The increase is because the city of Hamilton released its $2 million share of Butler County ARPA funds. Hamilton announced in February they planned to contribute nearly $2.5 million. The remaining funds contributed by Hamilton are through forgiving the $480,000 it’s owed by Vora Technology Park. The city issued a $1.6 million loan to Vora Tech to assist the company in landing Barclaycard in 2015, which expires in 2025.
Miami University requested the Ohio Controlling Board’s approval to purchase Vora Technology Park for $11.68 million. Miami University, according to its submission to the Controlling Board, will commit $940,0000. The Controlling Board approved the request on March 25.
Known as the Butler County Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Hub, the new school and training facility would be located just north of Miami University Hamilton campus at 101 Knightsbridge Drive and is considered to be the first of its kind.
The 54.4-acre purchase would expand Miami University’s footprint in Hamilton, giving the regional campus more than 144 acres of property in this area of Hamilton, which is south of Knightsbridge Drive between Neilan and University boulevards, just north of Belle Avenue.
Miami University President Greg Crawford started off by telling the commissioners the public university owes “you a big debt of gratitude.”
“When you think about the scale of this project and what it’s going to do for Butler County, it’s even harder to conceive how big it is for us and how big it’s going to be for Miami and Hamilton and Butler Tech and the collaboration,” he said. “You’ve done more than just fund it; you’ve been a partner every single step of the way.”
Miami and Butler Tech would initially split 70,000 square feet of the complex’s nearly 400,000-square-foot space as Butler Tech would sign a 40-year lease with Miami. Classes are expected to begin in late summer of 2025.
“We’re so fortunate to have Butler Tech in our community because it’s such an innovating career-tech high school, and furthermore they’re innovating across the country so everyone knows what they’re doing,” said Crawford. “That partnership coming together was extraordinarily unique with a four-year university and a career tech high school. We’re off and running and we’re going to do great things together, and really going to show Butler County, the state and the nation what we can do together.”
Butler Tech is one of Ohio’s largest county career school systems, and Miami is Butler County’s largest employer with campuses in Oxford, Hamilton and Middletown, and a Learning Center in West Chester Twp.
The project wasn’t easy to put together, said Ande Durojaiye, vice president and dean of Miami University Regionals, but told commissioners on Monday, “Anything that is worth doing is going to take some hard work.”
“When we think about the investments you are making, Butler Tech is making, Miami is making in our community, it’s not about what it’s going to do today,” he said, "but I think about what’s going to be in 10 years, 20 years and 30, when we start looking at our college-going rate, we start looking at economic development, we see incomes going up, we see families becoming stronger because of the opportunities they have; that’s all going to happen from things like this that started right here in this room.”
Several organizations are in support of the educational hub, including Nth Cycle in Fairfield and thyssenKrupp Bilstein in Hamilton, and the Ohio Manufacturing Association. Butler Tech Assistant Superintendent Marni Durnham recently had a conversation with Hamilton’s Matandy Steel and handed a memorandum of understanding Monday morning to officials at Procter and Gamble.
“You have made this our legacy because of your choice to make this happen, and your push to make this happen,” she said. “The only way to make that happen is through community and saying, ‘We will support you,’ and then the relationships built in this room. This is adults coming together to ensure young people will thrive, no matter what their goal is, they will exceed their own expectations.”
Butler County Finance Authority CEO Joshua Smith worked on this project when he was Hamilton’s city manager, and Butler County Commission President Cindy Carpenter said the push to make this project happen “largely came from” him.
“It is truly a perfect storm of the supercharged innovation of a Butler Tech with the muscle of Miami University, with the commissioners seeing the immense value of doing this. There’s value to Hamilton, but there’s value to the entire region by doing this,” said Smith.
But to have companies the size of P&G, a Fortune 100 company, to the Hamilton-founded Matandy Steel, he said this project is “huge,” and said this project “simply does not happen” without Butler County’s support.
About the Author
