The city also announced recently that Spigel Properties, a Texas-based company, has acquired the old Best Buy building at 5031 Salem Ave. Spigel, which owns and operates retail centers and malls and has about 20 properties throughout Michigan and Ohio, has not said what it will do with the building.
“It is consistent with the city’s plan to repurpose these old big-box buildings that were left from years ago.” Trotwood City Manager Quincy Pope said. “We’re looking to create jobs and businesses for this community.”
Specialty Manufacturing is transforming the 124,000 square-foot former Elder-Beerman site at 5370 Salem Ave. into a machine tool manufacturing facility. The Elder-Beerman store closed in 2009.
“They will bring 52 jobs” Pope said. “They will also create 10 new jobs.”
The move will help revitalize the area, Pope said.
Specialty Manufacturing Solutions is receiving a $100,000 Economic Development/Government Equity grant from Montgomery County toward the project. Additionally, the city will award the company an amount equal to 50 percent of the wage taxes collected from the company for two years.
The majority of Specialty Manufacturing’s equipment is expected to be moved in by June. The company plans to be operating from its new location by December.
Trotwood is still working to uses for other vacant big-box properties, including: Walmart, 5331 Salem Ave., which closed in 2007; Cub Foods, 5495 Salem Ave. and Kmart, 5300 Salem Ave., both of which closed in 2013; and Sears, 5200 Salem Ave. and Target, 2800 Shiloh Springs Rd., both of which closed in 2014.
Gail Smith, 65, said she has lived in Trotwood for 40 years. She recalls the booming activity at the Salem Mall, and the businesses that have left. These latest developments show the city is on the right track, Smith said.
“The new projects are a good thing” Smith said. “I think we will be okay.”
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