| If there was any kind of overarching theme in the past year, we might say this: Dayton-area businesses are adaptable. Change — often welcome but sometimes unwelcome — was the story in 2023. Let’s take a look at some of the year’s biggest business headlines. Mikesell’s ends 110-plus years of local business The news broke officially in late January, but concerns percolated well before then: Mikesell’s, a historic Dayton maker of potato chips and snack foods, confirmed it was going out of business. After growing employee comments and questions, the company announced that it hoped to sell its brand and intellectual property rights to another snack food manufacturer to potentially continue the Mikesell’s brand. In mid-February, that happened: Conn’s Potato Chips started production of Mikesell’s-branded bags of potato chips from its Zanesville facility. Stubborn inflation, lingering pension obligations and changing customer tastes all contributed to a more challenging market for the snack company. Joby Aviation announces historic production plans in Dayton It’s a new kind of vehicle for a new kind of market: Electric flying vehicles that advocates say will soar quickly and quietly above traffic, transporting passengers to airports and other destinations without emissions. Military planners have their own ideas about how to use the vehicles. They’re called electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles — or “flying cars.” And Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Joby Aviation Inc. plans to build the world’s first large facility to make them near Dayton International Airport. The company has said little since a September announcement about progress toward that goal. (There were no updates as of late December.) But the state and Montgomery County have come through with some economic incentives meant to cement the deal. Job estimates vary — Montgomery County planners appear to expect 1,200 Dayton-area jobs while state officials have talked of up to 2,000. But the upshot is that Ohio won a multi-state competition. “We were in a long competition to do this, and we won. That’s a big deal,” Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said in September. MORE: Company pledges up to 2,000 jobs, $500M to build flying cars in Dayton area ‘Building tomorrow:’ Honda breaks ground for new Fayette County EV battery plant Credit: Jim Noelker The plans were first announced in September 2022, but ground was ceremonially broken early in 2023: A joint venture of automaker Honda and LG Energy Solution began building a big plant to make batteries for electric vehicles, representing $3.5 billion of an overall projected $4.4 billion investment in EVs by Honda and its partners. The ‘sweet spot:’ The plant will employ about 2,200 workers, the state and the company have said. It will be an approximately 50-minute drive southeast of Dayton, about 40 minutes south of Springfield and about 70 minutes east of Hamilton. The joint venture leaders expect to draw workers from those communities and others. “Fayette County, geographically, it’s the perfect spot for this joint venture,” said Rick Riggle, chief operating officer of the joint venture company. “We call it a ‘sweet spot’ between Columbus, Dayton, Cincinnati — it’s a great location. And it’s centrally located to Honda operations.” MORE: ‘Catalyst for change.’ Honda EV battery plant sparks $100M in infrastructure work Kettering Health investigation finds financial impropriety Credit: JIM NOELKER Financial impropriety related to the use of Kettering Health organizational funds was uncovered through an internal investigation, the hospital system acknowledged in late 2023. Earlier this year, Kettering Health retained an outside firm to conduct an internal investigation in response to “allegations of inappropriate fiscal and operational management at Kettering Health.” Kettering Health said it will seek repayment of funds from individuals involved while sharing information related to its investigation with the “appropriate authorities.” MORE: Our own investigation: Documents: Kettering health network played role in purchase, repair of Manchur mansion Stratacache CEO extends downtown Dayton holdings Stratacache Chief Executive Chris Riegel bought what was Kettering Tower for $13 million in February 2019, a little over a year before the world of office work was forever changed. Riegel, in past interviews, has said he has no regrets, although he has acknowledged that buying the building later probably would have resulted in a lower price for him. Recently, the Dayton Daily News broke the news that one of Riegel’s limited liability companies bought Premier Health’s downtown headquarters at 110 N. Main St. for just over $5.5 milllion. A deed associated with the $5.5 million sale of the former Premier headquarters links Riegel to the purchase, effectively identifying him as the new owner. MORE: Deed confirms that Chris Riegel, Stratacache CEO, owns former Premier Health HQ GE Aerospace to invest $20M in Dayton EPISCenter Credit: Jim Noelker GE Aerospace is investing up to $20 million into its Electrical Power Integrated Systems Center (or “EPISCenter”) to build a new test cell, bringing to nearly $100 million the amount that has been invested into the University of Dayton campus facility in the past decade, the company said in May. Construction was to begin on the new cell within the River Park Drive facility this summer. It was to be the center’s seventh test cell. There is room for an eighth test cell within the building, but there are no plans to build one. | 