DAYTON – Joseph M. Geraghty, executive director of The Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority, announced the completion of several projects in 2020, which help support public and private economic development activity in the Dayton region by providing complimentary financing and tools that can help fuel corporate and non-profit economic growth.

Geraghty, who was appointed executive director of the Port in 2020 succeeding Jerome “Jerry” Brunswick, who is still working at the Port, described the projects by the variety of tools the Port can employ to assist both for-profit and non-profit organizations to enter the market or expand their respective goods and services here.

Geraghty indicated that, by utilizing the Southwest Ohio Regional Bond Fund, the Port Authority was able to complete financing deals for the Dayton Arcade along with continued support of Randall Residence senior living community. In addition, the Port supported four Property Assessed Clean Energy Programs for Front Street, Tomco Machining, Claypool and Beth Abraham Synagogue.

Geraghty said Property Assessed Clean Energy is a national program adopted by the state of Ohio to provide a financing vehicle for energy upgrades to existing and new buildings. PACE financing effectively allows property owners to borrow money to pay for energy improvements.

Through the Port Authority’s ability to own property for lease-back to organizations and through related capital lease structures, development, expansion and re-purposing projects were completed for Northpoint Development’s Dayton airport investments, for the Biltmore Towers senior community and Cargill Inc.’s $224 million modernization and expansion project in Sidney.

Geraghty said The Port Authority can collaboratively operate in 14 counties in southwest Ohio, therefore enabling economic development assistance in a large footprint surrounding Dayton and Montgomery County.

“Looking forward into 2021, we are very bullish on business and economic activity including continued buildout at the I-70/75 corridor driven by e-commerce and increasing fulfillment capacity,” Geraghty said. “This forward economic motion includes supporting the business expansions of recently announced White Castle and Economy Linen projects. We continue to work closely with our local and state partners including the Dayton Development Coalition, JobsOhio and all the regional economic development entities, fulfilling our mission to help the region grow and thrive.”