260 new housing units planned for former Julienne school site in northwest Dayton

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

A Michigan-based real estate development firm proposes building about 260 new apartments in northwest Dayton, adding to a growing list of planned housing projects in that part of the city.

Magnus Capital Partners says it wants to construct new workforce housing called the HōM Flats at Forest Avenue at the former site of Julienne High School and an adjacent parcel in the Five Oaks neighborhood, according to documents submitted to Dayton’s planning department.

The project would create a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, plus amenities like a game room, art studio, fitness studio, walking paths, resident café, rooftop terraces, indoor and outdoor children’s play spaces and dog washing stations and dog parks.

Tens of thousands of people work less than 10 miles from the proposed project site, and that does not include employees at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Magnus Capital Partners said.

The housing supply isn’t keeping up demand, at a time when housing prices are rising faster than wages, and workforce housing should be affordable to people earning between 60% and 120% of the area median income, the firm said.

Julienne High School was demolished more than a decade ago, and today the property is mostly vacant green space. The school building was shut down for the last time in 2007.

The project site is bordered by Homewood Avenue to the south, Forest Avenue to the east and Old Orchard Avenue to the west.

A proposed site plan shows about nine apartment buildings, ranging in size from two to four stories. The buildings could contain between eight to 56 units. The property is about 12.8 acres.

The site plan also shows a significant amount of green space and surface parking — 334 spaces.

The project also would include about 5,000 square feet of commercial space, says a letter from Vishal Arora, CEO of Magnus Capital Partners.

Magnus, through its HōM Flats projects, has developed and operated more than 1,500 units of workforce housing in Michigan, Arora said. HōM Flats properties would offer programming and events like yoga, trivia nights, painting classes, fitness classes and financial literacy classes.

Magnus is seeking approval of a proposed planned development and zoning map amendment in support of the project.

The proposed buildings are two-story “stacked flats” and four-story apartment buildings, says a planned development application. Combined, the buildings would have about 275,000 square feet of space.

Other new housing is proposed for northwest Dayton, including a project that would redevelop a site just west of the Five Oaks neighborhood, near the intersection of Dartmouth Drive and Salem Avenue.

National Church Residences, one of the nation’s largest providers of senior housing, wants to create more than 180 new apartments on the 4.5-acre site, located in University Row area. That project has been recommended to receive $2 million of Dayton’s $138 million in federal COVID relief funds.

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