Pentagon Boulevard: The Acropolis

South across I-675 from the Colonel Glenn Highway development is Pentagon Boulevard.


It used to be called New Germany/Trebein Road and as recently as 10 years ago was a two lane highway with dead farms. The road was renamed Pentagon Boulevard at the intiative of a developer active along it. Orginally to be re-named after one of his developments the Beavercreek City council modified the name slightly.

And why not? New Germany no longer exists in modern conciousness except as a name on old maps, and I'm not sure Trebein was ever more than a crossroads locality. And the road doesn't even go to what's left of New Germany anymore.

So that old name was the past. Pentagon Boulevard is the future. The future of the regional economy as well as the (presumably) futuristic R&D and IT work that happens here.

We will be looking at the developments outlined in yellow, mostly. New Germany labled as a reference to the past series of posts. Fairfield Commons, the mall that kicked off development in this part of Beavercreek.



What makes Pentagon Boulevard special is that the office development here is all by the same developer. All done by Mills-Morgan and Synergy, their construction subsidiary. So, unlike Colonel Glenn Highway, all the office development here has a sort of visual consistency.

The Mills-Morgan developments shown in blue below. Note that one of them is across the highway on Colonel Glenn. We've seen that one in an earlier post. And another is slightly off Pentagon Blvd, across from the mall.

We'll look at that one, the Acropolis, first. But note that the eastern end of Pentagon Blvd. has some hotels and the Wal-Mart/Sams Club pair. So a bit of retail/hospitality in the area (not shown are restaurants like Panera just to the east of this map)

An example of two of the hotels. Note that these are fairly tall. Five stories, actually six if one counts the high roof. So a baby edge city vibe going down here.


The first Mills-Morgan office development near Pentgon Boulevard was the Acropolis.

M-M involvement was between 1998 and 2006, when it was sold and the money used to do new developments (most of this info is sourced from the Dayton Buisness Journal, with a bit from the DDN).


Though started in the 1990s the first buildings went on-line in 1999 or 2000. In 2003 Phase II was announced. So a product of the 2000s, or maybe the "irrational exuberance" of the 1990s. However, the exuberance here was quite rational. As we've seen in the previous set on the recession, the regional economy was anemic before 2008. Not so this corner of the metro area!



The Acropolis was perhaps the first large scale regional office development that dropped the modernst aesthetic for post-modernism, using historical architectural features like cornices, windows that read as windows (not bands or walls of glass), and masonary construction. In this pic the first two buildings are the one on the far left and the three story center one (which breaks the usual two story limit for office buildings).


A quick mention on site planning. This is built on a rise, so it is actually somewhat an event driving up into the parking areas, underneath nameplate arches. The complex is about one or 1.5 stories above the road seperating it from the mall.

Little bus shelter thing is interesting, as there is no transit in Greene County. The building is signed for Sierra Nevada Corporation, which is headquarterd near Reno (hence the name). From their website, this is another defense contractor:

SNC is a world-class prime systems integrator and electronic systems provider known for its rapid, innovative, and agile technology solutions. Fast-growing and widely diversified, SNC is a high-tech electronics, engineering, and manufacturing corporation that continues to expand its impressive portfolio of capabilities, products and services.