GDP is, of course, strictly a quantitative measure and tells absolutely nothing about the nature of the "products".
The new buildings in my area (and in areas I travel through) are for the most part hospitals, clinics, schools or school expansions, and government buildings. The boarded up buildings are former mfg or wholesaling operations.
Furthermore, when billion dollar industries such as pornography, pet supplies, nursing homes, fast foods, high end real estate, etc. are considered then the "strength" trend of our nation appears troubling to say the least. It's also instructive to examine the makeup, let alone the quantity, of our measly exports.
Finally, what the GDP (or GNP before it) said yesterday, says today, and will say tomorrow about the economic status of "the average American" is purely inferential.
IMHO, you'd be well advised to set aside the government statistics and trust your eyes and good intellect.
Welcome to Ohio.
Even out here in the Peoples Republic of California, surely the most business unfriendly state in the nation, you see very little of that. I think in your case you are just seeing the reduction in manufacturing business in a state that is basically industrial, or once was. It isn't like that out here and I don't think it is like that in the South, Southeast and Southwest. Florida is booming that's for sure.
And as to the makeup of the GDP. You are right but people buy what people want not what you and I would want for them. That's life. The alternative has been tried many times and it fails miserably. Humans aren't perfect but they're all we've got.