City of Kettering, Ohio

The following is an edited transcript of that conver- sation. BVM: Can you give us an overall picture of the City of Kettering from an economic development per- spective? Patterson : “Twenty years ago,we like many other suburban communities had shopping centers going dark and the private sector wasn’t doing anything with them.That’s when we bought Governor’s Place, developed it, and became very successful. It was the lynchpin for us doing commercial develop- ment within our own community.We’ve repeated this process a number of times, each time with the end product after our investment attracting new businesses and new jobs with far greater returns. This not only ensures sustainable futures for these particular properties, it also protects the investment other businesses and our residents made when they chose Kettering. This is very important to us.” Schwieterman: “Commercial space in Kettering, for