Arcade developer adds works across U.S.

Dayton-based commercial construction company Miller Valentine Group may be best known locally these days for its work in redeveloping the downtown Dayton Arcade. But the company is involved in projects all over the United States.

“We’re off to a really busy year,” said Dave Dickerson, Miller Valentine’s Dayton market president.

Denny Whitehead, Miller Valentine’s senior vice president in the Dayton market, pointed to a trio of companies with regional ties for whom MVG has been working in other locales — manufacturer Huhtamaki North America, corrugated container manufacturer Pratt Industries and home furnishings retailer At Home.

Four years ago, Huhtamaki North America bought part of the Ford Batavia plant, buying 1 million square feet. Miller Valentine performed a $30 million renovation of that plant for Huhtamaki.

More recently, Huhtamaki, a maker of food-service containers, purchased an existing building in Phoenix, Ariz. and MVG performed an $11 million renovation there. The construction company is also in talks with Huhtamaki about other possible project sites in the Midwest, Whitehead said.

The company makes paper cups, molded trays, lids, clear plastic ware and other products for the food industry.

Pratt Industries bought Lewisburg Container in late 2005, becoming the largest privately-owned packaging and recycling company in the United States. MVG has had a relationship with Lewisburg Container since the late 1980s and continued that relationship with Pratt, who provides corrugated boxes to online retail giant Amazon among other customers.

Last year, MVG built a 350,000-square-foot building for Pratt in Beloit, Wisc. Now, the company is building a 360,00-square-foot facility for Pratt in Dallas, Texas, and is in talks with Pratt on another building in Sacramento, Calif., Whitehead said.

Retailer At Home is expanding across the country, spurring new construction for At Homes products stores. “They’re expanding rapidly,” Whitehead said. “They got one (store) under construction in Michigan. We heard about it and we got invited to participate in the one in Columbus.”

Work on the Columbus At Home started about 30 days ago.

The company also recently performed a ground-breaking of a new office for digestive health specialist Dr. Rajkamal Jit off Clyo Road, a 24,000-square-foot building. Another office is planned in Huber Heights, Whitehead said.

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