The $42 million Byxbe Building opened Monday morning in a ceremony at 1610 State Route 521, Delaware.

The Byxbe Building consolidates a number of county offices and departments into a one-stop shop, such as the Building Safety Department, Engineer’s Office, Facilities Management Department, OSU Extension Office, Regional Sewer District, Regional Planning Commission, and Delaware Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD).

The building is named after Moses Byxbe, which the county said is “one of Delaware County’s earliest settlers who helped found and plan the city of Delaware.”

County Engineer Chris Bauserman helped cut the ribbon with a cohort of Delaware city and county colleagues to celebrate the opening of the 144,000-square-foot Byxbe. The engineer’s Facebook page said the SWCD was the first to relocate to the new building in September, followed the other entities in staggered phases on Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.

“This building and campus that we celebrate today are a great balance between form and function,” Bauserman said in a press release issued by the county. “The renovation is well done with quality finishes but it’s certainly not extravagant. It has been planned with flexibility in the ways the space can be used and shared with room for growth as our county continues to grow. This facility will serve us well today and I’m confident that it will continue to do so for decades to come.”

The building was renovated on the former Delaware Area Career Center’s (DACC) North Campus, which dates back to 1974. Delaware County, as part of a 10-year facilities master plan, purchased the site in 2017 for $1.7 million when DACC expanded on U.S. Route 23. The design was by M+A Architects of Columbus and construction lead by the Columbus office of Gilbane Building Company. Construction began in February 2022 with a wall-breaking instead of a groundbreaking.

“Due to the fiscally conservative policies that guide our decision making,” Commissioner Barb Lewis said in the release, “we are proud to say we have been able to finance the new campus without incurring any debt.”

The 64-acre Byxbe Campus site was recently annexed into the city of Delaware but is within Brown Township. When completed in late November, the Byxbe Campus will include a new 34,000-square-foot Delaware County Sheriff’s Administrative Building.

The county said it will have a public open house for the Byxbe Building “later this winter.”

For more information, visit https://co.delaware.oh.us/.

Assistant Editor Gary Budzak covers the eastern half of Delaware County and surrounding areas. He may be reached at [email protected].