dt93                  OFFICIALS SEEK POST-DESC PLAN                  06/29/93 ================================================================================                              DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1993, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Tuesday, June 29, 1993                 TAG: 9306290117EDITION: CITY           SECTION: NEWS        PAGE: 1A SOURCE: By Tom Beyerlein and Adrianne Flynn DAYTON DAILY NEWS                        OFFICIALS SEEK POST-DESC PLAN   Montgomery County's leaders put so much effort into saving the Defense Electronics Supply Center from the military base closing ax that they forgot Plan B - what to do without it.   Well, they're thinking about Plan B now.   "Thank God we have some time to put together a plan to market those facilities," said Bill Odorizzi, vice president of the Dayton Development Council of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.   "Now we've got to use the same sort of vim and vigor that was used to try to save them," Odorizzi said.   The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission on Sunday decided DESC will close and its operations move to the Defense Construction Supply Center in suburban Columbus.   And DESC isn't the only local defense installation affected by the changingpost-Cold War military.   Earlier this year, a decision was made to close Miamisburg's EG&G Mound Applied Technologies Inc., which develops and manufactures non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons.   And Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is suffering under reductions in force,with another reduction due in January.   County leaders are scrambling to deal with all those problems after the DESC announcement.   Kettering City Manager Steven Husemann said officials haven't had time to think about post-military uses for DESC's land, but the information they compiled during the save-DESC fight will be helpful in developing a marketing scheme.   The DESC site off Wilmington Pike eventually could become an office park, an industrial park, a residential area or, heaven forbid, 165 acres of empty space.   "If it sounds like we don't really have a firm grip on it," Husemann said, "it's because we really don't have a firm grip on it."   Kettering officials plan to seek grants for a study on how to convert DESC to civilian use.   Montgomery County Commissioner Donna Moon said money is available for Kettering's proposed study through the county's Economic Development/Government Equity program and she'll lobby for it. ED/GE is funding a similar study for Miamisburg's Mound plant. Although most of the $5 million fund has been awarded this year, a small amount is set aside for emergencies.   "This certainly is an emergency," Moon said.   DESC's move will affect nearly 2,900 employees, many of whom are expected to transfer to Columbus. The complex, 48 buildings totaling 743,000 square feet, will be empty unless new tenants are found.   "It seems like an awfully nice facility to face a bulldozer," Husemann said.   If it's up to the chamber's Regional Growth Association, an organization the chamber designated to coordinate regional economic development, there won't be bulldozers in the site's future.   'This is going to be a marketing job," Odorizzi said. "You target a customer and you sell the facility." Marketing is one of the tasks planned forthe regional association.   But Husemann acknowledged that while the DESC complex has inherent advantages, several issues will hamper its marketability:   *There's a wealth of recently renovated office space in the DESC complex - ================================================================================ 11 of 25, 2 Terms                                                    Pg 1 of 2  dt93                  OFFICIALS SEEK POST-DESC PLAN                  06/29/93 ================================================================================enough to accommodate thousands of workers. But DESC's vastness could work against it. How many employers desire that much space in a low-profile suburban location?   *It's unclear how difficult it would be to subdivide DESC for multiple tenants. For example, at least part of the complex uses a common heating system, a factor that could make it hard to sell the buildings piecemeal to various users.   *Two large, empty warehouses remain from the days when DESC housed a large supply depot operation. But DESC doesn't have easy access to interstate highways.   *There's a large section of vacant land in the southernmost part of the complex, now used for recreational purposes; but development could be difficult because of accessibility problems.   It would be possible to develop DESC as a residential community, Husemann said, but probably not in today's economy. It might be feasible by the time DESC finally closes, however.   Husemann noted that landlocked Kettering has a limited amount of space for development, so "it's nice to have raw land, (but) this isn't the way we wanted it."   Wright State University urban economic development professor Jack Dustin advised Kettering officials to think small.   It would be a mistake, Dustin said, to try to attract one large company to either the Mound or DESC sites. Akron, where Dustin gained his recent experience in urban planning, was left with a "mindset of bigness" in the 1980s trying to fill closing tire manufacturing plants with more tire companies. But the tire business had changed too much and there was no market there, he said.   The county should assess its strengths - such as the skilled technological work force at Mound - and market and foster those. Small business development is most likely to succeed, Dustin said, so the area should put its money in microenterprise and small business incentive programs.LENGTH: Medium:   97 LINESENHANCER: REF5================================================================================ 11 of 25, 2 Terms                                                    Pg 2 of 2 Transfer complete. Press [RETURN] to return to Menu: