Village of North Clayton
Initial talks: 1996
City of Clayton founded: 1998
Agreement with City of Clayton and N. Clayton Development LLC: Nov. 17, 2005
Building begins: March 2006
Agreement with N. Clayton Development LLC and Contiuum Clubs (Rec center): Aug. 6, 2006
Destiny Aveda Lifestyle Salon and Spa and Grounds for Pleasure Coffee House open: 2007
Esther Price Candies opens new store: 2007
Contiuum Clubs sells to RCS Holdings LLC: July 7, 2008
Development stops: 2008
Destiny closes, reopens under new management; Grounds for Pleasure closes: 2010
What’s next
Auction of remaining assets, Thursday, Nov. 4, 12:30 p.m. inside former coffee shop. Parcels will be sold in bulk for a minimum of $650,000 total or in a combination that reaches at least that figure.
CLAYTON — Once a dream that went bust in a bad economy, the Village of North Clayton project may revive itself following an auction Thursday to sell the remaining undeveloped land.
The minimum bid for 67 acres of land as well as several residential and commercial lots is $650,000.
The idea of a Clayton city center was born even before Clayton voted to merge with Randolph Twp. in 1998. Then-Clayton Mayor Ted Gudorf envisioned a live-work-play area at U.S. 40 and Hoke Road.
“We knew some day this would be the heart of Clayton,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Debbie Lieberman, who served on the Randolph Twp. Planning Commission. “We’d have a library there. We’d have City Hall there. Hopefully, we’d have a fire station there.
“We had conversations with Sinclair Community College, Wright State (for satellite campuses). The vision was there.”
She said builder Tom Peebles pitched the Village of North Clayton. “We modeled ourselves out of a community in Indianapolis. It started coming out of the ground,” Lieberman said.
That was in 2006.
Fifteen homes were built, along with two ranch-style condominiums. A small retail building anchored the middle. Roads were built and paved, sewer and water installed. The area met “green” standards.
By 2008, the economy was in recession. Even as the economy collapsed, Peebles and his partner, Dave Williams, kept up the property as best they could.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and effort to keep it up so it doesn’t look like a distressed situation,” Williams said. “Most developers walk, and we haven’t.”
Northmont High School is within walking distance. A coffee shop and hair salon were already in place in the retail building.
Restaurants were going to front the entire project. A $23 million recreation center was going to be built.
“The athletic complex guy ended up going broke,” Peebles said. “The market dried up. We couldn’t move forward with our plans.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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