Defense contractor looks to build new Beavercreek headquarters

A Beavercreek research and development firm is seeking to build a new headquarters in the city.

Matrix Research, which often contracts with the Air Force Research Laboratory, is in the early stages of getting needed approvals for a 52,000-square-foot building in Miami Valley Research Park.

The new building will consoldiate the company’s two offices in Beavercreek into one headquarters and give the company of 70 employees almost twice as much space to accomodate its continued growth.

“We’re at the point now where if we’re going to continue to grow at this pace or even a little slower, we’re going to need a lot more space,” said Bob Hawley, Matrix’s president.

The company will lease the building back from developer Construction Managers of Ohio.

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The proposed building would be near the Research Boulevard exit of U.S. 35. If the plans for the site are approved by the city, it will mean a sizable new development at the non-profit business park, joining other companies like Reynolds & Reynolds, Kodak, The Greentree Group and Community Tissue Services.

“Our mission is to create jobs and to retain jobs to the Dayton area. This fits right into our mission,” said Charlie Giles, Miami Valley Research Park president and CEO.

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Matrix is an employee-owned company founded in 2007. It has expertise in radar measurements and in advanced data processing and exploitation. It also does custom design and fabrication of products like test bodies and composite structures.

Matrix is in the midst of a $36 million contract that runs through 2021 for research work that focuses on on using sensors to detect, track, image and identify targets.

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The city of Beavercreek has not yet received a zoning permit application but has gotten an application from Matrix to create a new subdivision.

Drawings submitted to the city show the proposed building would have a fabrication lab, machine shop lab, composite lab, as well as offices and conference areas.

Construction Managers of Ohio has the land for the project under contract and is represented in the transaction by Mark Fornes of Mark Fornes Realty.

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The project, if approved, will put the growing firm in close proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Fornes said the company searched around the base at available sites before picking the Beavercreek location.

“We’ve been very fortunate around Wright-Patt that we’ve been able to retain the functions around the base that are so critical to our regional economy,” Fornes said.

Miami Valley Research Park has more than 400 acres in Beavercreek. Kettering recently bought about 300 acres of the park that were also within the city, with the goal of using the land as a business attraction tool.

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