Steve Bruns, president of Bruns General Contracting, (middle right), along with U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (far left), State Senator Steve Huffman (far right), and employees of Bruns General Contracting break ground on the I/75 Corporate Park on Thursday evening during a groundbreaking ceremony.
Sam Wildow | Miami Valley Today
By Sam Wildow
TROY — Bruns General Contracting broke ground on its I/75 Corporate Park on Thursday evening, which will be located near the Interstate-75 on and off ramps on County Road 25A.
“I’m thrilled to be at this point,” said Steve Bruns, president of Bruns General Contracting. “It took us a lot of hard work, a lot dedicated employees, dedicated staff at the county to make this happen.”
The first phase of the I/75 Corporate Park, located at 3436 N. County Road 25A in Troy, will include approximately 115 acres of mixed-use development property. Bruns said they do not currently have any clients they can name at this point as to whom may be planning to locate there.
“We’re going to be wide open,” Bruns said in terms of meeting their clients’ needs. “It’s what the client wants, because this is a mixed use development.”
Bruns said they purchased the property in 2009, so the company has been working to reach this point for over a decade.
“It’s just an extreme amount of time and work it takes to get something like this off the ground,” Bruns said. “A lot of planning (and) a lot of good people involved.”
The county completed a master plan in 2018 in regard to where the I/75 Corporate Park will be located, as well as the surrounding acres, to determine the variety of projected uses for that land.
“In 2018, we completed the strategic master plan for approximately 3,000 acres that surround exit 78 here on (I-75),” said Miami County Director of Development Richard Osgood. “The projected uses, which include light industrial, warehouse distribution, flex office, office and research, as well as highway service and mixed use, and healthcare, were all based on a comprehensive market analysis. So it was more than just a planning team and consultant that did the study. We brought in a market team to do a market analysis to determine even the proportions of these uses that would fit in these region.”
“We’re truly excited about the investment that’s going to be made here,” said Miami County Commissioner Wade Westfall.
Also in attendance were Ohio State Steve Huffman, who presented Bruns with a letter of commendation from the state in honor of the groundbreaking.
“It’s all about jobs. It’s about moving dirt,” Huffman said. He added, “I think people are going to want to come to Miami County because of the workforce and the attitude that people have towards work here in Miami County.”
U.S. Representative Warren Davidson also spoke at the groundbreaking, recognizing Bruns’ investment in the area.
“As you think about all of the things coming your way, some of them you might even be excited about, it’s easy to get a little pessimistic right now,” Davidson said. He went on to say, “Then you come out and see things like this happen and you know there’s optimists left in the world. People like Steve Bruns who are going to put a lot of capital at risk because they believe it’s going to work. So it’s a big deal to see somebody take the risk, and somebody that’s had the track record you’ve had, Steve. We just have confidence it’s going to turn out well.”
