Fidelity Building and Paru Tower: History and What’s Happening Now?

It’s been over five years since I wrote an article about what major downtown site could be next after the Dayton Arcade redevelopment had officially gotten underway.

Today, of course, the Arcade’s first phase has been a success and the second phase is nearing completion, but out of the many buildings I covered in that article, only one, the Grant-Deneau Tower, has moved forward.

For the rest, the words I wrote then still apply: “These large vacant properties have put areas of the Central Business District into a state of limbo. Just a few getting redeveloped would seriously tip the scales for the whole downtown, but an inability to secure financing and continued deterioration could lead to demolitions. And the loss of any irreplaceable historic urban fabric would be a major blow to a city core that has already been gutted of so much.”

It’s certainly worth noting that since I wrote in 2019, many plans were upended by a global pandemic. But today I’ll write about two of those sites, the Fidelity Building and 34 North Main (The Paru Tower) and briefly cover their history as well as give an update on their redevelopment prospects.

Fidelity Building

The Fidelity Building was built in 1918 at the SW corner of Fifth and Main Streets, replacing an old post office and federal building that only lasted a few decades there before being replaced.

The Fidelity was expanded in 1929 and for many years was the home of a variety of medical offices. It has been vacant since 2008 when a burst water pipe dealt a final blow and forced the remaining tenants to relocate.

Like the Centre City Building just up Main Street, it has been awarded millions in historic tax credits multiple times but has been unable to assemble the rest of the needed financing to begin in earnest.

In 2018, a redevelopment project won $4 million in state tax credits towards what was reported to be a $22 million dollar effort to create 94 housing units and first-floor retail. At the time it had raised $12 million in private financing and had also been awarded $3.3 million in federal tax credits, but it ultimately did not move forward.

Then in December 2023, the Fidelity again won millions in state tax credits, this time $4.9 million toward a $50.6 million total project cost that would bring 101 housing units and two food and entertainment tenants. At the time it was reported that “work is expected to begin in the summer of 2024 with an estimated completion date of May 2026.”

But in October 2024, the owner of the building pleaded guilty to a federal charge for failing to properly inspect and test for asbestos before beginning redevelopment activities.

And the developer announced for the project, Mayfair Hospitality, was also the group that brought the Est Est Est restaurant to the Dayton Arcade, which closed in July 2024 after only a year in business.

So it remains to be seen if anything can be resurrected from the latest development proposal.

34 N Main (Paru Tower, Third National Bank Building)

If we stay on Main Street and head north a few blocks to the block in between Second and Third, we come across another major former office building that has been vacant for some time.

34 North Main, originally known as the Third National Bank Building and later the Society Bank Building, is a 14-story structure built in 1926.

Later it became the KeyBank Building before that company moved across the street to the former Mead Tower.

KeyBank vacated the space in 2008 and two years later, the building was purchased by Dr. Commander Selvam, a self-proclaimed Hindu guru and mystic. But he ended up in legal troubles out of state and unpaid taxes piled up, and the building went into receivership and was foreclosed on in 2013.

The City of Dayton acquired the building in 2016, saying that “it’s right across from Courthouse Square and is really the center of our main street spine” and that “is imperative this building be given new life.”

The following year the city selected a preferred developer, Coon Restoration, which planned to seek historic tax credits towards a conversion to market-rate housing.

But no updates followed that announcement.

Finally in 2023, the tower was back in the news as it was reported that some of $11 million in grant money from the Ohio Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program would go to asbestos remediation at 34 N Main.

The building is now owned by the Montgomery County Land Bank, and a recent social media post shared that “the scope of work was much larger than originally anticipated.”

But at least some visible work is being done, and hopefully once more remediation work has been completed the building will come back on the redevelopment radar.