Construction Roundup: Downtown Dayton

Take a walk around downtown Dayton today and you’ll see a welcome sight: construction cranes! Yes, several projects are underway which promise to bring new jobs and amenities to the city core. And a couple are even big enough to affect Dayton’s skyline. Let’s take a look at what projects are going on as well as their implications.

Water Street Hotel

Rendering: https://media.bizj.us/view/img/9587052/screen-shot-2016-05-10-at-74506-pm.png

We’ll start with the big ones. The Water Street development, spearheaded by Crawford Hoying and Woodard Development, has already brought apartments (with more on the way) and commercial space to the Webster Station neighborhood near Fifth Third Field, and the developers’ next phase includes a six-story Fairfield Inn and Suites hotel. The hotel was announced in January 2016, but it encountered some delays. The hotel’s initial plans were first approved by the city plan board in May 2016, but the project went quiet for several months afterward, during which it was reduced from 115 rooms to 98 and seven stories to six. In April 2017, the developers planned to start construction that Spring but it didn’t happen, and in May the city kicked in a $500k grant which was “necessitated by unique site characteristics including the presence of a large storm sewer on the site that increased construction costs.” During that time, however, the Water Street project as a whole continued to expand, most notably with the opening of the Delco Lofts adaptive reuse of the old Delco Plant #1 that brought 133 new apartment units to the development. And after the city’s assistance, ground on the hotel project was finally broken in late August 2017.

This project is significant as it will be the first major hotel built downtown in decades. The Crowne Plaza at 33 E Fifth St is currently Dayton’s main downtown option, but some visitors to the area seem to prefer the newer hotels closer to the University of Dayton (although they can’t beat the vistas from the Crowne’s View 162 restaurant). But the riverfront is the part of greater downtown Dayton currently seeing the most development, so the new hotel should immediately fit in in that area. Plus the Levitt Pavilion with its 50 free concerts a year is being planned just outside of the Crowne Plaza (if a reasonable construction bid ever materializes), so both of these hotels should both see continued demand.

To add to these hotels there are also some Airbnbs downtown as well as the Inn Port B&B in the Oregon District. And there’s still technically the Dayton Grand/Double Tree hotel on the southwest corner of 3rd and Ludlow, which announced renovations in 2015 but remains closed. That hotel location will probably need the Arcade and DDN site projects to happen in order to see new life, but perhaps it could be converted to condos or apartments instead.

Either way, the new Water Street hotel will be a welcome addition to greater downtown.

CareSource Building

Rendering: https://media.bizj.us/view/img/10214742/caresource-center-city-design.jpg

The most recent office tower built in Dayton was the 9-story CareSource Building in 2008, and in an era of rapid growth for the company and a downtown Dayton dominated by a few major employers, it seems fitting that the next office tower will also be for CareSource.

The former site of the Patterson Coop High School (1954) on First and Jefferson sat undeveloped since the school was razed in 2007. On Oct 27, 2016, it was announced that CareSource was building a seven-story, 250,000 square foot building on the site to house 900 of its employees. By February 2017, the project was downsized to six stories and 800 employees, but incentives and land acquisition all seemed to line up nicely and the project broke ground later in 2017.

The company also made a couple of moves intended to create a more campus-like environment in the area stretching from Main to Patterson Blvd. CareSource bought the Ballpark Village building at 220 E Monument and will vacate their offices at the Kettering Tower and Courthouse Crossing buildings at the end of their current leases.

While CareSource’s dedication to Dayton has been a boon for downtown, and the company’s growth has provided hundreds of new jobs, some worry about the city staking itself so strongly to a single company, and one that relies heavily on the federal government in today’s uncertain political climate.

City View Condos

Other than the aforementioned Water Street project, Charlie Simms is the developer making the biggest impact on downtown Dayton with a series of condo and townhouse developments. His most recent completed project is the Brownstones on 2nd near the 2nd Street Market, preceded by Patterson Place and Patterson Square near the ballpark. His latest condo project, called City View, will front Patterson Boulevard and go from Fourth Street to the middle of the block in front of Warped Wing.

The location helps reclaim some excess surface parking and connects the new downtown library to the new library operations center in the old Hauer Music building just south on Patterson. Dayton Metro Library initially approached Simms to see if he was interested in developing housing in the area in between its two facilities, and Simms agreed, buying the half-acre parcel from the library. The modern design of the condos will complement the style of the library buildings, and the overall goal is to create a more vibrant corridor near the library.

According to materials from Simms, each of the new units will contain open floorplans, oversized windows, attached 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths and a roof top terrace from which to enjoy the “city view.” The units range in size from 1,806 to 1,854 square feet and prices start at $349,900.

The project was announced on July 2016 and work began in November of that year.

As of the end of October 2017, 7 out of the 8 condos currently under construction had been sold, and since then work on the second building has begun.

Monument Walk Condos

If the City View condos aren’t luxurious enough for you, head a few blocks northeast to the corner of Ludlow and Monument where you’ll see Charlie Simms’ other in-progress development, Monument Walk. This development was an even riskier bet to see if the Dayton market could support luxury town homes in the range of the mid-$500,000s. The project was announced in July 2015,

So far so good, as the 8 units in the first two buildings have sold out, and construction will begin soon on the two additional structures.

Monument Walk was announced in July 2015, and by October of that year six potential buyers had put down a $500 deposit to reserve a spot once final pricing was announced. The first town home sold in February 2016.

In September 2016 the project was tweaked to add more green space and eliminate one of the units (taking it from 18 down to 17).

Although some of the other Simms projects are aimed at younger professionals, the price tags at Monument Walk make the units geared more towards empty nesters and an overall older demographic.

In a booming downtown Dayton housing market where most options, both existing and in progress, are rental apartments, Simms is adding variety with condos and townhouses for purchase. A healthy mix is necessary for a vibrant downtown, and retail, restaurants and more businesses will hopefully follow all of the housing.

This post is long enough already, so we’ll save developments in neighborhoods near downtown, such as the Flats at South Park, for our next article.