Trustees voted to assist in a $750,000 loan, with CityWide Development Corp., for the development of about 216 residential units, with 11,000 square feet of retail space in that building, with a nearly 400-space parking garage, spearheaded by Cincinnati’s Model Property Development.
The Model Group, in partnership with Cross Street Partners, has spent about four years working on a plan to convert Centre City, the Dayton Daily News reported in January.
Lasserre Bradley, president of development for the Model Group, noted that Centre City is roughly across South Main Street from the redeveloped Arcade complex and The Hub, where he said he often works when he’s in Dayton.
“This is one of the most incredible places in America,” Bradley told port trustees, referring to the Hub, which unites business and educational enterprises under one roof.
But he urged trustees to act now to help redevelop Centre City.
“This is the moment to save this building,” he said. “If we don’t make this work, who knows what will happen.”
Construction fences are around the building now. The construction project timeline calls for completion in June 2027, Bradley said.
“The Arcade is a huge development,” said Joseph Geraghty, executive director of the Port Authority. “But we need to get this done.”
In a capital lease deal, the port owns a ground lease at a construction site and is able to abate sales taxes on materials purchased for construction projects. It has been one of the go-to incentives the port has deployed over the years to boost local business ventures.
The Centre City capital lease will save the project an estimated $2.4 million in state and local taxes, port documents indicated.
Trustees also voted to have the Port Authority arrange a capital lease for a warehouse/distribution site known as the “Komyo project,” located on 29 acres at 191 Commerce Center Blvd. in Troy.
The distribution center serves as a logistics hub for Honda parts, Geraghty said. About 150 people work there now; the expansion will add an equivalent of 16 full-time jobs, he said.
Trustees further voted to support a $165,000 “bridge loan” for temporary working capital, again with CityWide, to the Gem City Market.
Gem City Market, a community-owned, full-service grocery store that brought fresh food to a food desert off Salem Avenue, originally hoped to break even around its four-year anniversary this month, the Dayton Daily News reported in December.
The market’s sales have not been “sustainable” and must improve if the store is going to make it to its fourth birthday and remain open, co-op leaders told the newspaper last year.
Co-op supporters have said they believe the community will step up to ensure the store does not fail and becomes profitable.
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