West Carrollton project near river, I-75 to include hotel, office, restaurants, housing

Prominent developers Woodard, Dillin to present details to city council Tuesday; project would be phased over 7-10 years

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Details are emerging about a proposed multimillion-dollar multiphase, mixed-used development along the Great Miami River in West Carrollton.

The redevelopment plan for 25 acres the city has assembled includes a hotel, medical office building, service retail, multiple restaurants (fast casual, premium white-tablecloth and drive-thrus), plus 26 high-end townhome condominiums and a 214-unit apartment project. There’s also a proposal for a small watercraft marina, City Manager Brad Townsend told this news outlet Monday.

The project would be located just west of the Exit 47 interchange on Interstate 75 — on East Dixie Drive, Marina Drive, Bowman Land, North Alex Road and Central Avenue, plus along the riverfront.

“The unique thing about Marina Drive is, it’s one of the few places on the Great Miami River where the property actually has direct access to the river and is not part of the floodplain,” Townsend said.

Todd Duplain of Woodard Development and Larry Dillin of Dillin LLC will present a proposal to city council Tuesday evening for development of the site, a portion of which includes the former Roberds Carrollton Plaza.

City council is then expected to vote on a resolution that would, if approved, authorize Townsend to enter a development services agreement with Dillin LLC and Woodard Development to move forward with a conceptual plan and enact a final master plan.

The two firms would then work to create that plan and return to council within the next nine months for its approval, Townsend said.

Development of the site is “a long time coming,” he said.

“The plan that they’ve put together is consistent with council’s vision for the redevelopment (of the) community,” he said. “It’s going to provide us with a Class A development that’s market-driven, that can be executed. I think that we’ve got the right development team in place ... to make this plan happen. It’s just taken us a while to get here, but it’s certainly been worth the wait, in my opinion.”

The project would be developed in phases, with the first phase “more than likely” coming out of the ground by 2024, Townsend said. The entire project likely will take seven to 10 years to complete, according to the agreement.

The first phase would consist of a medical office building, while a second phase would see construction of “a premium flag hotel, a financial services establishment, free-standing fast casual and premium white-tablecloth restaurants, a standalone building that includes a fast-casual restaurant and service retail occupants and drive-through restaurants and service retail establishments,” according to the proposed development services agreement.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

A third phase is anticipated to include additional premium casual and fast casual restaurants. A fourth phase would include townhouse condominiums either as for-sale properties or as rental properties. Townsend said that further down on a 5-acre site that is closer to the low dam, a fifth phase is anticipated to consist of an apartment complex that would be similar to what Duplain developed along Interstate 675 in Centerville with Allure Apartments, a 312-unit project representing an investment of $30 million to $35 million.

Upon completion of the project, it is estimated that the built value of the West Carrollton development will exceed $72 million, according to the agreement.

The development area sits within an established tax increment financing district. The TIF funds that will be generated by the district will be used to pay for the city’s development costs.

The river district also would include a whitewater park on city-owned property near Interstate 75, according to a release from the developers.

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