Dayton city leaders have signed an agreement with two companies to redevelop a downtown landmark.
Cross Street Partners and Dayton-based Miller-Valentine Group want to turn the Dayton Arcade into affordable housing for artistic and creative residents.
In February, the two companies plan to apply to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency for housing tax credits to build 60 affordable housing units. If the credits are granted, work could begin in 2017.
The Arcade is made up of seven buildings and covers 400,000 square feet in downtown Dayton. It has been empty since the 1990s. In 2009, the complex was purchased by a company with plans for a mixed use development. That project never materialized and the structures fell into further disrepair.
In 2014, Mayor Nan Whaley appointed a task force to consider the future of the Arcade. On the recommendation of that panel, the City Commission approved a $700,000 contract to the Miller-Valentine Group for repair work.
"When I started the Arcade Task Force, my biggest concern was to ensure that our efforts would give us enough time to make the best decision for our taxpayers,” Whaley said.
Arcade Task Force co-chair David Bohardt says that "by making the necessary emergency repairs, we have given the developer team a chance to assemble a sound project and secure any financing they might need."
"Dayton is not unlike many cities that basically have a stock of beautiful and historic buildings that are sitting empty and deteriorating,” Miller-Valentine Group CEO Ed Blake said. “Once this project is completed, we hope the Arcade will serve as blueprint for other redevelopment ideas."
"The Arcade has a storied history and tremendous potential as a key anchor for downtown Dayton," said Bill Struever of Cross Street Partners.
