Centre City building to become ‘The Mainline’ apartments with $2M boost from Dayton

The 21-story Centre City building, located at the corner of Fourth and Main Streets, is one of downtown’s most prominent, oldest skyscrapers. The building has sat vacant for more than 10 years.

Dayton Mayor Shenise Turner-Sloss said the Centre City building is well known in the area, as it’s in close proximity to the Dayton Arcade, Levitt Pavilion and other local landmarks.

“It’s going to really reactivate that space, and that corner itself,” she said. “Along with that, we’re also meeting the needs of addressing the housing gap that we have in the city of Dayton.”

Turner-Sloss said the city is reviewing the possibility of including retail spaces or other businesses in the bottom portion of the building — “We want to make sure that it complements the work that is in fact taking place in shape and form in downtown Dayton.”

The project overall is a more than $120 million investment in downtown Dayton, said City Manager Shelley Dickstein.

This agreement will secure ten of the building’s units — seven of which will be fully accessible to individuals with mobility impairments and three of which will be fully accessible to individuals with sensory impairments.

These units also must meet the guidelines for income and continued affordability under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the HOME program.

The city’s HOME funding will leverage other public and private investments. Dickstein said the city commission will review a few other funding agreements for the apartment project in the coming weeks.

Dayton previously awarded $6 million in funding to Centre City building developers to help remediate the office tower. And before then, the city approved spending $2.5 million to repair and secure the exterior of the office tower, which was crumbling and falling down onto the street and sidewalk.

There have been a variety of proposals to renovate the Centre City building over the years, but the Model Group and Cross Street Partners — minds behind the redevelopment of the Arcade — have been taking up the work.