“After much planning and many hurdles, dirt is finally moving, and development is coming with much more on the way,” said Jeff Eichhorn, Henkle Schueler Senior Commercial Sales Associate on behalf of sister company and site developer Bunnell Hill Development.
The Bunnell Hill project was made possible with tax increment financing by the city of Mason. The public funds will build two roads: Radio Way and Sound Wave Drive, tributes to the property’s history, which was a working farm owned by radio pioneer Powel Crosley Jr.
“The project will create new jobs and enable the city to install gateway signage at Mason’s western border, beautify two median strips along Tylersville Road, and make several roadway enhancements that will improve traffic flow,” said Mason Economic Development Director Michele Blair.
“Without the city’s partnership through TIF financing, this project could not have occurred,” said Andy Scott, executive vice president of Bunnell Hill Development.
The project will feature two businesses that will encompass about 40 percent of Phase 1. Marion’s Piazza, a Dayton-based pizza restaurant, is slated to open this summer and will be the first Greater Cincinnati restaurant. Dermatologists of Southwest Ohio will occupy the medical office building and is slated to open in the spring.
The project is one of two phases, and includes:
• walking paths;
• two public areas enhanced with landscaping;
• water features, including streams and rain gardens; and
• a tribute to the history of the property, including historic interpretive signage and a contemporary tower that highlights the significance of the radio towers.
Phase 1 will be complete in three to five years, Eichhorn said. And by the time it’s finished, or nearly finished, he said Phase 2 will be under construction, but what will be built on the 30-acre site adjacent to Phase 1, which runs west along Tylersville Road, is “a function of the market,” Eichhorn said.
“It’s a great site for medical office buildings, it’s a fine site for a retail anchor, like a organic grocer,” he said.
Mason City Council approved last month $1.75 million in TIF bonds for the public roads, and a $1.3 million contract with Diggit Excavating to build the roads. Road improvements will also include two through lanes heading south on Snider Road and turn lanes on Tylersville and Snider roads.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or michael.pitman @coxinc.com. Follow at
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