In previous articles here, here, and here, we’ve attempted to summarize the progress of the Dayton Arcade redevelopment, the most crucial pending project for the Dayton region. There have been some ups and downs over the last couple of years, mainly ups in terms of funding acquired, but the redevelopment has not yet begun in earnest. What has happened since our last post a few months ago and can we expect it will start soon?
After earning millions in state and federal historic tax credits, low-income housing tax credits, new market tax credits, and a $10 million loan from the city, the language surrounding the Arcade seemed to shift from “if” to “when.” So what’s left?
For one, the financial incentives received to date don’t amount to the entire cost of the project, and development partners were hoping to close on the project’s financing in August. Developers also needed to finalize the real estate purchase for the Arcade buildings. As of June 19, the Arcade partners still had to acquire “some four acres of real estate and some 400,000 square feet of building space.”
It is unclear as to whether those were accomplished on schedule, but on August 5, the DDN reported that “officials recently submitted applications for building permits for the office components.”
There was also a new funding win in late August, when Montgomery County approved $1 million more for the Arcade, including $500,000 in ED/GE funding that will be used in the Innovation Hub, and a $500,000 agreement with the city of Dayton.
The Arcade also got some attention down in Cincinnati with two radio programs on WVXU’s Cincinnati Edition about the Arcade and its redevelopment efforts:
http://www.wvxu.org/post/how-dayton-revitalizing-dayton-arcade
http://www.wvxu.org/post/everything-you-need-know-about-arcade-dayton
Another development affecting the Arcade was the opening of the Levitt Pavilion just to the southeast of the Arcade complex. The 50 free annual outdoor concerts have already started to increase foot traffic in the immediate area of downtown.
The first phase of the Arcade project is the South Arcade, including the Commercial Building at the corner of 4th and Ludlow, the adjacent Fourth St. and Ludlow buildings, the Lindsey and McCrory buildings on Main, and the rotunda in the middle. This will house the Innovation Hub, a partnership between the University of Dayton and the Entrepreneurs Center; housing for artists and creatives; and restaurant and retail space.
The second phase is the Third Street Arcade focusing on the Third St. building with its iconic Flemish facade and the Gibbons Annex next door. This will include a kitchen incubator program as well as apartments.
Various workers have been spotted in the Arcade recently, as pre-development and demolition work have been ongoing for several months. But we can likely expect some sort of PR-friendly official event when the project is officially a “go” and real construction begins (the state tax credit authority actually came to the Arcade to award tax credits in a hyped-up announcement back in June 2017), and it doesn’t seem like we are at that point yet. The monumentally difficult task of reviving a huge complex like the Arcade is multifaceted and understandably takes a long time. But Daytonians who have been burned on the Arcade before hope to hear more good news soon.
Update 9/20: On Wednesday 9/19 the Ohio Housing Finance Agency approved $22.5 million in Low Income Housing Tax Credits and a $4 million low-interest housing development loan for the project. This funding was called the last major milestone in the financing process (although we’ve heard that a few times already) and developers say that what remains is still closing financing and working out the legal side. They say that will happen my mid-late November and construction will begin “by the end of the year.”
Photo courtesy of Dayton Metro Library
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