Dayton approves funding for $13M hotel project

Dayton commissioners this evening approved giving money to a roughly $13 million project that will bring the first hotel downtown in more than 15 years.

Commissioners voted in favor of a development agreement that would provide $500,000 to Water Street Hotel LLC, which is controlled by Woodard Development and Crawford Hoying, developers of the Water Street District.

The company plans to build a six-story Fairfield Inn & Suites with 98 rooms at East Monument Avenue and Patterson Boulevard, across from Fifth Third Field.

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The 80,000-square-foot hotel would add another dimension to the Water Street District that already has apartments, townhouses, offices, a restaurant, a gym and parking.

The company plans to invest about $11 million and create 24 full-time and six part-time jobs, with an annual payroll of more than $700,000, according to city of Dayton documents. Developers say the project is $13 million.

Construction is expected to begin this year and finish in the third quarter of 2018.

The hotel will have modern finishes and will feature a bar and lounge area with public outdoor seating and a breakfast area and second-floor fitness center for guests, said Jason Woodard, principal with Woodard Development.

“Whenever you can’t remember when the last hotel was built in an area that has seen the resurgence downtown has, it is quite possibly time for a new one,” Woodard said. “As businesses grow and return to the city, having a variety of hospitality product available is an important component.”

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Commissioners also approved a community reinvestment area agreement that will give the hotel a 10-year, 100 percent tax abatement on the value of the improvements to the parcel.

The city’s $500,000 contribution will help cover unexpected engineering and construction costs needed to make it a developable site. Those costs are related to a 5-foot storm sewer line that runs through the middle of the property, said Ford Weber, Dayton’s director of economic development.

The development team has committed to hiring at least half of the hotel’s employees from the city, Weber said.

The hotel will serve a broad clientele that will likely include people here on business or visiting relatives or friends who live near or in downtown, Woodard said.

Other guests may include people attending shows at the Levitt Pavilion Dayton, expected to open next year, or people attending festivals or hitting the brewery scene or other recreational activities, Woodard said.

In other Water Street news, the first tenants of the Delco Lofts will move in starting in early July, and Lock 27 brewpub is expected to open shortly before that happens, Woodard said.

The developers also have started construction on the final phase of 54 additional apartments at the eastern edge of the Water Street District, near Webster Street.

Redevelopment has shifted back into urban cores and the new hotel builds on the investment along the river, Mayor Nan Whaley said.

“There’s lots going on, lots of investment, lots of excitement downtown,” she said.

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