‘Spec’ project rising at Wilmington and Patterson in Dayton

Brownfield Charities Inc. is building a spec building at Wilmington and Patterson in Dayton. The site could be office or retail space, the company president said. THOMAS GNAU/STAFF

Brownfield Charities Inc. is building a spec building at Wilmington and Patterson in Dayton. The site could be office or retail space, the company president said. THOMAS GNAU/STAFF

Tony Staub, president of Brownfield Charities Inc., said construction on a “spec” building at the northwest corner of Wilmington Avenue and Patterson Road will be finished by “about April.”

“Spec” projects are built before users or tenants have been identified. Staub said Friday he has had no inquiries yet about the 2,500-square-foot building.

The building is found in a section of Dayton’s Patterson Park neighborhood that sees plenty of daily traffic.

The view of the building in Dayton's Patterson Park, at Wilmington and Patterson, looking at the front of the building from the north along Wilmington. THOMAS GNAU/STAFF

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The site could serve as retail or office space, Staub said. It will have about 15 parking spaces in a fenced-in rear lot adjacent to a Tim Horton’s takeout and delivery spot.

“Whatever they want to put in there — retail, office,” he said. “It could be a little neighborhood business.”

Brownfield perhaps may be best known in Dayton for purchasing the then-dormant downtown Dayton Arcade from developer Tom Danis for $1 in 2004. Brownfield Charities put the Arcade up for auction as part of Montgomery County sheriff’s tax lien foreclosure sale in 2012.

Today, after three decades of failed or stalled efforts, a development team consisting of Cross Street Partners and its partners are putting the finishing touching on a huge renewal of the Arcade.

Staub said he owned the lot at Wilmington and Patterson for some 10 years. He has no other spec properties in Dayton.

“I bought it about 10 years ago. It was a gas station. ... It just didn’t work out,” he said. “I had the property. I had to do something with it. So I put the building on it.”

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