Downtown Dayton housing tour highlights city’s revitalization

Residents got the chance to tour downtown to check out some of the revitalization projects underway.

Many people were walking around Saturday and checking out the nine stops on the housing tour of buildings that are being transformed into lofts and retail space.

At the Huffman building in the Fire Blocks District, visitors got to take a unique tour: a virtual look at this building’s potential.

“We came down to the the housing tour specifically because a lot of us are interested in possibly living downtown,” Yoli Spence of Dayton said.

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“Over the years, it’s been disappointing to see Dayton dying and now it’s revising. A renaissance is going on. They really need to push it aggressively,” Bill Franklin of Dayton said.

Fire Blocks District spokesman Eric Vanzwieten spoke about what people an expect for the future of downtown.

“This is unique. it’s just just lofts, it’s also seven restaurants, bars and cafes. We also have creative office space,” he said.

Some of those restaurants will be coming as early as this fall.

Developers also recently closed a deal on its $90 million renovation plan to the Dayton Arcade complex.

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So far, it appears the FBI probe into corruption centered on the city’s construction contracting bid process will not affect that project.

“There is massive investment coming into Dayton. It’s heading in the right direction. Very quickly you’re seeing new projects come online every couple of months with the Arcade and with the Fire Blocks,” Vanzwieten said.

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