Brightspeed In-Kind Gift to Milliron Foundation Will Help Create Affordable Housing in Mansfield, Ohio

Brightspeed In-Kind Gift to Milliron Foundation Will Help Create Affordable Housing in Mansfield, Ohio

Company continues investments in the communities it serves with building transfer to non-profit, helping address critical need for affordable housing in Richland County, Ohio

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — August 7, 2025 — Brightspeed, the nation’s third-largest fiber broadband builder, has sold its Mansfield, Ohio central office building at a substantially reduced price as an in-kind contribution to the Milliron Foundation, a local non-profit organization helping to improve the lives of Mansfield, Ohio residents. Together, Brightspeed and Milliron Foundation completed the transaction at a fraction of the appraised value with the goal of helping create affordable housing for veterans and seniors.

“At Brightspeed, we believe our responsibility to the communities we serve goes beyond building fast, reliable broadband; it’s about creating lasting impact,” said John Mizerak, government affairs director at Brightspeed. “By working with the Milliron Foundation, we’re proud to play a small role in addressing a critical need in Mansfield and Richland County. This project reflects our commitment to strengthening communities.”

The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio recently reported that Ohio’s highly visible, unsheltered population has increased 29 percent since the pandemic. Additionally, the local Housing Needs and Assessment Plan, released in January, projects Richland County will need about 2,700 more affordable rental units to meet the community’s needs in 2032. The Milliron Foundation plans to address the affordable housing shortage by transforming the Brightspeed building into apartments for area veterans and seniors.

“Milliron Foundation founder, my father, Grant Milliron, was a true patriot and would be very excited that Brightspeed and the Foundation could come to such a generous agreement benefiting the veterans and seniors of Mansfield,” said Karl Milliron, a member of the foundation’s board of trustees. “While he never served in the nation’s armed forces, my dad said on many occasions that was the only regret in his life.”

Built in 1969, the 123,500-square-foot space on 10.3 acres of land has served as a telecommunications office facility until now. The Milliron Foundation plans to rehabilitate the building and grounds to create up to 75 living units, community areas and opportunities to house small businesses. The mixed-use construction project is expected to take approximately four years to complete and will be funded through the foundation, grants and partnerships.

About Brightspeed

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. and with assets and associated operations in 20 states, Brightspeed provides broadband and telecommunications services through a network platform capable of serving more than 7.3 million homes and businesses. Our 4,000 employees are committed to building a future where more communities benefit from a more connected life, deploying a state-of-the-art fiber network and a customer experience that makes being connected as simple as it should be. For more information, please visit www.brightspeed.com.