Versiti, which is leasing about 30% of the downtown Dayton building at 349 S. Main St., is looking ahead at options for its location once that lease is up in 2026, while Solvita continues to pursue the “Solvita Project,” an expansion project for which Montgomery County issued $76.6 million in bonds.
“Versiti is renting the space at 349 S. Main Street from the existing building owner under a lease that extends into late 2026. We are committed to a presence in the greater Dayton area but have not selected a location,” Versiti said in an organizational statement.
Versiti is actively gathering feedback from its donors to understand better which of the potential locations would be most convenient for them, the organization said.
“Our primary goal remains to serve our donors effectively,” Versiti said.
Solvita split from the blood business in the fall of 2024, selling the blood donations operations to Versiti Blood Center of Ohio, which is a Milwaukee-based company.
Solvita, which still owns the building in downtown Dayton, has not had any discussions with Versiti on whether Versiti is going to extend its lease or not, said Sarah Burns, chief financial officer for Solvita.
“But if not, we’re continuously growing,” Burns said. “Over the last five years, we’ve had on average 12% growth year over year, so we will need all the space that we can get as we continue that growth.”
The $76.6 million bonds issued for Solvita went toward the nonprofit’s expansion of its tissue services site, including 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space located at 950 Forrer Blvd. in Kettering.
“The blood and tissue bank has always been in Montgomery County. Even when they expanded, they expanded into Kettering,” said John Parks, director of the Office of Management and Budget for Montgomery County.
“Looking at it from a county perspective with a needed service, additional jobs, investment at Research Park, those are all wins for the commissioners,” he said. The issuance of bonds included Solvita paying a fee of $70,445 to Montgomery County, according to Parks.
Solvita recently finished phase one of the expansion project, which included a remodel of additional storage and warehousing space.
Solvita is a global leader in the production of tissue allografts, which include grafts of skin, bone, ligaments and tendons provided by a deceased human donor, the nonprofit says. Its processes also include storing and distributing the human tissue grafts, as well as producing biologic implants for varying medical procedures.
Solvita has now moved on to its second phase of the expansion project, which includes adding office space, additional manufacturing functionalities and more clean rooms, which are controlled spaces that limit contaminants from getting inside the room.
“It’s really just a continued growth and expansion,” Burns said.
Solvita’s growth has been exponential, she said.
“Our main focus with these bonds is to ensure that we have the future space needs in order to continue growth,” Burns said.
The nonprofit’s year-over-year growth is about 12%, she said, which includes adding new jobs each year.
“We’re expecting to add about 100 jobs this year based on the growth that we have in the budget, and we will see that continue over future years,” Burns said.
While still combined with the blood operations in 2023, Solvita’s public IRS tax documents show its total operating revenue being $243.8 million in 2022 and $274.8 million in 2023.
In 2023, just the tissue side had a revenue of $239.3 million, while the blood operations side was $29.3 million.
Operating expenses for Solvita, including both blood and tissue operations, were $226.9 million in 2022 and $257.8 million in 2023, according to IRS documents. This resulted in gains of $16.9 million in 2022 and $17.1 million in 2023.
While IRS documents for 2024 are not yet available, recent bond filings for Solvita showed net operating gains of $2.5 million for third quarter of 2024 and net operating gains of $20.5 million year-to-date, January through September in 2024. Those are operating margins of 3.4% and 9.7%, respectively, according to Solvita.
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