Massive Mendelsons building to become apartments, offices, retail

The 545,000-square-foot building, also known as Delco plant 2, is located in the heart of the Water Street District, a thriving section of northeast downtown near the Dayton Dragons stadium that has welcomed many new apartments, restaurants and office spaces.

Crawford Hoying purchased the Mendelsons properties for about $7.8 million a few years ago, and the Dublin-based firm will once again team up with Woodard Development on this undertaking, like they have on many Water Street projects.

Woodard Development and Crawford Hoying have helped reshape downtown Dayton’s skyline, said Scott Murphy, the Downtown Dayton Partnership’s vice president of economic development.

“We so much appreciate their commitment to Dayton,” he said.

The Mendelsons renovation project could rival the rehab of the Dayton Arcade in size and scope.

Work has already begun on the building and will pick up as spring arrives, said Brent Crawford, principal and founder of Crawford Hoying.

“The building will likely begin opening in late 2023,” he said.

Crawford Hoying and Woodard Development are working on several other projects in that area, including the AC Hotel by Marriott, the Sutton apartments, the Monument apartments and a mixed-use building called the Madison on First, which will be home to new offices and a brewery and taproom.

Projects in the works in that area represent about $162 million of new investment in downtown, Dickstein said.

The projects are creating a total of 335 residential units and 243,000 square feet of commercial, retail and office space, which includes 134 hotel rooms, Dickstein said.

The Water Street developers already have created more than 500 new apartments in the district, and about 200 more are expected to open next year.

“That will take us to over 700 residential units that we’ve brought online since 2015,” said Jason Woodard, principal of Dayton-based Woodard Development.

This week, the Dayton Public Schools approved a compensation agreement with Crawford Hoying that provides the developer a 15-year property tax exemption on the value of improvements made to properties in what it calls the Delco district.

The school district also approved a 30-year tax-increment financing (TIF) agreement for the district.

The Dayton City Commission on Wednesday approved an ordinance authorizing a property conveyance that means the city will be in the chain of title for the Delco area project sites, the city said.

City officials said this helps establish a TIF in which payments are made in lieu of taxes for public and private improvements.

“The TIF will allow for a bond issuance as a source of funds to pay for portions of the project,” Woodard said.

Dickstein said private-public partnerships are key to advancing projects of this magnitude.

“We have done many projects — we’ve done this many times over — to be in chain of title so we can optimize opportunity of investment,” Dickstein said.

The Water Street District is expected to have a busy 2022.

The Monument, across from RiverScape MetroPark, will have 124 apartments and 4,500 square feet of ground floor retail space, according to information recently shared by Woodard Development.

The nearly $27 million project also will create a 132-space, two-story parking garage. It is expected to be completed in summer 2022.

The Sutton, located on a small piece of land just west of Day Air Ballpark, will have 71 apartments. The $10.3 million project also could open next summer.

The $33.3 million AC Hotel project, near the Mendelsons outlet building, will offer 134 new hotel rooms and a 6,100-square-foot rooftop bar and restaurant.

The hotel, which also will have 1,700 square feet of private event space, could open in late 2022 or early 2023.

Madison on First, next to the new hotel, will have 15,000 square feet of ground floor retail and restaurant space for Moeller Brew Barn and 5,700 square feet of office space, to be occupied by construction management company Brackett Builders Inc. That project is a $6.4 million investment.