Montgomery commission OKs $750,000 to rekindle Fire Blocks redevelopment
Montgomery County commissioners Tuesday approved spending $750,000 on a sputtering Dayton redevelopment project that officials say will fill a void between already-humming parts of downtown with more dining, office space, shopping and housing.
The Fire Blocks District will help stitch together different parts of downtown, said Montgomery County Commission President Debbie Lieberman.
“It’s kind of that connector between (the Oregon District) and the baseball park,” she said.
Columbus-based Windsor Companies earlier this year announced it had taken over the redevelopment of the district, which is centered around the 100 block of East Third Street, near the main Dayton Metro Library.
Commissioners approved the money through an intergovernmental agreement between the county and the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority.
As an economic development tool, the project will help give younger people a stake — and a lifestyle — in a community they desire and help the county by preserving or increasing the tax base, said Montomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge.
“We know the young people now don’t want to buy a car and live out in the suburbs. They want to live downtown where the action
is, where the restaurants are and the bars and pubs,” she said.
“They want to be downtown where they can just walk a block or two and ... go out and do something and come back home.”
Lieberman said the Windsor Companies is new to the Dayton region but brings new ideas and a proven track record in Columbus of repurposing older buildings for many uses, including for businesses.
“If those blocks are cleaned up and revitalized, it’s going to be one more thing that’s downtown and it’s important to the county,” she said. “Bringing jobs downtown is important — new jobs, creative jobs. We know that the creative class wants to be downtown.”
The money will be put to “hard costs,” which can include things like demolition and other work, said Jerry Brunswick, president and executive director of the Dayton-Montgomery County Port Authority.
The port authority is in conversations with the developers about other types of financing assistance, like a capital lease that creates a sales tax exemption on project improvements, reducing the cost of purchasing materials, Brunswick said.