City to chip in millions for new home projects in Old North Dayton, Wolf Creek

The proposed $4 million project would create 16 attached, single-family homes at the northeast corner of Keowee and Valley streets, at a site that officials hope will become an attractive entryway into the neighborhood.

“The development capitalizes on the main roadway and open space investments in the vicinity and will significantly improve this major gateway area to north Dayton,” says a memo from Steve Gondol, Dayton’s director of planning, neighborhoods and development.

The city issued a notice of funding opportunities in early 2023 for new housing at this one-acre site, which is an area that is being called “The Point.”

Dayton received just one response and proposal, which was determined to infeasible because the developer was asking for more funding than the city could afford, city staff said.

The city and Citywide pursued a development partner for the site and selected Civitas.

Civitas, a minority-led development company based in Cincinnati, plans to construct four buildings, each with four units, that face Keowee and Valley streets. The city funding will help cover predevelopment and construction services costs.

Civitas had been searching for project opportunities in Dayton for quite a while, said Tony Kroeger, Dayton’s planning manager.

“This site takes advantage of a lot of good stuff happening around it — a lot of investment that this city has made,” Kroeger said. “New housing has always been a long-term planning goal for those residents of Old North Dayton.”

The project site is at the reconfigured intersection of Keowee and Valley streets, which was converted from a Y intersection to a T intersection a few years ago.

Old North Dayton has seen hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment in the last decade, but there has not been much done as far as new housing in a long time, said Katie Lunne, senior project manager with Citywide, which owns the project site.

The new homes, which could sell for roughly $250,000, likely will appeal to people who work in that part of the city, Lunne said, noting that the area is home to about 10,000 jobs — more than any other Dayton neighborhood except downtown.

Wolf Creek homes

The city earlier this year also approved a $1.5 million service agreement with County Corp to help build five new market-rate, single-family homes in the Wolf Creek neighborhood.

County Corp will use the money for predevelopment and construction services for the new homes, which be built along West Second and North Williams streets.

Construction hopefully should begin this summer and wrap up in early 2025, said Adam Blake, vice president of housing with County Corp. The homes are expected to be offered for between $160,000 to $200,000.

If there is any city money leftover, that may be put toward improving or constructing neighborhood amenities, said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.

The city has demolished a significant number of properties in Wolf Creek, and the new housing should help attract new investment into the neighborhood, Dickstein said.

“It is really important, and part of our role as government, to be able to seed markets and to establish comps to show there truly is an interest in investing and to attract private investment,” Dickstein said.

The city’s funding for the new owner-occupied homes in Old North Dayton and Wolf Creek comes from the Dayton Recovery Plan. The plan is the city’s blueprint for how it will spend the $138 million it received in federal COVID relief aid.

County Corp also hopes to soon close on financing to build 27 single-family, long-term rental homes in Wolf Creek, Blake said. The combined investment of its Wolf Creek housing projects should exceed $10 million, he said.

The city earlier this month also approved a $500,000 agreement with County Corp to provide downpayment assistance and financial counseling to homebuyers.

The funding is expected to help 39 households with their downpayments, said Steve Naas, president of County Corp.

Homebuyers can receive assistance for up to 10% of the home purchase price, up to $10,000 per property.

Recipients must be first-time homebuyers or they cannot have not owned a home in three years and they must be in qualified Census tracts in Dayton.

“We anticipate serving homebuyers throughout the city, though the program will target homebuyers in the Edgemont, Miami Chapel, Old North Dayton, Five Oaks, Carillon, and Wolf Creek neighborhoods,” Naas said.

Additionally, County Corp received $1.5 million in city funding through the Dayton Recovery Plan for a home repair program, which is already underway.

Steve Dillhoff, a Dayton resident who spoke at a recent city commission meeting, said he loves the idea of the housing project at the Point but he thinks the city’s subsidy is excessive.

“Civitas is a great company, and I have no problem with the concept,” he said. “You are looking at subsidizing 37.5% of the total cost of the project.”

He said, “I think it’s a great idea, and I think we need housing and we need housing there ... but to put so much money into one spot seems a little bit high.”

City leaders and staff said the Point project site has some challenges, and the federal COVID funds are flexible and useful for redeveloping properties with complications.