“We have this beautiful, amazing space, and we want to involve the community,” said Megan Dunn Peters, Dayton Arcade marketing and community partnership manager. “We want it to be special and a destination.”
The historic downtown building first opened in 1904 as a retail space. It anchored retail and restaurant space downtown for decades but faced challenges as businesses moved out of downtown and more national chains opened in the city.
It closed in 1991 and sat empty for nearly three decades before the current owners purchased it around 2016. After undergoing extensive renovations, it reopened to the public in 2021.
Arcade development partners are Cross Street Partners, Model Group, McCormack Baron Salazar and Structural Technologies. The Arcade has more than 450,000 square feet of space.
Last July, Cross Street Partners declared the Arcade project “completed.” About $162 million was spent renovating the buildings, which now include low-income apartments, University of Dayton classrooms, a theater, a kitchen incubator, art galleries and a Hilton Garden Inn, on top of the retail spaces.
The Arcade has hosted Holly Days, a December event featuring small businesses, since 2021.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
In the last two years, a handful of restaurants, including Table 33 and Lucho, have opened in the Arcade.
While Holly Days is the largest event the Arcade hosts, the building is open for more than just those days.
On a freezing Saturday, 160 people showed up to a free yoga class from Tori Reynolds, owner of Speakeasy Yoga.
Reynolds has run eight classes at the Arcade, she said, including weeknight yoga classes.
Paisley Griffin attended Reynolds’s class and said it was the first time she’d been to the Arcade since it reopened. She walked by it often growing up but didn’t give it much thought until it reopened.
“It’s a really nice space,” she said. “I’m already registered for the next class.”
Kay Lowe, who co-owns Road Runner, a mobile coffee bar, with her husband, Adam Lowe, said the business had a lot of success at the last Holly Days event in December and came back for the yoga event.
As a Daytonian, she said seeing the Arcade evolve was special, as is working within its walls.
“I’m excited about the local businesses that will be tenants,” she said.
Kathleen Tandy, owner of Pink Moon Goods, said one of her first events as a new business owner was the first Holly Days. She was stationed near the front door, and said it brought her to tears to see 70- and 80-year-olds come into the Arcade and be amazed.
Pink Moon Goods is opening a second location at the Arcade. Its first location remains open in Dayton’s Historic Huffman neighborhood.
“This building has so much history,” Tandy said. “I’ve heard so many stories about the importance of this space.”
Peters said the Arcade can combine community, support for small businesses and history within the same space.
Starting in February, the Arcade is hosting First Fridays, a more casual event for people to check out the space. The next yoga event is scheduled for March 7. Participants can get tickets online, but limited walk-ins will be available day of.
Peters said she hopes as the Arcade grows, the community continues to support it and downtown.
“It’s who we are,” she said. “People are proud to live in Dayton. Places like this are cultural touchstones.”
From the folks who grew up at the Arcade to the three-year-olds running around the rotunda after the yoga class, there’s space for Daytonians at the Arcade.
“It’s like the past, present and future of Dayton,” Peters said.
Upcoming events can be found at arcadedayton.com.
Staff writer Cornelius Frolik contributed to this report.
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