The Dayton Arcade is the most highly-anticipated redevelopment project in the Dayton region. The first phase brought 110 new apartments spread across four buildings, as well as the offices and business incubator known as The Hub run by the University of Dayton and The Entrepreneurs Center. The central rotunda space is being used primarily for special events and has quickly become a highly sought-after wedding venue.
Those developments have been a big success so far but some Daytonians, especially those of a generation that remembers the Arcade food court in the 1980s, have longed for more spaces anyone can go for a bite to eat. Fortunately, the next phases will bring in more restaurant and retail spaces open to the public.
The Arcade already has the UD-run Startup Grounds coffee shop in the McCrory’s Building, but in the coming months there will be four new high-profile tenants moving into key south Arcade spaces. (The next phase of development is focusing on the north Arcade near Third Street.)
Anyone familiar with Dayton’s food and beverage scene will quickly recognize the names of two of the arrivals.
The first space likely to open is Gather by Ghostlight, a new concept for the coffee shop that already has locations in South Park and Midtown.
The Arcade space will be European-inspired and offer “both regular and zero-proof beer, wines and spirits, with an added focus on aperitifs, spritzes and digestifs, …. a few of the coffeehouse and eatery’s existing breakfast and pastry items alongside new brunch, lunch and small plate creations.”
Entrances to the 2,400 square foot space will be located on 4th Street and in the Arcade Rotunda and it will have both indoor and outdoor patios. As of the latest reports, hopes were that it would open in 2022, but it is now looking like early 2023.
Another of the tenants is a popular downtown restaurant moving to a new space in the Arcade. Table 33 will relocate from 130 W 2nd Street to a 5,230 square-foot space in the Kuhn’s Building at the prominent corner of Main and Fourth.
David Williams of Arcade developer Cross Street Partners said it “will be an anchor restaurant, with a great patio overlooking the Levitt Pavilion and its numerous free concerts throughout the spring and summer.” Table 33’s current space will also remain occupied by a new concept by the same owners.
The third restaurant at the Arcade will be a completely new addition to the Dayton culinary landscape. Chef Simone Conosciani of Rome, Italy will be opening Est! Est!! Est!!!, an Italian restaurant with a wide variety of wine. The food will include “an array of appetizers, brick oven pizzas, handmade pasta, gelato, and other authentic Italian dishes.”
The restaurant space at 45 West Fourth Street will extend to another major corner that currently lacks a first-floor business on all four sides, the intersection of Fourth and Ludlow.
The 5,520 square foot space is just a few feet down Fourth Street from Gather by Ghostlight, which itself is a few doors down from Table 33 at the other corner of the block.
The final new tenant is a different type of food business, but one that’s perfectly in line with the Arcade’s entrepreneurial emphasis. The 6888 Kitchen Incubator will “provide local food entrepreneurs with affordable access to a kitchen, baking facilities and storage space” as well as offer support and educational opportunities to food startups with the goal of testing ideas and ultimately growing their businesses. In September, the incubator was awarded $750,000 in COVID-19 relief funds from the City of Dayton.
The kitchen will be located at 32 S. Ludlow St. in a space of roughly 10,000 square feet.
With increased activity in these highly-visible spaces, these new businesses should significantly boost the vibrancy and success of not only the Arcade, but downtown Dayton as a whole.
See the locations of these new businesses on the map below:
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