Commission approves $6 million to begin Center City Building redevelopment

The Dayton City Commission voted to approve the city manager’s recommendations to fund early-stage redevelopment of the Center City Building, a historic downtown property.

Tony Kroger, planning division manager, said the Center City Building is “the quiet grand old dame of downtown Dayton buildings” and argued restoring it would support housing and downtown investment. Veronica Morris, division manager of development, told commissioners the proposal requests $2,000,000 in ARPA funds for predevelopment work and $4,000,000 from the city’s development fund for remediation and strategic acquisition. Morris said the $4,000,000 will be paid on a reimbursement basis to the Montgomery County Land Reutilization Authority after the land bank advances initial costs.

The staff presentation described the project as a mixed-use conversion expected to create roughly 217 housing units and to activate first-floor retail. Morris said “over 60 will be designated as affordable,” and separately referenced “60%” in the same discussion; staff also said the project funding is intended to leverage roughly $110,000,000 in additional private investment. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was identified in the staff presentation as historically and architecturally significant.

Commissioners who spoke praised the project’s scale and potential. Commissioner Charles Lawson commended staff and partners and highlighted the proposed 217 units and the stated plan to make a substantial share affordable. Commissioner Fairchild and Commissioner Shaw noted the project’s square footage and the role of tax-credit programs and organized labor in making the project feasible. Paul Bradley of the Montgomery County Land Reutilization Authority was acknowledged by staff as a partner in the agreements.

Veronica Morris said the ARPA money will support architectural and engineering predevelopment work and allow the developer to purchase fixtures, furnishings and appliances intended to make affordable units marketable and welcoming. She described the development fund portion as financing remediation work, including asbestos abatement, and noted housing inspection staff will continue stabilizing and securing the building before remediation begins. Morris said crews will begin blocking off the site and placing dumpsters so remediation work can start.

The commission approved the city manager’s recommendations by voice vote. The motion was adopted and the record shows the commission moved forward with the subrecipient agreement funded by ARPA and the remediation and acquisition financing from the development fund as described by staff.

Officials listed the Dayton Recovery Plan and partnerships with Public Works, Dayton Police and Dayton Fire as part of the implementation team; staff said public-works crews and housing inspection have already worked to stabilize the property.

Next steps described by staff: execute the agreements with the land bank, begin reimbursement-based remediation funding after the land bank advances work, and begin on-site stabilization and remediation operations in the coming days.