exclusive investigation

Dayton sees most downtown projects in nearly 50 years

City has seen $1.5 billion invested in last decade

Dayton Daily News The heart hospital addition to Miami Valley Hospital cost $135 million. File photos

Vacancies hinder downtown’s renewal

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By Lucas Sullivan, Staff Writer Updated 10:27 PM Wednesday, August 18, 2010

DAYTON — The amount of capital investment around downtown Dayton in the last decade rivals anything developers have seen since the late 1960s, with academic, health care and other nonprofit institutions leading the way.

A Dayton Daily News investigation found more than $1.5 billion in public and private money since 2000 has been spent on development in and on the fringes of downtown.

Roughly 60 percent of that investment has come from the private sector.

The city’s economic development staff say the trend is clear: Dayton’s future is that of an “urban village,” anchored by hospitals and the University of Dayton outside downtown’s core, with more of a focus on living and playing downtown.

The center city remains a work in progress, with continuing struggles to develop the Arcade, thousands of square feet of office space sitting vacant and the exodus of jobs out of downtown.

But even with the prolonged economic downturn, a string of projects have moved ahead. In a relatively short time, RiverScape, Fifth Third Field and the Schuster Center have given a new look to an old section of downtown. Meanwhile, developments like CareSource, Tech Town and the ever-expanding footprints of Miami Valley Hospital and UD provide both jobs and a promise of future growth.

“This development has helped maintain the 42,000 jobs in the downtown area,” said John Gower, the city’s director of planning and community development.

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