CITY WANTS ITS SIDEWALKS TO MIRROR CHICAGO’S ‘MAGNIFICENT MILE’

Officials say work is first step to make area like ‘Magnificent Mile.’

Upcoming work on a section of downtown Dayton’s sidewalks is expected to make that area more vibrant, hoping to be more like those along Chicago’s “Magnificent Mile,” officials said.

The city of Dayton is upgrad- ing the sidewalks and curbs on two blocks that border the Levitt Pavilion Dayton to add landscaping beds, decorative fences and other attractive touches.

The streetscaping improvements are among the first investments by the city to create a Main Street experience reminiscent of Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue.

Also known as the Magnificent Mile, North Michigan Avenue is a a shopping and tourist district known for its wide sidewalks, eye-catching landscaping and distinctive pedestrian character.

“There’s no other Main Street in this region so we want to make it spectacular, we want to make it exceptional — so when you’re walking down it, you see something really different,” said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.

Last month, the city of Dayton approved a roughly $334,900 contract to improve the sidewalks on the 100 block of South Main Street and the first block of East Fourth Street.

The sidewalks are on the north- ern and western borders of the Levitt Pavilion Dayton, downtown’s new music amphitheater.

The city is paying to install flower beds in wrought iron fences and make various landscaping, streetscaping and lighting upgrades that greatly improve the pedestrian environment, Dickstein said.

The city’s infrastructure investments will encourage developers, property owners and private businesses to invest in the downtown building stock, she said. The vision for Main Street is a bustling corridor offering activated first-floor retail spaces, sidewalk cafes, pubs, restaurants and public art.

“If you’ve ever been down Michigan Avenue in Chicago — it’s like that,” Dickstein said. “It’s also like our Oregon District on Fifth Street.”

The city, Dickstein said, has wide sidewalks and the aim is to make them more inviting.

The city wants to make sidewalk and curb improve- ments to the section of Main Street located in the Central Business District. That roughly stretches from Monument Avenue to the north and Sixth Street to the south.

The revamped streetscap- ing is supposed to support some major redevelopment projects, like the planned rehab of the Dayton Arcade. “The primary goal of local government is to make sure the environment is improved and ready to receive investment,” Dickstein said.