TROY — The city of Troy saw steady growth, and a surge of attendance at city-sponsored events, throughout 2022 as an increasing number of residents continue to live, work and play within the city limits.

“It’s been an amazing year,” Troy Mayor Robin Oda said. “Troy’s been a good place for a long time. It’s still a good place to be.”

“We have an involved community,” she said. “We have people who want to see Troy succeed; we have people who keep investing in Troy.”

Two of the year’s biggest projects were construction of the city’s new Fire Station 11 on East Canal Street, which opened in fall of 2022, and the ongoing re-construction of West Main Street, from the downtown square to Ridge Avenue, which could be finished as soon as late 2024 or 2025.

“The biggest one is West Main Street,” city of Troy Safety and Public Services Director Patrick Titterington said. “That’s going very well. There are always inconveniences and slowdowns and surprises, but as of right now that’s on or maybe even ahead of schedule.”

Other projects completed in 2022 include the creation of the new Robinson Reserve at Duke Park on Troy-Sidney Road, and the installation of new playground equipment at Trinity Park on Tyrone Road. The city also built a new parking lot to increase Great Miami River access at the state Route 41 bridge, and started a $12 million expansion of the city sewer plant to help keep up with new growth.

Residential construction grew steadily throughout 2022, led by new housing created downtown and rapid growth in several of the city’s housing developments.

“We’ve had steady growth in all of them,” Titterington said. “Redwood, the apartments on McKaig and 718, are just about done with construction. Stonebridge Meadows is now complete.”

“We’ve had growth in our downtown residential community,” he said. “The second and third-story residential apartments have continued to perk up and get rented.”

Commercial development was also strong in 2022. “We’ve had a lot of growth in small business and large,” Oda said.

“We were able to visit with the corporate headquarters of three of our European businesses, all three of whom have announced that they are looking at expansions in Troy,” Titterington said.

“Our downtown continues to thrive,” he said. “We’ve had additional storefronts being renovated. Our downtown vacancy rate continues to be extremely low.”

City-sponsored downtown events also saw a surge in popularity in 2022, with increased attendance at the Strawberry Festival, Grand Illumination and Tour De Donut.

“It’s a busy place,” Oda said. “We love that.”

“Coming out of COVID, people want to be out and about,” she said.

“Our events that we’ve had downtown were unprecedented for 2022,” Titterington said. “I think the Strawberry Festival was one of the highest attendance we’ve ever had.”

The new Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) established by Troy City Council was also very successful in 2022, and the city is working to expand the DORA for 2023.

“There were no issues in our first year,” Titterington said. “Troy Main Street and the city have asked that council expand the area, and expand the times and dates.”

More new businesses are expected in 2023, with Old Scratch Pizza, Miso, Crafted & Cured and a new Aldi’s grocery store already planning to open in Troy later this year.

“We tracked 108 projects last year,” Titterington said. “We’ve got 111 projects this year.”

City projects planned for 2023 include continuing the Main Street re-construction, improvements to the Toy Senior Citizens Center, including the addition of a covered patio and other amenities, and redevelopment of the city-owned industrial park on Experiment Farm Road.

“We’ve gotten several really serious inquiries into that park,” Titterington said. “Our strategy is to look at additional industrial land, using the proceeds from that sale.”

The city plans to upgrade the playground equipment at Duke Park, and will participate in a county project to install a new sewer line connecting Casstown to Troy.

“The county will be leading that project,” Titterington said.

The city is also planning to start major renovations east of Market Street, from the river down to Herrlinger Park, including the construction of a new recreational trail that could run from the grain elevator to Herrlinger Park.

“We’re looking at a long-range plan to improve that corridor, whenever the low dam is removed either this year, or probably next year,” Titterington said. “Old Scratch Pizza coming onboard should help lead the way on that.”