Entertainment district OK’d at Austin Landing

Twp. trustees vote 2-1 to establish the district on 91 acres of the development.

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By Lawrence Budd, Staff Writer 11:52 AM Wednesday, January 11, 2012

MIAMI TWP. — RG Properties will be able to bring up to 15 bar-restaurants or nightclubs to a new entertainment district approved Tuesday at Austin Landing, the development east of the Interstate 75 exchange on the Warren-Montgomery County line.

Miami Twp. trustees voted 2-1 Tuesday to establish a community entertainment district on 91 acres of the development, on the northwest corner of Austin Boulevard and Ohio 741 in the township.

Trustees Charles Lewis and Mike Nolan said the district would help draw quality restaurants to the development.

Trustee Deborah Preston voted no after questioning the need for more liquor permits in the township.

Without the district, 82 permits are available for the range of liquor sales in the township and Miamisburg.

While not ruling out nightclubs or bars, Tom Gunlock, senior property manager–director of Construction for RG Properties, the company approved to develop the entertainment district, said he hoped to attract “nice places, not bars that serve a little bit of food and everybody goes in and gets drunk at night.”

The Miami Twp. community entertainment district is the 30th formed under Ohio law.

The state can award five licenses — for on-premise consumption of the full range of liquor options and on and off-premise sale of all but high-powered liquor — for every five acres in the district.

The law caps at 15 the total number of permits, available without regard to state quotas.

“It’s getting more and more popular,” said Matt Mullins, spokesman for the Ohio Liquor Control Commission.

There are two community entertainment districts in Montgomery County. Both are in Dayton. One is around Fifth Third Field; the other is on land around the Dayton Convention Center.

There are three in Butler County.

There is one in Greene County at the Green Towne Center, a mixed-use development much like what is proposed at Austin.

RG has said that it will build a Hilton Garden Inn at the development. Jeff Ruby, a Cincinnati-based restaurateur, said he has been approached about opening a steak restaurant in the Austin development.

The Hilton hotel is part of the first phase of the development, according to a 50-page application prepared by the Thompson Hine law firm, one of the companies — along with RG itself — already located in an office building in the development.

A Kohl’s department store has also opened in the development.

By the end of 2017, RG is expected to develop a village that includes restaurants and retail space, as well as a theater, two anchor retailers, another office building and three parking garages.

Miami Twp. has committed to spend more than $16 million on a public park, a path and one of the parking garages, as well as roads and other infrastructure.

RG has committed to $55 million in new development by the end of 2013, running its investment to $109 million.

Public and private funding at and around the new interchange could exceed $200 million.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@Dayton DailyNews.com.

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