Premier Health headquarters in downtown Dayton sold
Dec. 19—Premier Health's downtown Dayton headquarters has been sold, but the health system that operates three hospitals and two health centers in the region said several hundred employees will remain working in the building.
The property, listed as owned by Miami Valley Hospital in public records at 27 E. Second St. and 110 N. Main St., was sold for just over $5.5 million.
"The 110 N. Main Street and 27 E. Second Street addresses both are part of the Premier Health Center building where our headquarters and support functions are located," Premier spokesman Ben Sutherly said Tuesday. "We can confirm that the building has sold."
The Montgomery County Auditor's Office records give a sale date of Tuesday, Dec. 19, for the transaction.
In a statement to the Dayton Daily News, Premier said it has been the company's desire that the building remain locally owned and locally managed, and "We are delighted that this will remain the case. The new owner also intends to ensure that the building remains an asset to the greater Dayton community, which is also important to us."
A Premier spokesman declined to specifically identify the buyer in the transaction.
The auditor's office describes 110 N. Main as having 18 stories and more than 434,000 square feet of space. The property includes a parking garage and retail space.
There are distinct clues that the new owner is Chris Riegel, founder and owner of local business technology company Stratacache.
The purchasing entity, Arkham Blue LLC, has a 1 S. Main St. mailing address. According to county records, these are the only two properties this LLC owns. Tami Hart Kirby, an attorney at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, is the LLC's registered agent. (A message seeking comment was left with Kirby.)
Riegel has used "Arkham" as the name or part of the name of his real estate business arms in other real estate ventures, including the 2019 purchase of the former Kettering Tower (now "Stratacache Tower") in downtown Dayton.
For example, another of Riegel's companies is known as "Arkham Red LLC." And "Arkham Tower LLC" is another name Riegel has employed in similar transactions.
Most recently, Riegel has shown interest in the KeyBank Tower, located at 10 W. Second Street, which is about 97% vacant.
A purchase of this property at 110 N. Main could put Riegel's companies in control of sites on or near three of four corners of the core Second and Main streets intersection downtown.
Riegel, reached via email Tuesday, said he was traveling and would be available to comment later.
The move is not unexpected. Premier Health — which owns Miami Valley and is one of the region's largest employers — said in January this year that it would sell its office building, while continuing to lease some space there.
John Brownrigg, system director for facility planning, construction and real estate for Premier, said in an interview there are still some employees in the building, about 250 on a daily basis, not counting other tenants. Premier will continue to lease space there, he said, but he and a Premier spokesman declined to discuss the terms of the lease agreement.
At the time of the earlier announcement of the company's plans, Premier officials said a key reason for the decision was the continuing change from in-office to remote work, originally triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're a health care organization," Brownrigg said. "Owning real estate is really not our core business. So it was a business decision."
