12 Aug 25 Years In the Making: Ribbon-Cutting For the New U.S. 20A Interchange
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It’s not every day you get to party right in the middle of the highway. Pictured above are a few members of our brokerage team standing along with our summer intern on an open expressway with Ohio Representative Marcy Kaptur.
So what’s going on here?
August 4th marked the official ribbon-cutting for the new U.S. 20A interchange… 25+ years in the making and part of a $102 million infrastructure project that widened I-475, replaced bridges, and resurfaced sections of U.S. 24. The interchange itself? A $35 million piece of regional progress. The event was full of fanfare and celebration including a fly over of the Ohio National Guard‘s F-16 Fighter Wing.
Why were we there?
Miller Diversified, in cooperation with the Lucas County Engineer’s Office, and the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, sold the land to the State of Ohio over three decades ago, when this project was still just a vision. Our team believed in this project from the beginning… but some dreams take time to become concrete. Also, we are pretty excited about the growth opportunities this brings to Briarfield Business Park, which is immediately adjacent to the interchange and the 20A (Maumee Western) corridor. Briarfield Blvd., which dead-ends into U.S. 20A, offers additional land for development potential, including a planned neighborhood retail center and expanded warehousing and logistics. Miller Diversified also owns several Miller Investment Fund properties right in this area, and we expect this new interchange to fuel continued growth and long-term success for the Fund. (Exciting nerd stuff right there).
The 20A interchange will open up an additional major corridor to the Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport to the West and access to our farming community with The Andersons, Inc. grain elevators to the East. Standing on the new interchange bridge (safely on the new pedestrian/bike pathway please), you can see the world headquarters of Dana Incorporated, Spartan Chemical Company and The Andersons… not a bad view of economic growth in Northwest Ohio!