Dublin Isn’t Growing. Except It Is.

Local News

Most of us probably don’t think of Dublin as a place where parts for trains are made. But they’ve actually been making them here for nearly 20 years.

And one longtime Dublin manufacturer now wants to do quite a bit more of it.

Hidaka USA has been on Shier Rings Road since 1989, primarily making parts for the automotive industry. But the company started making parts for rail cars in 2008, and now says it’s looking for opportunities to manufacture parts for more types of trains.

Hidaka has expanded five times since coming to Dublin and now has three manufacturing facilities here, with equipment that includes huge hydraulic presses, lasers and robotic welders. The company says it already has the equipment and employees it needs to take on more rail work, so another expansion isn’t necessary.

And there’s another interesting part of the property that has nothing to do with manufacturing. More than 200 cherry trees are spread across Hidaka’s 22 acres. Each spring, the company holds a cherry blossom luncheon there that now draws about 150 people.

So if you’ve driven past Hidaka on Shier Rings Road without giving it much thought, there’s quite a bit happening back there — including parts that may eventually end up on trains around the country.

Local News

We post Food Truck Wednesdays in our event calendar every week, and I get a surprising number of emails from people who enjoy them.

In fact, I got two just this week. One was from a couple who moved to Dublin in March. They saw Food Truck Wednesday in Dublin Daily, decided to head over to Coffman Park and give it a try, and wrote afterward to say how much they enjoyed it.

But I also hear from people every once in a while who head back looking for a food truck they enjoyed before — only to find out it isn’t there that week.

So here’s something worth knowing: the food trucks change from week to week.

And it’s really easy to see who’s coming. When you see Food Truck Wednesday in our event calendar, click the underlined event link. From there, you can click through to see exactly which trucks are scheduled for that Wednesday.

It’s basically two clicks, and you’ll know what’s going to be there before you head over.

So if you’ve been enjoying Food Truck Wednesdays — or you’ve been meaning to try one — just check that week’s lineup before you go.

Local News

We’ve talked before about how Dublin doesn’t have a whole lot of room left for the kind of residential growth that built much of the city we know today.

But drive west toward Costco and things look a little different.

That whole side of Dublin is being positioned for quite a bit of change.

Over the last couple of years, the City has been buying hundreds of acres around the West Innovation District. Dublin bought about 243 acres in 2024, including SportsOhio and surrounding properties. And this year, the City says it secured nearly 350 more acres along the S.R. 161 corridor.

We’re also starting to see what some of that growth could actually look like.

Ohio State recently agreed to buy another 16 acres from the City next to its existing medical facility on University Boulevard, where it plans to build a new medical building of at least 150,000 square feet. And just down the road, a developer is proposing a 43-acre mixed-use development near S.R. 161 and University Boulevard with offices, housing, commercial space and open space.

Meanwhile, Dublin just rezoned roughly 370 acres in the West Innovation District for future development and is still working through exactly what should be allowed there.

And that’s before you get to all the infrastructure being planned to support it.

So Dublin may not be building giant new subdivisions the way it once did. But that doesn’t mean we’re done growing.

A pretty significant piece of Dublin’s next chapter appears to be taking shape west of town.