The Dayton Daily News has been following the developing Midtown District project since its announcement. We’ll continue to bring you details that you will only find here.
The project to relocate the Montgomery County Fairgrounds from Dayton to Brookville has moved a step closer to its fundraising target, assuming Gov. John Kasich doesn’t strike the $2.5 million lawmakers included in the $131 billion state budget bill that was approved last week.
“We are inches away and not miles,” said Eric Joo, partner and real estate vice president for the project developer, Miller Valentine Group.
Miller Valentine says it needs $18.5 million to make the fair move happen — the cost of the move and developing a new fairgrounds in Brookville.
As of Friday, Joo said Miller Valentine was around $6 million short of the goal — without the state appropriation. The state money would go into a holding account until the remaining $3.5 million can be raised, Joo said.
The state budget must be finalized Tuesday, along with any line-item vetoes by the governor.
Joo said he plans to meet with the firm’s public and private sector partners to figure out how to close the remaining funding gap.
The fairgrounds has long been considered a prime development spot. Should 2015 be the last year for the fair near downtown, plans call for the the so-called Midtown District project to transform the 38-acre site into a mix of residential, commercial and office properties similar to The Greene Town Center in Beavercreek.
Joo said the redeveloped fairgrounds could include a variety of new businesses — everything but industrial. He said he’s speaking with representatives from a grocery store, a hotel and a company that is interested in using the location for an office development.
The fair would move to a 70-acre site in Brookville. Only the historic Roundhouse building would be moved. Other buildings on the fairgrounds would stay and likely be demolished.
Zoning deadline
According to its agreement with Brookville, the fair has until August 2016 to start moving earth at the site in order to keep the zoning designation for the fair.
Plans call for renovating the Roundhouse, including adding air conditioning. The result of the move would be to develop “the fairgrounds of the future,” Miller Valentine said, with educational space and a venue for displays, and to highlight agriculture.
In all the Midtown District would be a $125 million two-phase redevelopment. The overall layout would include 20 acres for commercial space for a grocery store, hotel, office, restaurants and entertainment venues and 17 acres for market-rate apartments and condominiums.
But the plans are contingent on getting the funding in place, Fair Board President John Friedline noted. Miller Valentine’s option with the board to make the deal happen expires at the end of January.
“Hopefully it happens sooner than later, because we’d like to advertise it as our last year in Dayton,” said Friedline, who’s preparing for this year’s fair. “But they have not said one way or other.”
Fall groundbreaking planned
David Dickerson, Dayton market president for Miller-Valentine, said the firm expects to exercise its option on the fairgrounds in August, about the time the fair begins. "At that point in time, we would close on the transaction in Brookville and move forward to break ground in the fall," he said. The fair this year will be held from Sept. 2 to Sept. 7.
Miller-Valentine is handling the construction, marketing, leasing and project management for the Midtown District. Public partners include the city of Dayton, Montgomery County, which owns the land; and the Montgomery County Agricultural Society, which operates the county fair.
The fair has been at its location south of downtown Dayton for more than a century.
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