New landlords upbeat on Granville Business Park venture

GRANVILLE TOWNSHIP – The new owners of 62 acres and five buildings in the Granville Business Park are upbeat about the property’s future.

The real estate was acquired in three parcels in December by brothers Ageri and Yia Lagos, of Springfield, under the name Springfield Spartans LLC. Both are attorneys in Springfield at the firm Lagos and Lagos.

The Granville Business Park at 3825 Columbus Road, formerly the Dow Chemical Research and Development Center, is two miles southwest of Granville. The buildings were at one time owned by the Longaberger Co. and are a combined 121,000 square feet, Ageri Lagos said.

Lagos said that of three vacant buildings, one is “rent-ready,” one needs repairs to a leaky roof and the other needs a new roof — both of which will be addressed.

The other two are occupied by Holophane, “which is a fantastic player in the community,” Lagos said. “They’ve got some really great jobs there. We want to keep them there. Frankly, we want them to expand. They’re an international lighting company. They do things the right way.”

Lagos said there has already been interest expressed in the rent-ready structure, which he said was a Longaberger call center at one time.

“It is class A office space, frankly rent-ready for a call center or lots of other uses,” he said. “We are actively looking for tenants in that space.”

Lagos said the property was purchased at a price that “makes a lot of sense for redevelopment. We can make a deal that will be hard to refuse.”

Lagos said his and his brother’s goal is to attract good jobs for the community, following in the footsteps of an uncle in Springfield who renovated the distinctive Bushnell building, a 19th-century structure that attracted 300 new jobs.

“We’ve got experience doing that,” he said. “We want to do that in Granville.”

Lagos also believes Granville is in a competitive position to find tenants for the spaces.

“Clearly the movement is going to you guys,” he said of the business development occurring on the east side of Columbus, including New Albany.

“They’re deciding to go east,” he said of business trends. “Granville is still a ways away, but it is an attractive, valued-added (option) for potential employers to say, ‘Hey we’ve got our offices in Granville. You can live in Granville or Columbus.’ That’s a huge advantage.”

“The airport’s on your side,” he said of the east-Columbus location of Port Columbus International Airport. “It’s important, especially for the big employers — fly to Columbus, jump in a car and be at your regional office quickly.”

Lagos said he had spent time looking around Granville as well.

“Your schools are doing great. I’ve spent some time downtown. It’s vibrant. There’s people walking the streets. There’s businesses that are vibrant. Somebody in your neck of the woods is doing something right.”

Lagos added that he senses a willingness in the community to assist with business recruitment. The property is zoned M-1 for light manufacturing.

“Everybody we’ve talked to has been incredibly nice to us,” he said. “That is a great thing to hear when you buy a building. You have people who want to partner with you and work with you.”

He said the priority is to fill the three buildings, but he didn’t rule out additional buildings for the undeveloped land.

Lagos said the Granville Business Park has another big advantage in particular.

“A major thing for bringing jobs is you have to be able to provide them with parking,” he said. “Parking is key. The great benefit to that business park is there is a lot of parking in place.”