Teeming with development
MARY ANN BIHN gets a kick out of the question friends have been asking.
"We have people say, 'You're in the city. Did you move?' We say, 'No, the city came to us.'•"
That's because pretty much all the land in a square bounded by State Rte. 25 (also known as North Dixie Highway) and Fort Meigs, Roachton, and Five Point roads has been annexed in recent years to the city of Perrysburg to accommodate planned projects that will bring at least 600 homes and dozens of office buildings, restaurants, and stores.
Mrs. Bihn and her husband, Jerry, were among the first families to move into ranch houses along Fort Meigs Road in rural Perrysburg Township in 1960.
Surrounded by farm fields and empty land, the Bihns' four children had free rein to run from home to home on their two-lane road, piling into the car only to go to school or shop in the city of Perrysburg.
Fast forward to 2006 and the Bihns can look out their back windows and see homes under construction in two subdivisions, or travel a short distance down Fort Meigs Road, passing the five-year-old Perrysburg High school, to dine or shop at the Town Center at Levis Commons.
Mrs. Bihn said she hasn't minded a lot of the upgrades the growth has brought to her street, especially city water and sewer lines, but admitted that continued growth could make her less comfortable.
"I can still look out our front window and see clear out to Hull Prairie Road," she said, referring to the vista to the west. "But there's supposed to be some type of development over there so when that happens, I might feel differently."
Construction of houses and ambitious plans for restaurants, retailers, and office space have been spurred by the first phases of the popular Levis Commons and the building of the high school on Roachton Road, abutting Fort Meigs Road.
Tim Gruber, a developer in northwest Ohio for more than three decades, said the high school was the impetus for the nearby projects.
The owner of Ridge Stone Builders & Developers has four intertwined developments in the area.
"Perrysburg is where Sylvania was 12 to 15 years ago," he said. "People like new, and the community is new. Perrysburg residents can now eat, dine, and shop in their own city."
Developer Larry Dillin didn't consult a crystal ball when he and a partner put Levis Commons near the intersection of State Rte. 25 and Roachton Road.
Aware that such groups as the Regional Growth Partnership called State Rte. 25 the south development corridor for the Toledo metro area, the longtime developer and a partner took a calculated risk that a development of stores, restaurants, offices, and apartments would attract a number of people.
"Everyone was expecting growth would happen between Perrysburg and Bowling Green, so it's not really a surprise," said the president of Dillin Corp.
About a third of the Levis Commons project is developed, including 38 stores in the main shopping area, Town Center at Levis Commons; 12 brownstones either built or under construction; slightly more than 300 units, almost all fully leased, in Preston Gardens Apartments; and Preston Place, current or future home to a number of retailers, including a florist, a boutique catering to dogs, and a pizza place.
Also at Levis Commons is the new world headquarters of Owens-Illinois Inc.
The developers of that project aren't the only ones who have targeted the area as the next big growth area for northwest Ohio.
Mr. Gruber and his sons, Brian and Matt, are involved in four projects near the same intersection that eventually will connect 600 households to a number of retailers and office buildings with no need to cross a major road.
Two of the residential projects, Horseshoe Bend and River's Edge, have some completed homes, with more under construction. Each eventually will have 200 houses, priced at roughly $180,000 to $225,000. River's Edge is geared toward empty-nesters; Horseshoe Bend is attracting families wanting the school system.
Bay Shore Village, not yet started, will include 200 homes priced at $250,000 to $350,000.
These projects will have access to Harbor Town Place, a commercial development of restaurants, small and medium-sized stores, offices, and a lake on 85 acres, on the west side of State Rte. 25 just south of Roachton.
Construction is to start within 30 days on a 36,000-square-foot retail-commercial strip for the project. Mr. Gruber has commitments for Harbor Town from a bar, bank, and a couple of doctors' offices.
Over five years, the Grubers accumulated 325 acres for their developments.
Kurt Pollex, a retail specialist with CB Richard Ellis, Reichle Klein in Maumee, is marketing four acres on State Rte. 25 next to the Harbor Town entrance at $1.4 million, or $350,000 an acre.
The price is in line with the selling prices of other undeveloped land along the street, he said. The site has a house on it.
"It's been a growth corridor for awhile," Mr. Pollex said.
The owners of Otterbein Retirement Communities have broken ground on a cul-de-sac on the River's Edge subdivision, with an entrance off High Point Road, for five homes that will each have living quarters for 10 adults.
"Part of the reason we wanted to locate there was because we wanted an area with convenient, familiar, residential neighborhoods," said Rosemary Cicak, spokesman for the Lebanon, Ohio, company.
Contact Mary-Beth McLaughlin at
mmclaughlin@theblade.com
or 419-724-6199.
First Published November 19, 2006, 12:53 p.m.
