Dayton seeks to revitalize building

Public-private partnership sought for 1.9-acre downtown site.

The city hopes to form a partnership to create a “signature redevelopment” project at the former Dayton Daily News site downtown.

The city of Dayton wants to find a firm experienced in mixed-use developments to help revitalize the bulk of the former Dayton Daily News site on West Fourth Street, which the city just acquired after the downtown property sat in limbo for years.

The city hopes to form a public-private partnership with an experienced company to create a “signature redevelopment” project at the 1.9-acre site, located between Ludlow and Wilkinson streets.

The site is important because of its location near Sinclair Community College and the proposed Levitt Pavilion Dayton and is across the street from the Dayton Arcade, which when redeveloped will be a transformational project, officials said.

“You’ve got to take a step back and think about this site in context,” said Tony Kroeger, Dayton city planner. “It has such potential to connect the Main Street core and all the activity that hopefully occurs at the arcade to Sinclair college, and really boost development in that quadrant of downtown.”

The city has issued a request for qualifications to search for a developer to reinvent the empty lots on Fourth Street that were once home to the Dayton Daily News buildings.

The city spent $450,000 to buy the property from a previous developer, Student Suites Inc of Missouri, and took ownership of the site earlier this month.

The city says it wants to work with a developer to create active ground level spaces, especially along Ludlow Street, which could include retail, restaurant and other commercial uses.

The city wants a high-density site. At least 65 percent of the site should contain buildings, according to the city’s request for qualifications, and if the plan is for a primarily residential development, it should have at least 75 housing units per acre and be at least four-stories tall.

The city also wants new build-

ings constructed on the prop- erty to take design cues from adjacent and nearby structures that consider architectural expression lines. The size and shape of the buildings and street- walks are important too,

the request states. “I think we are going to get some very, very good responses, and I am con- fident that one will rise to the top and get it done,” Kroeger said.

At the southeast corner of the site is the historic 1908 Dayton Daily News building. The city does not own the building. Its owner, Steve Rauch, Inc., has listed it for sale online.

The city says developers should integrate and reuse the historic structure.

“Its removal is not an option and leaving it in its current condition with- out foreseeable reactivation would be problem- atic when it comes to the design and development planning for the block,” the RFQ states.

The city hopes to select a firm to partner with, or whittle down the list of best candidates, by the

end of July. The newer portions of the Dayton Daily News building were torn down to clear the way for new housing that was supposed to be geared toward students.

But Student Suites’ plans fell apart and for years the site sat empty and filled with debris. Student Suites blamed

the city for the project’s failure, saying city staff broke a promise to lift a deed restriction, which jeopardized the company’s ability to get financing.

City staff later said the design of the housing was reworked and the deed issues were not holding

the project back.