Building Colonel Glenn III: "New Germany" Offices

Fairborn-Wright and Wright Executive Park were not the only spec office developments on Colonel Glenn. To the west in the vicinity of "New Germany" was a collection of smaller developments:

1. Freedom Center

2. Signal Hill

3. Ashford Center

4. Glenn Tech Center

1983

Setting the stage, in 1983 "New Germany" still reads as a seperate place as there was a lot of open land around it. It's doubtfull anyone called it that, though. Some of the first movers appear to the east, and the mysterious Wright-Patterson "tower building" was already built.

...and one can see what might be site preparation for two of the complexes.


1989

Everything is up by now, a product of the 1980s boom. Except Signal Hill is missing one of its buildings, which was built in the early 1990s. Wright-Patterson "tower building" contributes to the office landscape, though it's in a secure area and not a spec building.

Now lets take a look at the buildings, moving from east to west.

Freedom Center

Ugh. A banal pancake building. Freedom...to park. This was set in what would have been the older part of New Germany so one wonders if some old buildings were torn down to build it. Sort of an example of recyling real estate.



Signal Hill

Brick and band windows, not unlike one of the buildings at Fairborn-Wright. The building to the left (at four stories instead of three) is the newer one from the 1990s. One of the buildings is signed for SAIC, presumably a defense contractor at the base.


Ashford Center

This also had a little one story restaurant/lounge in front, but that closed & is now a real estate office. Another brick and band window design. One wonders if more was planned for this site. For some reason this western part of Colonel Glenn seems undeveloped.




The building is signed for ARINC, another defense contractor.

Glenn Tech Center

Glenn Tech is a one story pancake building with considerably more flair than "Freedom Center", using large window walls and glazed/colored brick or tile on the facade. Now home to ITT I think defense contractor Sverdrup was in here during the 1990s.

What's interesting is that the defense contractors on Colonel Glenn aren't too hush-hush as they have big signs on their buildings. The military/industrial complex seems to drive occupancy in the spec offices off Colonel Glenn to some extent (it's not all defense oriented, though), but that is changing with the 2000's development of "Mills-Morgan Land" south of I-675.