They truly pushed this project to the finish line,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, said regional leaders have pursued dual strategies, seeking job growth both within, and outside, the base fenceline.
“This is where those two strategies come together,” Turner said.
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